Big Brother
PVRs enhance the TV experience, but who’s watching?
Maury Wright

Welcome to the world of digital personal video recorders (PVRs). Pioneered by TiVo and Replay, PVRs claim to revolutionize the TV experience, allowing viewers to effortlessly watch what they want, when they want.

They also do one other thing. For the first time, someone else can potentially monitor exactly what you watch. Privacy proponents believe the products might cross an ethical line by cataloging viewers' habits. Replay and TiVo claim to respect the privacy of their customers. On the other hand, the two clearly intend to leverage their close ties to the consumer to make money.

With PVRs making regular news and with prices dropping, I set out to get hands-on answers to a number of questions. I wanted to use the devices and develop an opinion as to just how compelling they are—validate the product concept, so to speak. I also wanted to see how I'd feel about Big Brother watching. Finally, having the advantage of being a journalist, I wanted to ask the vendors just how they might plan to use what's arguably private information.

For those who don't know, a PVR uses computer technology and a hard disk to encode and store video. While watching a live program via a PVR, you can hit pause—to take a phone call for instance. Return a few minutes later and you can resume watching where you left off. You can even fast-forward through commercials and catch up with the live feed. The digital video industry refers to these functions as "trick features."

Any number of video devices, such as set-top boxes, may offer trick features going forward, but the PVR concept goes much deeper. The real differentiator for Replay and TiVo is services—presenting an accurate programming schedule and providing databases that help users search for programs they want to record. Watch out, TV Guide. For example, you can use the remote and an on-screen keyboard to enter "Friends," and the PVR will present a list of every scheduled episode. You can choose to record a single show or recurring shows.

About now, you may be wondering whether TiVo and Replay are in fact services or products. Well, early on, both companies turned out PVRs emblazoned with their own names. But now both have turned the manufacturing over to consumer-electronics companies. Panasonic is now the sole provider of Replay products with its Showstopper line, though Sharp has announced it will also build a Replay system. Philips was first to market with a TiVo box, and now Sony offers one as well.

Phone home

For devices that were conceived and developed separately, TiVo and Replay have amazing similarities. Both machines must be connected to a phone line. Both make late-night phone calls to update their programming information. Both can receive software upgrades in this same manner. And as privacy proponents point out, both can potentially upload viewer habits as well.

TiVo and Replay connect into the home-entertainment system in similar fashions. Panasonic's Showstopper can accept three inputs (one NSTC and two composite) while the two TiVo products are limited to two inputs (one NTSC and one composite). All the units integrate a cable-ready tuner for the NTSC input. All the PVRs seamlessly integrate programming from different sources. For example, with the Panasonic and Philips units I've tested, my cable channels show up on channels 1 through 100 and the DirecTV channels from 101 through 1000. One remote controls the entire operation.

SHOW PIECES: With a minimum of buttons and no flashy readouts, Philips’ TiVo unit (bottom) and the Replay box look unassuming. But they both contain compelling powers.

The PVRs control satellite or cable set-top boxes either through the serial input some boxes have or by controlling an infrared emitter that sits near the satellite or cable box, feeding it appropriate commands. One caveat to the latter approach: Neither PVR can turn my DirecTV box on, though they will accurately change channels once the receiver is running.

Installing a PVR is akin to setting up a VCR, although configuration can be quite a bit more complex. The audio and video connections are pretty simple. Trust me, however, that if you want to install a PVR in a multi-input, multi-output, switch-box-enabled system that's optimized for college football Saturdays, then you'll need a couple of hours and a run to Radio Shack for additional cables.

The configuration stage is something most consumers have never faced before, and it runs counter to the vendors' desire to give customers a great out-of-box experience. Both the TiVo and Replay units require you to use rather cryptic interfaces and a remote control for configuration.

First, you must laboriously detail your hardware configuration. Moreover, you must enter a zip code so that the PVR can discover who provides your local cable service or what local stations are available over the air. You also have to identify which, if any, satellite service you have.

All in all, this process is more monotonous than difficult. After that, however, you'll experience significantly different scenarios with the Replay and TiVo units. TiVo takes the basic location information you enter and makes its first call home. The user manual and screen message both claim the process takes under 15 minutes, but for me it took well over half an hour. The TiVo wasn't "online" the entire time, but once it disconnected it spent significant time processing the downloaded data.

TiVo then asks you to precisely identify your cable package and satellite service. You then have to detail the channels you receive. In my case, for example, I had to identify all of the DirecTV programming to which I subscribe, or rather delete the channels I don't receive. You could skip the last step, but if you don't identify the channels you either don't get or never watch, that unneeded data will clutter the programming guide.

After completing this second interactive session with TiVo, the device calls home again. The manual and on-screen messages pegged this call at 20 minutes, but it took well over an hour in my case. However, the most discouraging part was yet to come.

Go to dinner?

Once the second call completed, TiVo indicated it once again needed to process the downloaded data. The screen indicated that the TiVo would spend more than 600 minutes in this data-processing mode—10 more hours before the user can play with the new toy. Jim Barton, TiVo's co-founder and CTO, says the company advises users to "go to dinner" when they reach this point. I guess I should have gotten a room as well.

Replay turned out to be pleasantly different. The Panasonic Showstopper made a single quick call. Then I chose my service providers and configured my inputs. After a total of 15 to 20 minutes, I was all set. However, the Replay install simply assumes you receive every channel the cable company and/or satellite provider offers. After the initial configuration, you can use menus to indicate the channels you either don't receive or never watch.

Having used the Panasonic and Philips units for about a month, I'm convinced the trick features are reason enough for many consumers to buy a PVR. When you're trying to watch half a dozen college football games at once (I realize not every consumer does this), having different games running through both the PVRs is a real hoot. During the commercial breaks and timeouts in a live game, I can jump over to one of the PVR'ed games and catch up, using fast-forward between plays.

The Showstopper is clearly superior to the TiVo when it comes to trick functions. The remote control is slightly larger, but is easier to use and sports more functions. Moreover, the Replay remote has a dedicated button that skips forward in 30-second increments—perfect for jumping commercials.

The PVR's most intriguing promise is its ability to capture programs and watch them on your own schedule. Here again, the TiVo and Replay approaches diverge. Replay provides more robust search capabilities, although it expects the user to ultimately choose what will be recorded. TiVo provides less capable searches, but also learns the user's preferences and records programming based on this history.

Consider a simple search. Enter "City" and TiVo gives you only shows that start with that word, while Replay finds Spin City and others as well. Replay also allows you to search by actor or even director name. However, even Replay isn't perfect. When I entered "70" it turned up nothing, despite the fact that That 70s Show was scheduled that night. With both units, you can also scroll though the on-screen programming guide to choose shows. You can also set both units to record the old fashioned way, by specifying time and channel.

Despite my initial uneasiness about TiVo deciding what I might want to watch, I've come to believe that the feature is valuable, although it may need some refinement. TiVo has figured out that I like football (duh), but it can't tell the difference between a live game and a taped replay, nor can it distinguish college from pro. It also knows I watch food shows, and on that basis has decided that it must record a Spanish-language cooking show that airs each morning.

TiVo learns your viewing habits in the background, although you can hasten the process by pressing "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" buttons on the remote. Overall, I find that TiVo snags something I want to see about one out of 10 tries, but it never overwrites something that I've asked it to record with one of its own picks. It's kind of like opening a present to see what awaits you on the "Now Showing" menu.

Pet peeves

Both machines have some annoying characteristics, some of which relate to the immaturity of the products and others of which simply must have been oversights.

First, TiVo, Replay, and their manufacturing partners offer very little help on their Web sites. Instead, they point you to the AVS Forum (www.avsforum.com), which is almost a necessity for PVR users. TiVo and Replay customer-service employees frequent bulletin boards on that site, and it seems that for both companies, this constitutes customer support.

My complaints about the actual products start with the fact that TiVo has no power switch on the box or the remote. Moreover, there's nothing readily accessible in the manual about powering the unit down. The product is designed to run continuously, but consumers just won't get the lack of a power switch. My TiVo has also unexpectedly locked up a few times, necessitating a power cycle. Based on my online research, such problems aren't uncommon.

The biggest complaint you hear among the enthusiastic PVR user communities concerns the lack of an upgrade path. Both TiVo and Replay have promised that users would be able to add capacity to their PVRs, presumably via additional or larger disk drives. Now it appears such upgrades won't be coming, at least not from official channels. When asked about the situation, TiVo's Barton claims that the cost would be so high that consumers might as well buy new units.

Replay has been slightly more sympathetic. According to Mark Stratton, senior vice president of product marketing, Replay offered registered customers who bought early 14-hour units an opportunity to keep those units and receive a greater than 30 percent discount on an additional 30-hour unit. Replay also included an IEEE 1394 connector on early units, which presumably would have allowed links to external storage devices. But the connector is missing from new Showstoppers.

Both companies claim external storage creates a problem because it would allow copyrighted material to pass across an unprotected digital interface. I don't see how that's a problem today, given that the data already exists in an analog, unencoded state when the PVR receives it. But in the future, such security concerns will be valid because PVRs that are integrated into satellite receivers or digital set-top boxes will receive and store original digital content.

TiVo users can, however, make low-cost but unofficial upgrades. TiVo is nothing more than a Linux system, and the hacker community has developed techniques that let you not only expand storage to beyond 100 hours, but also connect a terminal and use the TiVo as a Linux computer, or convert a Philips TiVo to a Sony or vice versa. These hacks clearly void the TiVo warranty, and it's unclear whether TiVo will service hacked boxes. Moreover, some of the upgrade procedures sound problematic, including the removal of an interface cable from a disk drive after power on. Finally, it's not clear whether hacked units will continue to work once TiVo makes a major software upgrade later this year.

Barton won't comment openly about the hacker community other than to thank it for finding bugs. But he does point out that TiVo will be enhancing security as necessary to protect digital content. In other words, the ready access to a TiVo disk drive that hackers have today could become legally problematic once that drive stores protected digital content.

Multilevel marketing

As one might expect, TiVo and Replay also have similar but different business models. TiVo units generally sell for $200 less than Replay units with equivalent recording capacity. Right now you can get a 30-hour TiVo unit for $399, while a 30-hour Replay box costs $599. But Replay has pledged that its service will be free forever. TiVo, meanwhile, gives you the option of paying $10 a month, $100 a year, or $200 for life. Multi-TiVo households pay full fare for each unit, and a lifetime agreement applies only to the specific unit for which it was purchased.

TiVo openly admits that the monthly fees subsidize its PVRs. Replay claims that its manufacturing partners are planning to make a profit simply selling the hardware. It's not publicly known whether Replay is currently subsidizing Showstopper to help boost sales, or whether Panasonic and others will ultimately pay a royalty to Replay.

Both TiVo and Replay, however, are looking at other revenue streams. Replay has signed a deal with Universal Pictures to deliver movie trailers and ads directly to the PVR. Privacy advocates worry, however, that the companies could sell detailed demographics, or at least use their knowledge to direct advertisers in a much more targeted fashion than has ever been possible before. At the beginning of this article, I vowed to get some answers about how the companies plan to use their goldmines of viewing-habit data. Unfortunately, I failed in that quest, despite pressing multiple company representatives in multiple interviews. They're just not saying. Both companies simply maintain that they are not uploading detailed viewing habits and will respect user privacy.

Aside from the viewing-habit data, however, I can easily imagine other business opportunities, especially for a PVR that also has broadband Internet access. TiVo and Replay could themselves become purveyors of premium content. Morgan Gunther, TiVo's vice president of business development, paints a bandwidth-based business model. A user who wants to watch a movie or live event immediately might pay $15 for the privilege, while other users who could stand to wait might pay less.

TiVo ultimately plans to store way more than video on its PVRs and has mentioned acting as a game server, among other possibilities. In fact, in many ways, TiVo's long-term vision seems to match my wishes as a consumer. I don't need a hard drive in a dozen different boxes. I need one huge storage appliance for whavever I choose to put there, whether it be PVR'ed video, digital audio, or photography. The short-term outlook, even for TiVo, seems to be a TiVo in your TV, a TiVo in your DirecTV box….

However, Gunther calls TiVo a home server for entertainment. Moreover, he claims that TiVo is positioned to become the home media server and is just waiting for prevalent broadband links and home LANs. Gunther and Barton point out that the company's long-term plans dictated the choice of Linux, a robust and stable OS that can be extended to support any number of server functions.

I'd also like to see a TiVo that's multi-user aware. Between my wife's soap operas, my sports, and my son's cartoons, I'm not surprised the TiVo can't figure out what to record. TiVo has considered the problem, Gunther says, and may one day offer a unit partitioned for multiple users.

My final wish is a simpler user interface—give me a keyboard so I can easily plot complex recording scenarios. Well, Replay heard my wishes and has announced MyReplayTV, a free service launching this fall. You'll be able to configure your Replay from the next room or the other side of the world by using a Web browser to access this Replay-hosted application. Sounds convenient. But also like another chance for Big Brother to look over your shoulder.