It's a sad day when you see a true technology pioneer jump on the bandwagon. Tivo has said that it will support downloads from the web with a new software offering; this comes month after its supposed 'deal' with Brightcove that seems to have been nothing more than a hyped up press release since no mention is now made of support for the Flash format.
Users may want three things from such a service:
1. To organise all their content in one place
2. To have a friendly interface onto content
3. To present content onto TV screens rather than a PC screen
Without seeing the new Tivo service I can't comment on how many of the above are achieved.
What is concerning is that many people in the sector are hanging on to the notion that TV is different from IPTV.
We're moving towards a world where there will be one pipe into the home carrying two or three channels which are switched at source. These can be copied locally or just accessed remotely whenever the viewer wants. Everything else is an interim technology. Of course, Tivo has the problem that all of this reduces the usefulness of their box. At least support for downloads is a belated step in the right direction.
Users may want three things from such a service:
1. To organise all their content in one place
2. To have a friendly interface onto content
3. To present content onto TV screens rather than a PC screen
Without seeing the new Tivo service I can't comment on how many of the above are achieved.
What is concerning is that many people in the sector are hanging on to the notion that TV is different from IPTV.
We're moving towards a world where there will be one pipe into the home carrying two or three channels which are switched at source. These can be copied locally or just accessed remotely whenever the viewer wants. Everything else is an interim technology. Of course, Tivo has the problem that all of this reduces the usefulness of their box. At least support for downloads is a belated step in the right direction.
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