TiVo to introduce PSP & video iPod transfers
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Nov 21st 2005 at 1:00PM }
TiVo has announced its latest feature, which will allow users to
transfer recorded television programs (in MPEG-4 format) to the Sony PSP—and Apple's new video iPod. The feature will
become available via software upgrade in the first quarter of 2006. However, subscribers will have to pay an additional
fee to unlock the feature, which is expected to be in the $15–30 price range.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jason w @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I havent paid Tivo a fee in years (free life time service). It may be a good idea to get this for the psp. If its a easy transfer I would love to check it out. Alot better than 20 dollard movies.
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
I was gonna say "SWEET!" b/c I could have tried it out on my g/f's TiVO unit...but when I read it was $15-30 (wtf?)
Something like that (especially this day and age) should cost next to nothing.
Zachary @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
And let me guess, we DirecTivo user are left out once again...damn you DirecTV, I want all this fun stuff!!
Blueman @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
$15-30 a month or a one-time fee?
DCFC Fan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
Tivo, great. Series 2 and TivoToGo, awesome. But I'm not paying an additional fee so they can continue to DRM me to death and transcode on it's own when I can easily do it in a few clicks.
And to think I was excited when I read the first mention of this story. If Tivo just said, look, here's an upgrade and we're taking donations to keep us in the black, I'd be much more apt to send them money, but don't nickel and dime me to death to add extra features. And yes, I'm sure they are giving a cut to others to be able to do this... It's just a shame they do this, on top of all the additional revenue streams they get that push movie promos and car commercials and Seinfeld boxed set plugs onto my machine.
Release a Tivo remote with a freaking "Off" or "Standby" button and I'll pay you the money. That would save me more time in the long run for pete's sake.
al d @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
If the software works well and the process is easy then it'll well be worth the $20(as a PSP owner). I mean it's 4 beers plus tip at the bar. BFD.
The Jeremy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:01PM
TiVo isn't nickle-and-diming you. The fee probably has to do with the costs associated with licensing the MPEG4 codecs necessary to do the transcoding. Obviously, a Series2 TiVo does not have MPEG4 codecs shipped.
Just remember that the Xbox does not ship with MPEG2 support because Microsoft refused to pay the licenses per machine shipped to offer out-of-the-box DVD support. That's why you have to buy the Xbox remote control to play DVDs on the machine. In reality, you are paying for the MPEG2 licenses because the remote is really a $3 rebranded GE remote control.
And just remember....TiVo barely scrapes by and just became profitable for the first time last quarter. Microsoft has about $40 billion in the bank due to its in-fact monopoly on computer operating systems and office software. Who is the cheapo company of the two?