WP: TiVo Unveils Portable Transfer Service

[DeepModem Mom]

TiVo Unveils Portable Transfer Service

By May Wong
The Associated Press
Monday, January 3, 2005; 7:13 AM


SAN JOSE, Calif. -- TiVo Inc. pioneered digital video recording as a new way of watching television - when you want it. Now it could be TV where you want it, too.

The long-awaited service feature called TiVoToGo, set to launch Monday, will give users their first taste of TiVo untethered.

No longer confined to TiVo digital video recorders in the living room or bedroom, subscribers will be able to transfer their recorded shows to PCs or laptops and take them on the road - as long as the shows are not specially tagged with copy restrictions. That's also the case for pay-per-view or on-demand movies, and some premium paid programming.

Users also will be able to copy shows onto a DVD - soon after but not immediately at the service launch, company officials said....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43994-2005Jan3.html

[Flammable Materials]

1. The TV and motion picture industry will guarantee ...

... that such a device is virtually unusable. Of course, by then, geeks will have figured out ways to hack the devices to override the restrictions. Then the networks and movie industries will sue the owners of websites that explain how to do it.

[AP]

2. If there's some way to make people watch the commercials...

...and if they don't let you rerecord the show (in the same way iTunes limits transfers) then broadcasters might not mind this.

[truthseeker1]

3. You already CAN do this

they're just going to make it easy for the masses

[brooklynite]

4. Wow....almost makes it as good as a Replay

...which has let you do this (along with file sharing) for years.