Industry Archives - Page 139 of 145

Nielsen Television Commercial Survey

I was asked to participate in an online Nielsen survey evaluating two television commercials. I don’t watch many commercials these days thanks to TiVo and Netflix, but figured I’d take the time since Nielsen would inadvertently compensate me with a post. ;)

The first was a short, innocuous ad for Glad Press’n Seal which was could be pretty interesting if you’re into new forms of cling wrap. I generally avoid the kitchen and have a feeling Glad charges a premium, so I wasn’t overly compelled to go shopping.

The second commercial was for Celebrex, that prescription pain medication. I wasn’t paying very close attention until they said one possible side effect is death. I’m not an advertising expert, but it seems to me if your product may kill someone and you’re legally bound to disclose that… maybe, just maybe, a television commercial isn’t the correct venue for advertising. The Nielsen survey did ask if I would request Celebrex from my doctor (no) and what I remembered most from the commercial (death).

It’s also worth pointing out the freaky pictograms (see below) used to describe my emotional response. I’m not entirely sure what that middle one with the sunny-side-up-egg-in-stomach indicates, though the explosion clearly represents IBS.

Best Buy Unveils HD DVD (And I Don’t Care)

The first HD DVD player is now for sale at my local Best Buy (Washington, DC), though they have no DVDs to go along with it. In fact, they didn’t even have a sample HD disc in the demo unit. The Toshiba HD-A1 is pretty bulky, even larger than the initial batch of first gen DVD players, but the remote is sexy. At $499 with a questionable improvement in picture quality, potentially restrictive HDMI requirements, and unhacked copy protection I’ll be on the sidelines for at least a year. By the time I get onboard, perhaps dual HD DVD/Blu-ray players will exist or maybe one format will have been decided upon… Yeah, right!

1080p Over Rated?

Here’s an interesting article which summarizes 1080p, provides a few set reviews, and defines wobulation. It’s a good read, especially if you’re considering a big-ticket HDTV purchase in the near future. They pretty much conclude unless you’re sitting very close to a large screen and have perfect vision you may not notice much difference between … Read more

TiVo Sends Echostar Packing

This just in… TiVo won their patent infringement case versus Echostar! Once the dust settles and more details emerge, I’ll update this post. Update 1: The Wall Street Journal, AP, and Bloomberg are reporting the award is $74 million. I haven’t found out yet what this means for current Dish DVR units. Apparently the judge … Read more

TiVo And DirecTV Extend Pact

Huge, huge news! While not unexpected given DTV’s slow start in transitioning customers off to TiVo and the associated expenses, this is very good news for both TiVo as a company and for DirecTV TiVo customers. The original agreement was set to expire in about a year, at which point TiVo would have stopped providing … Read more

TiVo Echostar Round 1 Heads To Jury

To recap: TiVo has sued Echostar for infringing on their “time warping” patent. After a delay last fall, the trial finally began about two weeks ago. Echostar has focused their defense on Dish DVR’s technical variations (“media switch“) while TiVo has been playing the role of David (versus Goliath) and is seeking $87 million in … Read more

TiVo Goes To War

As many of you know, the next two weeks are critical in determining TiVo Inc’s future. If they are able to prevail in defending their “time warp” patent versus Dish Network, with court proceedings beginning today, TiVo should be able to work out royalty arrangements with other DVR providers – in or out of the … Read more

TiVo KidZone: The Experience

If you’ve been following along, you know TiVo was in Washington, DC this week to announce two new KidZone developments — the addition of Parents’ Choice Foundation for content suggestions and the ability of KZ to identify and record E/I programming. I got in touch with TiVo last week and reminded them I live in the area (and clean up pretty well). They were very cool in giving me the green light to attend what turned out to be an exclusive gathering of only a few dozen people including CEO Tom Rogers and Congressman Fred Upton. On behalf of the blogosphere, I thank you TiVo (and Thomas Hawk)!

When I originally learned of KidZone I was underwhelmed. After all, what do I care about parental controls — I don’t have children and I don’t have any immediate reproductive plans. Why aren’t these guys working on my VOD and Series 3? Having learned more and allowing this initiative to percolate for awhile, I’ve changed my tune… perhaps this is bigger than we thought. KidZone now strikes me a positive and powerful strategic move by TiVo of furthering Rogers’ goal of differentiating themselves from generic DVR offerings. With both public and political scrutiny of television programming recently, TiVo is using this functionality to command attention and align themselves with powerful allies (as in Congress). This kind of exposure will surely help in marketing themselves as a software solution to cable companies and in limiting customer defections. I’m not sure how many boxes KidZone will move on its own, but TiVo has picked up a new set of vocal evangelists by partnering with these various watchdog groups.