Incomplete Gamer

Two days post launch and the dust has begun to settle. At the risk of having to rename the site The Incomplete TiVo (TM Pending) , we’re posting another TiVo item for your reading pleasure.

Now the TiVo critics would argue that TiVo and Seven barely raised any dust when they launched the TiVo on Monday. Certainly tech blog Gizmodo didn’t bother hiding its lack of excitement when it posted it’s coverage: TiVo Gets Announced… Does Anybody Care? Apparently not if the Gizmodo readership (or more accurately the ones willing to post) are any indication, however as one dissenting pro-TiVo poster, Ben Anderson noted “TiVo was never intended for the tech-minded on a gadget website”.

Adam Turner, writing for ITWire, distinguished his report both by his enthusiasm for the TiVo and by actually managing to sound like he covered the event in person, and we’d highly recommend his wrap-up of the event. According to Adam, “…from my first play the TiVo seems to already be an awesome Personal Video Recorder. Unless you’re prepared to buy or build a media centre computer, TiVo could be the closest you’ll find to the perfect lounge room companion.”

The Gadget Guy is full of praise for the TiVo, but let’s face it, the Seven Sunrise connection is so strong, we’re afraid Pete will be perceived as impartial a commentator as Kochie, when it comes to TiVo. Much as we appreciate the early report, we are looking forward to reading some independent reviews.

Mixed Messages: Seems JB HiFi is having a bet each way. At first it seemed that JB HiFi Chairman, chief executive, Richard Uechtritz, wasn’t a fan of the TiVo. Initial reports quoted him as saying that TiVo “wasn’t up to scratch specs-wise and price-wise“, but according to SmartHouse, by Wednesday afternoon Richard was having a change of heart. This suggests to The Incomplete Gamer (we’re smart like that) that JB HiFi’s position was more about missing out on the exclusive TiVo sales window, than the relative merits of TiVo’s latest Aussie offering.

On-line Roundup. Google is still your best friend when it comes to rounding up all the online coverage. Much of the reporting has been framed as a battle between Foxtel and TiVo, partly because Seven came out with some fighting words on Monday about the merits or otherwise of Foxtel, and partly one suspects because of the simple fact that there are a number of media outlets with stakes in either the Pay TV or Free-to-Air TV camps. As a result there’s been much negative reporting and the words “crippled’, “hobbled”, or “otherwise impaired’ have become the web’s hottest tag of the week. Having said that, while it was hard to find too many good things being said in the News Ltd stable of media outlets, The Adelaide Advertiser’s ‘Move over Foxtel IQ2, here comes TiVo’ was almost more upbeat than the Channel Seven press release, saying, “DIGITAL recording device TiVo HD – which has been hugely successful in the United States – will be available in Australia at the end of this month”

Speaking of the official press release, if you’re after more details of the launch you can get the propaganda information straight from Seven’s corporate headquarters.

• Tivo Frequently asked Questions
• Seven brings the TiVo HD DVR to Australia
• Australians are now in full control of television with the TiVo HD DVR

Back to Adam Turner, this time writing for Hydrapinion, who openly admits “…I seem to be one of the few journalists who think its (TiVo’s) strengths outweigh its weaknesses..” Adam goes on to conclude that “You may love your PVR and IceTV, and hate the networks, but you have to face the fact that the TiVo is the best PVR in Australia for non-technical users. Just because you wouldn’t buy one doesn’t mean it’s junk.

One last thing: Here at The Incomplete Gamer, we’ve never launched a toy helicopter let alone a major international brand so take this with a pinch of salt but it does seem extremely odd that mytivo.com.au the Australian Tivo website hasn’t seen a flicker of activity for months.

Now we know there’s a dire IT skills shortage and I’m sure Channel Seven are busy unloading the pallets of shiny new TiVos as we speak, but it is a bit hard to believe that they didn’t leave one person back at the office to work on the web. The site proclaims that it is (2008) the Year of TiVo, but the rate we’re going, the year will be over and the site will still be sitting still adrift and unloved like a modern day virtual Mary Celeste.

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