Incomplete Gamer

If you graced us with your presence over the last few days you might have stumbled across our last post – Ten Reasons to Skip Tivo’s Aussie launch. In the interest of fairness, and with less than a day until all is revealed, The Incomplete Gamer brings you Ten Reasons to forget everything we told you before. Some might call that fickle. We like to think of it as balanced coverage.

1. It just works. While we praise and recommend Tivo with an almost missionary zeal, all the while basking in the warmth of its technological wizardry; our two Series 1 Tivo units quietly go about their business recording our favourite shows and listing them for our viewing pleasure on the ‘Now Showing’ screen. Tivo is our best friend, no doubt about it, but it’s the end result – the recordings – that capture our hearts and minds. Like a kettle that boils water or a toaster that toasts, Tivo is a product that does what it was engineered to do but, in the case of Tivo, in an intuitive, reliable and intelligent fashion that very few products, past or present, have managed.

2: The Price is Right. Yes, we know we raised concerns that $700 seemed a little steep. However, it’s worth repeating that once you factor in what will effectively be the equivalent of the US ‘Product Lifetime Service’ Australia’s soon to arrive HD Tivo comes to market in Australia at a price only a few dollars above its US cousin. When was the last time the consumer saw such parity in pricing? Sorry Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo but we don’t see it in the video gaming industry. I’m afraid not Canon, Nikon and Pentax. The Aussie consumer is getting fleeced in that sector too. We’ve heard the reasons for price gouging enough times to repeat them verbatim: ‘Australia is a small PAL market‘; ‘It’s all about economies of scale‘; and don’t forget the ‘tyranny of distance – those shipping containers don’t get here by themselves’.

Which makes the reported $700 price point all the more remarkable. Any less than $700 and we’ll be tempted to buy two and, for good measure, contact our local member to put in a good mention for Tivo on the Australia Day honours list.

3: The Early Adopter gets the Worm spoils. You can wait until Christmas and watch on the sidelines or you can jump in with both feet right now and start reaping the benefits of Tivo ownership. The Americans have been enjoying Tivo for a good nine years already. Forget ‘early adopter’. We’re positively late to the party. Enough is enough. And as any early adopter knows there is a price to pay in missing out on the joys of ownership at launch. The general rule: calculate any decrease in RRP in the first six months, multiply by three and you’ll have a rough monetary (totally unscientific) idea of how much you’ve benefited over your more cautious colleagues and friends.

4. Padding. Shoulder pads? Bad. Padded wordy posts (sorry)? Bad. That extra padding around your waist? Bad. Tivo’s implementation of padding? Good. An electronic program guide (EPG), even one updated daily and with the support and cooperation of all the TV networks, is only one hundred per cent reliable if the Networks stick strictly to advertised start and finish times. But they don’t – as a result of the vagaries of live broadcasts, occasional unscheduled news events, but mainly as a result of deliberate attempts by the Networks to gain commercial advantage. Push the finishing time back and your viewers will be less likely to change to another network if the other networks have already commenced broadcasting the next thirty minute or sixty minute block of programing. Similarly, such sneaky efforts frustrate and discourage the consumer who attempts to record their favourite shows only to discover they’ve missed the first few minutes or worse still, the last five. Enter Tivo stage left. With the proven ability to easily and automatically increase the recording length of individual scheduled recordings, you’ll never be left wondering how it ended.

5. The Power of 7. It’s easy to paint the TV Networks as out of touch, stupid and slow to react to the technological changes sweeping the world. Yes, we could all do a better job of Network Programming than the current hacks. Seriously, how hard is it to sign up an exclusive programming deal with HBO and J. J. Abrams, and then always screen the shows in Prime Time on the same day of the week?

Seven’s partnership with Tivo is the first real sign that an Australian TV Network recognises that while the internet has the power to reshape and transform television viewing, the Networks can actively redefine their role in the new world order beyond simply creating internet portals with limited and tightly controlled video content. If intelligent PVR’s are the future of TV viewing (and Seven is clearly betting that they are), then Seven will be committed to ensuring that Tivo is, and remains, the best PVR on the market. Forget concerns that Seven has somehow crippled the Tivo. Seven would no more do that than harm Gold Logie winner Kate Ritchie.

6. Gerry Harvey. Sure we were concerned that Harvey Norman had stitched up an exclusive three month window to sell Tivo. But these reservations don’t extend to billionaire Gerry Harvey (Harvey Norman co founder and Executive Chairman), one of Australia’s most successful retail operators. Now Gerry is fond of the horses. With over 600 thoroughbred horses in his stables he is reported to be one of the largest breeders in the world. Clearly Gerry believes he’s onto a sure fire winner with Tivo, and based on the wealth Gerry has amassed and the success he has achieved, it would be a brave man who bet against him.

7. The Fallacy of the ‘Commercial Skipping’ Function. We’ll know more about this come Tuesday but there’s been much concern that somehow Channel Seven will cripple the Tivo’s ability to skip commercials, and that without a dedicated 30 second skip function, the Tivo will be dead in the water. Not true. The Incomplete Gamer’s Series 1 Tivo’s are all capable of the 30 second skip trick, but the fact is we don’t use it. We find the on-screen Fast Forward function just as quick, easy, accurate and effective.. Our Incomplete Gamer tip: They won’t remove the Fast Forward button.

8. What Bugs. PVR’s might be an emerging market sector in Australia but the HD Tivo that is about to launch a frontal assault on your lounge room is a third generation PVR – nine years in the making. Its upgradeable firmware is less about removing bugs and more about an evolving powerful operating system that provides a richer feature set with every revision.

9. A great Month to Queue. No one said you could only line up in one queue this month. Yes the Apple iPhone is launching this month, but we can’t think of a better bit of kit to share the limelight with our beloved Tivo. And not just because Apple, like Tivo, has built it’s success on innovation and usability. The synergy goes much deeper. If you want to take advantage of your iPhone’s excellent portable video playing capabilities you’ll need some content to take on the road. Tivo’s Tivo Desktop Plus software will seamlessly copy, convert and transfer your recordings to your device of choice including the iPhone.

10. But Wait..There’s More. In less than 24 hours, the time for speculation will be over. We’ll know exactly what we’ll be getting, when we’ll be getting it and how much we’ll be forking over for the privilege.

One last bit of advice. Don’t buy Tivo for Tivo’s sake. Don’t jump onboard the Tivo bandwagon simply because Sex and the City’s Miranda loved her Tivo (It always new what she wanted.) Tivo has become an American cultural icon for one simple reason. Plain and simple, Tivo is one of the best Digital Video Recorders on the market.

DISCLOSURE: The Incomplete Gamer loves Tivo; unashamedly, unreservedly, absolutely. We’re even on record as such. Tivo’s built a reputation on three features. It boasts what is quite possibly the world’s most user-friendly interface. Not only is the UI intuitive, it’s incredibly powerful as well. Combine those features with a reputation for reliability and you have one solid Hard Disc Recorder.

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