[ExtractStream] Re: My Dangerous Idea - A technical question, not a legal question

[Carlos Fernández Sanz]

Eric,

> > I certainly don't want to be the cause of Tivo changing their business
> > model even if I think it couldn't be worse.
>
> Why not? (That's a serious question, not an off hand dismissal.)

Because Tivo is a company I like and respect. I only try to change the
business model of the companies I don't like (by not buying their product).
They made a great product which happens to come with the big extra of a
linux inside. I don't want to abuse it.

> > Well, if they required the subscription that means they would force
> > international hackers to subscribe to a service they don't need, plus of
> > course they would have to let Tivo dial international.
>
> No. They should expand their service to cover international areas.

No, why? There are lots of countries where it wouldn't make a business
sense. As any business, they will expand to the areas they think they will
make the most profit from, and as resources allow. I certainly don't expect
Tivo to arrive to Spain any time soon.

> The amount of bandwidth required for this is not so large. Getting and
> organizing international TV listings can't be all that hard, assuming you

It's not only listings. Hardware is different, too. For example here we have
two digital platforms which share the market, and they would need to support
both. Which is hard to do because some people have both decoders and of
course would like to switch channels and record with Tivo.

> No. The guide data could be easily supplimented with additional info.
> Let's face it. The data Tivo provides isn't bad, but it's not so great.

It has problems but unless service quality has dramatically dropped since I
left the US it was very good.

> is, and I meant it very positively. It's this gated community he's
> trying to work within that I object to. And it's not just because I'm

Um...actually Tridge is way above the rest of the "gated community". He
shares his stuff with us.

> > You are being totally unfair. Have you tried to expand the functionality
> > of your regular VCR?
>
> No.
>
> > If not, why?
>
> Becuase the hardware doesn't lend itself to that. A VCR is a very limited

That you don't know for sure since you don't have the specs.

> The Tivo is not in that class. It's a general purpose machine, with a

It has never been sold as such.

Regards,
Carlos