Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

How Much Is HBO Worth?

Ben Drawbaugh, of Engadget HD, has decided HBO just isn’t worth $17/month. Ben’s something of a HD snob, which I characterize in the nicest way possible, and finds HBO “unwatchable” — preferring instead to rent or purchase higher quality Blu-ray discs. And has therefore cancelled his subscription.

By comparison, I’m much more tolerant of perhaps somewhat inferior audio/visual presentation… given sufficiently compelling content along with viewing flexibility. So I find HBO to be one of the best values in home entertainment, primarily due to HBO GO – which provides access to all of HBO’s original programming, think Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire, along with a small rotating selection of mainstream movies. HBO GO was originally streamed to mobile devices like the iPad or iPhone, but has branched out

Hack Your Apple TV

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Don Reisinger’s out with a column pitching the Xbox 360 as an Apple TV replacement. While we’re big fans of the 360 (and PS3) as an all-purpose digital media solution, it doesn’t offer the elegant simplicity of a Roku ($50 – $100) or Apple TV ($99). Further, once you add the remote and (recurring) Xbox Live annual subscription, even the base Xbox 360 console will run you about three times ($280) the cost of an aTV. And that power brick is still huge. For many, Netflix and YouTube are the streaming tentpole supplements to Apple’s iTunes ecosystem. And it’s really no longer the walled garden it once was with content partners such as NHL and Vimeo recently joining the solid prior lineup including MLB, Flickr, and podcast directory.

Having said that, for this class of device, I still generally prefer Roku over Apple TV given it’s broader catalog of content partner, USB drive support, and more traditional remote. And why I was thinking of picking up another Roku. But a few Twitter followers convinced me to jailbreak my Apple TV once again, instead of investing in another box. Once jailbroken, apps like XBMC and Plex allow you to get at the media on your home network… and in some cases, beyond. With relatively no downside.

Hacking Apple TV is ridiculously simple these days thanks to Seas0nPass.

Will it be Netflix vs. Amazon? Or OnLive?

While Netflix may or may not have gained paying streaming subscribers last quarter, they’ve clearly given up on the idea of peddling physical video game rentals. But, I have to wonder, if thinking games and given their current emphasis on digital delivery, might Netflix elbow into OnLive or Steam‘s territory at some point? In regards to … Read more

Is DirecTV Sabotaging TiVo?

On a few separate occasions over the last couple weeks, I’ve received both inquiries and accusations suggesting that DirecTV is out to get TiVo… given their underwhelming new DirecTV TiVo DVR. From our writeup last month:

It’s everything we expected, but nothing we hoped for. The unit features TiVo’s original standard definition user interface, now branded as their “Classic” UI, running on outdated DirecTV hardware. So it’s neither the best TiVo experience, nor is it the best DirecTV DVR.

Christopher Price of PhoneNews cornered TiVo at CES and pitched us with the provocative theory that “DTV is sabotaging TiVo by making their boxes inferior to DTV.” From his write-up lamenting DirecTV’s lack of TiVoToGo:

Representatives for TiVo blamed DirecTV squarely for not offering the technology on their units. TiVo even went as far as to say that they had offered DirecTV a solution that would ensure copy protection requirements for DirecTV, but that the service provider still mandated that TiVo remove TiVoToGo from the new generation of DirecTV-enabled TiVo HD units.

While many agree that this new DirecTV TiVo DVR isn’t very compelling, I find Chris’ theory of sabotage highly unlikely – verging on the preposterous. First, DirecTV and TiVo are not competitors. Second, DirecTV will take a bath if the deal doesn’t work out as they bankrolled development of this product and “has obligations to nationally market [TiVo], and those obligations are substantial.”

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Dear Content People, Please Let Me Pay You

As push back on the overly broad SOPA rages, outspoken investor and reluctant content pirate Fred Wilson once again emphasizes the challenges facing the content industry… and their potential customers.

Making movies is expensive and risky. I totally get that the studios need to make a lot of money on those movies to make their business model work. But denying customers the films they want, on the devices they want to watch them, when they want to watch them is not a great business model. It leads to piracy, as we have discussed here many times, but more importantly it also leads to the loss of a transaction to a competing form of entertainment.

While Fred primarily focuses his discussion on the studio release window (this time), consumer frustration extends to all sorts of global media. And, unfortunately, I doubt we’ll see an expeditious resolution given a still archaic licensing and distribution quagmire that still emphasizes the sale of physical goods.

I do see signs of forward progress, but it’s clearly gonna be a long slog. Like Fred and many of you, I find myself frequently frustrated.

TiVo Demos iPad Video Streaming

Hm, looks like TiVo’s got their own Apple-esque version of “one more thing” going on at CES this week. In addition to discussing the next Premiere DVR software update and Comcast Xfinity On Demand deployment plans, TiVo is demoing DVR video streaming to their iPad companion app. Wow! They’re describing this using terms such as “conceptual” and … Read more

From CES, What's Next For TiVo

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I’m not physically present in Vegas this year but, as part of the CES festivities, TiVo remotely briefed on their ongoing initiatives. Of course, here at ZNF, we’re most interested in the status of the retail TiVo Premiere DVR line over MSO partnerships. And last week TiVo unveiled a massive system software update in addition to an Android companion app. But what comes next?

TiVo has another significant Premiere software update in pipeline, scheduled for a spring delivery. In addition to my conversations with VP Jim Denney, RCN seemingly corroborates the timing – targeting a May release of software version 21. Building upon version 20, it sounds like we can expect additional under the hood codebase unification to more efficiently support various TiVo platforms and partners. More relevant to TiVo customers will be continued performance improvements and fleshing out of the high definition user interface (HDUI).

In terms of specific functionality, parental controls will make a return to the platform. However, it won’t be in the form of TiVo Kid Zone. In fact, as I’ve been speculating for months, I’m not certain TiVo will invest in rebuilding, what I assume is, a niche feature for the HDUI. Then again…

Vizio Takes On Apple TV

Vizio’s been talking up Google TV since CES 2011. Yet very little seemed to materialize last year and so 2012 looks to be the year they get serious… with the introduction of new Google TV-powered televisions, Blu-ray deck, and the “Stream Player” shown above. Building upon their VIA branding (as in Vizio Internet Apps ) and … Read more