LUIGIDOLLOSA

10754903

TIVO

1.] TiVo was mistakenly considered a threat by networks.

The last interview bits were very informative as how TiVo had gotten away from the ensuing friction against media networks and companies. As we are all aware of the functions of TiVo, being a DVR, it has the propensity to be labeled by TV networks as a threat due to their ‘stealing’ of airtime property. At first, they had the first-hand offshoot of lawsuits being filed against Ramsay and company since the technology fundamentally possesses the intrusive capabilities of manipulating collected TV program data. Later on, they were fortunate as the real evil party had surfaced through the eyes of the media companies, in the name of ReplayTV, and this instigated the series of ill-timed happenings that soon paved way for its downfall in its area in the market industry. TiVo had a fairly valid service, whereas ReplayTV had hit a below the belt maneuver for implementing its skip the ad feature, which was detrimental to the advertising and marketing areas of the entire network company community. Networks had a wrong first impression with TiVo for they later found themselves investing on it as they saw its real potential, value, and benefit for the market. After which, a settled win-win scenario permeated both parties, TiVo and the network establishments, going hand in hand in delivering the best viewing pleasure for home clients. Replay was given their right dose of consequence, a result of their intense competitiveness which was wrongly translated to wrong ideas and which triggered lawsuits and finally their anticipated collapse. TiVo was deemed as a threat at the early stage but they triumphed in their biggest turning point.

2.] TiVo was advanced of its time.

The most interesting bit on this interview was that I didn’t have prior knowledge on TiVo and I was totally unaware that such technology has been already out there in parts of the globe since 1999. Perhaps, it is just not shipped in the Philippines which is why I am ignorant of the existing product. I even can’t believe that an advancement brought about by TiVo was already thought out and invented 10 years ago that I was thinking that it can be probably be just a recent developing domain of research. Certainly, TiVo is a splendid client product, for it not just a complex technical manipulation but also a home service or product that would definitely cater to more convenient amusement and leisure time for avid TV enthusiasts. Another point to bring up is the fact that it was entirely distinct from what VCRs could offer, and it was a huge blunder to consider it at first glance to be technologically similar. TiVo’s capacity was beyond that, it was a VCR with time-shifting features and a home-based entertainment interface. I could really bring up the notion that it was advanced of its period by reason of its can-it-really-do-this capabilities. Even the first investors were attracted to the concept, and they were these so-called ‘visionaries’; it might be the future of viewing entertainment. To add, due to the very abstract nature of its forming, they hired the brightest engineers who were admittedly engrossed with the complex technicality for it to become an actual possibility. The ‘beauty’ of TiVo’s technology radiates to the user experience as people become aware of the vast limits of hardware engineering being integrated to home entertainment.

3.] Challenges magnetize real critical thinkers.

Just to further add to the point I held in the previous paragraph, the key to success for Ramsay and his TiVo is that he attracted sharp minds because of what he envisioned for his DVR, low-cost pioneer entertainment system for homes. As I can recall, this point is magnified on the earlier parts of the interview wherein Ramsay mentions of TiVo being a forerunner, in its own right, that became an avenue for great ‘manipulators’ at that time to contribute to a single yet highly technical innovation. TiVo had many functions that at that time were pretty challenging because of the limited resources and undertaken research. In fact, the story of Ramsay was something you can call ‘creative’ due to the number of the patents they filed along the development process. And it was also challenging, for TiVo, before being shaped to its true form on launching date, had experienced a lot of trial and error experimentation and testing. It is this whole story of innovation, challenge, pursuit for the vision, and merging of efforts and minds that let TiVo set a wide vista of trends on home entertainment mixed with up-to-date information technology.