TiVo Community Forums Archives - Putting a face on TiVo

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Putting a face on TiVo
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Posted by: dswallow

This past weekend I was reflecting on the TiVo community that's devedloped out of the product and thought that perhaps one of the many reasons it elicits such a personal evangelistic feeling is that the TiVo product in a sense does have a face. It's not just a "machine."

From the moment one begins interacting with the equipment, you're taught to deal with the equipment as if it were a thinking individual. My CD player plays CD's. My VCR plays and records video, but my TiVo accumulates things for me that it thinks I'll like.

That cutesy little TiVo character may have a lot to do with the evangelistic attitude of many TiVo users.

It's not just a utilitarian device. The subtleties of the user interface and of the sound effects all add to the experience of TiVo being something more.

And that's a good thing.

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Doug Swallow
doug@2150.com

Posted by: shabadoo25

That's one of the reasons it's so hard to market. The closest thing you can compare it to is a vcr, but that's like comparing a big wheel to a Ferrari.

Posted by: oosik77

Hmmmmmm new ad slogan?

TiVo or a VCR? That's like asking Ferrari or Big Wheel.

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I'm Porky Pig of Borg you will be assim-assim-assim- absorbed.

Posted by: Ereth

"So, then, this new airplane -- The Concorde?, which costs way more than a 747, what does it do again?"

"Well, it lets you fly from New York to London--"

"A 747 can do that, and cheaper!"

"Well, yeah, it's just that the Concorde does it faster and easier. So it's better."

"Hmmph! A 747 is pretty fast and it's cheap, and besides I already have one. I don't need one of those Concordes. That's probably just for gadget freaks."

Hmmm. Guess it's a good thing average TV consumers don't decide what airplanes get built.

Posted by: Scutter

Perhaps, but the Concorde was an elitist mode of transport. The cost was prohibitive for all but the very rich.

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http://tivo.pineaus.com

TiVo Army of One
We record more before 9 AM than most people record all day.

Posted by: Ereth

$1000 Tivos were cost prohibitive a couple years ago.

And Concorde is not as expensive as you make it out to be. Sure, it's 3 times as much as a comparable flight on that 747, but that hardly means you have to be "very rich" to fly on it (unless you mean regularly fly on it). $1800 to cross the pond is high, yes, but not out of the means of even the moderately well off, if they wanted to save for it.

With VCRs at $100 and Tivos at $300-$400 I thought the comparison rather apt. Yes, it's 3 times as much as the technology it replaces, but it is SO much better it's worth the price.