Free Candy For Everyone

Ok, one more post before I go! I have been a fervent TiVo fan for many years. But since I got my HDTV, my enthusiasm has waned. If I had started this blog a couple of years ago, you would have been inundated with posts galore extolling the virtues of TiVo and its life changing properties. But I figure you all know about TiVo and DVRs already so I don’t need to rant. And really, I tend to use my Comcast DVR more, since it records in high definition. Who wants fuzzy low res tv when I can have it so much prettier, even if the box is less smart…

I just read this article imparting the news that the next TiVo service release will allow you to play your TiVo shows on your iPod or PSP. I don’t have one of the new-fangled video iPods, but I do have a PSP. I’m actually charging it up right now in preparation for my travel. If I could easily load it up with shows from my TiVo archive, that’d be great! I’d be so on board for that.

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So Engadget has a posting showcasing some screenshots of the new TiVo download service. Here’s a copy of one of their images:

I guess my Netflix hopes were a bit hasty. Looks like they’re just rolling out a service that lets you download shows you could have recorded anyway. Maybe there’s more to it? Let’s hope so. I want to be able to order movies on my TiVo!

I came home to a service message on my TiVo informing me that the TiVo privacy policy has been updated pertaining “primarily to the addition of new functionality that will enable TiVo subscribers to download content to their Series2 DVR.”

I went on the web to see their full privacy policy and read this tidbit:

If you affirmatively elect to use the Online Scheduling feature of the TiVo Plus service or download content to your TiVo DVR using a TiVo content delivery service (”CDS”), TiVo will collect the Personally Identifiable Viewing Information associated with fulfillment of your individual request(s).

Hmm. A January press release from TiVo tells us

To provide consumers even more convenience and control over their entertainment experience, TiVo is developing a new content delivery service that will enable TiVo® Series2™ subscribers to search and access broadband content.

Maybe I’m just chompin’ at the bit here, but combine that with the news that Netflix is “close to offering online movie downloads”, and maybe we’re gonna be able to download movies with the click of a TiVo remote soon. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

There’s been talk for some time about a partnership between Netflix and TiVo. And it makes a lot of sense to me. And hey, it’d get me to switch from Blockbuster to Netflix in a heartbeat.

I have just completed a repair on my beloved TiVo. After six hours of effort, my TiVo is once again beaming at me with a happy green light. But this was no cakewalk.

Anyone who knows me at all knows I love my TiVo. Anyone foolish enough to ask what it is will hear an empassioned speech about how it changed my life. Or at least my TV viewing habits. I love TiVo so much, I have two. Plus a cable box DVR, which is really the bastard stepchild and gets no love.

But the saga starts a few months ago, when my second TiVo, my NEWER TiVo, started acting out. It wouldn’t always listen to what I wanted it to do, it would sometimes stop recording mid-show, and need some time in the quiet corner. But then it got worse, it wouldn’t get past the loading screen. And finally, when I went to turn it on, all I heard was an evil “click-click-click”. We all know what that means. Ok, you probably don’t. But it means HARD DRIVE FAILURE! NOO!! All the hours of TV, lost and gone forever. And who would record all my upcoming shows? Well, after some frantic shuffling between my backup TiVo and the evil Comcast DVR, I worked things out. It’s the summer, after all, and there isn’t much on anyway.

But I needed to salvage my best loved TiVo. The fall TV season is approaching, so what was I to do? Well. I bought a new hard drive. And I thought it would be simple, a matter of hooking up some drives, running a few commands, and voila, better than new.

Well, it wasn’t simple. Let me see. I bashed my head several times on my desk. I stubbed my toe. I cracked my ankle. And those are just the injuries to me. I managed to kill two more hard drives, and am now down one computer.

But. But. Ultimately, I was successful! Though I really can’t explain it, because I just kept trying the same commands in different configurations, they finally worked. I am now looking at my lovely 288 hour capacity TiVo. It loves me. I know it does. And it won’t fail me like it did before.

But I’m left with a lingering disquiet. Will TiVo fail me again? Will it crack in my hour of need? Can I ever really trust it again?