Zatz Not Funny!

Picture of the Day: South Park HD

TiVo Q4: Turned The Corner? Low Cost HD Box Cometh?

One stockholder’s take…

Our initial impression after reading TiVo’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings release and listening to yesterday’s conference call is that the company may finally have its financial feet under it. While it will take some time to fully digest the financials and commentary, we think it will be increasingly hard for any lingering doomsayers to argue that TiVo is a failing enterprise. Continued growth, improving financials, and the impending MSO rollouts tell us that TiVo will be around for many years to come, and may even begin to thrive.

Some highlights:

BrightCove Adds Editing Features

David Berlind reported last week on BrightCove‘s new, not-yet-released AfterMix application, but I haven’t seen much else in the way of coverage. According to Berlind, Aftermix has two important new features: it lets consumers “record video directly to the Web” and, like Jumpcut, it adds video editing capabilities. (Photo below is also from Berlind’s blog) … Read more

Cellphone DVR Scheduling For Homezone, TiVo

AT&T Homezone customers will able to…

use their mobile handsets to remotely view listings and schedule or delete recordings from their DVR set-top boxes. All that is needed is a WAP 2.0-enabled handset that lets subscribers access the AT&T-Yahoo portal.

As soon as I read that, my immediate thought was: Where’s the TiVo Verizon Java scheduling widget? Well, PVRWire reports something may be announced shortly:

Next week Verizon and Vodafone will launch a service allowing customers to program TiVo units by phone. Sprint plans to enter the remote recording market later this year.

Barenaked and DRM-Free

According to TechCrunch, Amie Street has licensed Nettwerk’s catalog. First to launch will be the new Barenaked Ladies album. Amie Street provides DRM-free MP3s with an escalating pricing scheme: Tracks are initially free and increase in price in relation to download numbers, capped at 98 cents a pop. I wonder what Dale Dietrich’s take is? … Read more

Amazon Unbox on TiVo is LIVE

Megazone dropped me a note that Amazon Unbox on TiVo has been enabled. I immediately registered and ordered A Scanner Darkly ($3.99) through Amazon’s web site – video to be shipped direct to my Series3 via the Internet. Within just a minute or two the download began…

If you register on Amazon to link your TiVo box(es) before April 30th, you’ll receive a $15 video credit. So we’ll find out pretty quickly (and for free) if the size of the library and if the video quality (SD) are both sufficient.

The Day the Music Died

Many, many people have covered this story, but in case you haven’t seen it here, here or here, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has made a significant change in its rate scheme which, if upheld, will result in substantial royalty increases – enough to kill off most Internet music services.

From GigaOM, here’s what Tim Westergren of Pandora had to say:

“Left unchanged, it’s over for us and every other internet radio service, period. Makes it un-viable,” Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren wrote in an email. “We’re staying online because we’re hopeful that sanity will eventually win out. This is a ludicrous ruling.”

Read more

Macrovision Signs Netflix and BitTorrent

Macrovision put out a press release indicating that their copy protection is making its way into a variety of online download services. Netflix, BitTorrent, Movielink and Instant Media will all employ Macrovision’s Analog Copy Protection (ACP) technology as part of their distribution of movies and videos on their websites. Macrovision’s ACP technology helps online video … Read more