In the era of sports Tivoing, Starbucks baristas are powerless to avoid having the game ruined by thoughtless, chatty customers… or are they? Apparently, one Boston-area barista is fighting back. Do think this worked?
tivo
HBO Using Tivo's Macrovision DRM To Restrict "John Adams" Miniseries?
By 3.19.08
When Dean recorded HBO’s new Tom Hanks-produced miniseries “John Adams”—which is not a pay-per-view or on-demand program—he was surprised to see it was flagged by Tivo’s Macrovision software, which controls how many times you may watch a program and how long you can store it before it’s automatically deleted. Now the question is, was this a mistake on the part of HBO or Dean’s cable provider Comcast? Or—considering HBO’s infamous anti-consumer stance on time-shifted programming—is it the beginning of a sneaky “back-door” approach to locking down all their content, something Tivo’s own people said would probably not happen when they added Macrovision to their recorders in 2004?
Tivo Says E-Trade Commercial Was Most Watched Super Bowl Spot
By 2.6.08
Tivo has announced that E-Trade’s talking, trading, barfing baby was the most watched ad by Tivo subscribers during the Super Bowl, followed by the Pepsi spot where Justin Timberlake got hit in the crotch, followed by the Doritos ad where a giant mouse wailed on a man eating chips. Tivo “sampled 10,000 households using anonymous, second-by-second audience measurement data” to come up with the rankings.
Comcast: Wanna Pay An Extra $2.95 A Month For TiVo?
By 12.1.07
TiVo says that you will soon have the privilege of paying Comcast an extra $2.95 a month for TiVo service (on top of what you already pay for a DVR).
“We are very excited by the emphasis that Comcast has placed on this product within its organization and their plans to aggressively market it at a $2.95 up-charge as well as through packaged bundles and win-back offers,” Rogers said. “Further, we are pleased with Comcast’s plans to promote and market the value of the TiVo experience, which will leverage many of their marketing assets including cross-channel TV.”
Can't Watch Your Premium Cable Channels ? Ask For "CCV Hit"
By 11.15.07
Now you don’t need to get special tender loving escalation to enjoy the same solution as Charlie of Charter Decides To Care That Reader Can’t Watch Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares fame. Reader Mangopants had the same problem where he couldn’t watch a specific channel. He writes, “After 5 months, 60+ calls to Charter (not exaggerating) and 3 visits from technicians I finally got a supervisor visit this site and read this article and the related problem article – she sent a “CCV Hit” to my box – fixed the problem right up!” A little Googling shows it’s the reset code for premium channels and it’s not just for Charter, “CCV Hit” works for other with other cable companies and on other DVRs.
Reader Games Tivo Retentions Department To Gets $6 Knocked Off Monthly Rate
By 10.9.07
Most companies with recurring services have a group of shiny sphincters known as the retention department, but doing battle with them and knowing how they operate can get your monthly bill reduced. They’re also sometimes called the “saves” department, because they’re supposed to “save” you from leaving for another company. Here’s how Jonathan recently turned the Tivo retention department to his advantage:..
NBC Announces Free "Downloads" Of TV Shows
By 9.21.07
NBC makes many of its popular shows available online in streaming media, which means that fans can watch episodes on their computers. Under the new NBC service, called NBC Direct, consumers will be able to download, for no fee, NBC programs like “Heroes,” “The Office” and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on the night that they are broadcast and keep them for seven days. They would also be able to subscribe to shows, guaranteeing delivery each week.
Can TiVo Compete?
By 8.31.07
According to USAToday, Tivo failed to anticipate how quickly its customers would fall in love with HDTV—and out of love with TiVo.
Everyone But Me Gets To Watch TV, A DISH Install Horror Story
By 8.17.07
“July 25 – So, I recently moved and have had one hell of a time with DISH Network. Apparently my new apartment building has an “exclusive contract” with ATT. So I call up those guys to get some TV in my new apt. ATT tells me to call DISH directly (their partner) and I oblige because ATT doesn’t deal with apartment complexes. I get on the phone to DISH with a guy (I think his name was Sam) who happily placed my order, until he asked me what floor I live on and I told him third. Sam proceeded to tell me that because of insurance reasons their DISH installers will not install on third floor or higher. I was a little baffled by this and Sam told me to goto a DISH reseller, like Radio Shack.
TiVo Won't Cancel Your Account, Even If You Tell Them You're Moving To The Moon
By 7.26.07
A TiVo CSR insisted that Jerry explain why he was canceling his account, so Jerry said he was moving to the moon, an explanation that might earn sympathy from a company whose logo is a martian. The CSR was not amused, and did not cancel Jerry’s account. Instead, taking him for an astronaut, the CSR gave him free service for three months, which Jerry discovered only when he presciently called the next day to verify that his account had been canceled. Jerry writes:
By 7.25.07
../../../..//2007/07/25/why-stay-shackled-to-your/
Why stay shackled to your couch when you can time-shift your HDTV? As part of its continuing fight to remain relevant, TiVo has introduced an HD-DVR priced at $299.
Upgrade Your Tivo For Cheap By Trying To Cancel
By 3.20.07
Tivo is now offering a trade-up program for older Series 1 Tivos. If you tell them your Series 1 machine is acting up, they will offer a highly discounted model (I got a series 2 Dual Tuner for $35 shipped) with your original service agreement.
DirecTV: All Your TiVo Are Belong To Us
By 3.18.07
DTV:”But we’re showing that you have an unreturned DVR here, sir.”
Next they’ll bill for your house satellite mount. Make your time. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Kevin Is Displeased With His TiVO
By 3.3.07
These are the sort of video complaints that we love to get. Full of senseless violence. Kevin went away and left his TiVO in charge of taping all of this shows. Mistake. “And now it probably works about as well as it did yesterday.”Hooray! —MEGHANN MARCO (Thanks, Jeff!)
TiVO Tells You How To Defeat Their DRM To Keep You From Canceling
By 3.1.07
I explain to her that I know I can move the files over but raw TiVo files are encrypted and useless. She said you can just download an application to convert them yourself. I explained this would be illegal under the DMCA and TiVo somewhat agressevly tries to enforce the encryption. She said so there is no way you can get an application to convert the files. I told her that I could get such an application but that it is quite illegal and Tivo could sue me or worse. The total times she tryed to get me to do something illega so I would keep the TiVo service, about 4. If I wanted to be illegal I could just dump the cable too and friggin download everything DRM and commercial free, DUH.
TiVo2Go’s Terms and Conditions say:
The TiVoToGo feature includes security measures designed to prevent infringement of copyrighted works. You agree not to take any steps to defeat any TiVo security measures or to use any third party applications that may bypass any TiVo security measures.
It’s sad when your retention people have to talk customers into doing something against your Terms and Conditions in a desperate attempt to keep them. DRM gives The Consumerist a headache. DRM should be sponsored by Excedrin Migraine.—MEGHANN MARCO
Comcast To Suck Less
By 1.19.07
Last week the FCC reiterated that Comcast needs to “unlock” it’s DVRs and set-top boxes. And, to make life even better, “The foot-dragging, tech-testing wing of the cable industry, Cable Labs, has finally standardized a two-way interactive CableCARD.” A CableCARD is a device that will allow a CableCARD ready TV to operate digital cable without a set-top box.
23 TiVo Hacks
By 1.16.07
We know you people love the TiVo, so here is a link to a list of 23 “hacks” you can do to your TiVo to make it more awesome than it already is. Yippie!
TiVo Fast Forward Ads Are Back
By 1.15.07
- While not quite as bad as their original design, the fast forward ads are back. I was fast forwarding through the commercials of tonights episode of 24 and I noticed a still image applied over one of the commercials.
We don’t have a TiVo and we never have, but we understand that these ads annoy TiVo-ers. True?—MEGHANN MARCO
