TiVo's contempt motion is out

[philhu]

Tivo's patent has nothing to do with standard DVR technology.

What it has to do with is time-warp. Don't start Star Trekking on me. That was their marketing name for it.

They were the first to allow you to record one program while watching another.

This does not seem like much, but at the time, it was spectacular. Never done and NEVER THOUGHT OF BEFORE. Hence patentable.

If you remember, the first Tivos BLEW AWAY the competition at the time and sure was totally different than VCRS, which were prevalent then.

Looking back with after thought about 'old' technology does not allow one to say it is stupid, because back in the day, it wasn';t

 

[Derwin0]

Never done and NEVER THOUGHT OF BEFORE. Hence patentable.

Except for Replay.

Either way, the appeals court reversed the hardware decision. So the only thing that survived was the ruling against the software. The software was changed, and the court is now looking at if that is a correct way to adhere to the ruling.

 

[Thomas22]

Except for Replay.

One would think that Dish's highly paid attorneys would have brought up any existing patents when they tried to get TiVo's patent invalidated. Wow. Maybe they forgot to do that. Yep, that must be what happened.

 

[Fitzie]

The patent office is apparently unmanned, and also unwomaned, and as a result routinely grants almost all patent requests. The patent office would probably process and approve a discovery process to identify when frogs jump from lily pads into the water if requested--and maybe they have. An article I read a spell back stated the patent process is this: (1) a patent is requested, (2) the patent is granted, (3) the patent office determines if it should have been granted only if someone objects. It is my firm belief the people in the patent office have no actual skills, ideas or conceptual knowledge: they are simply bureaucratic processors. (Wasn't Einstein a patent processor in Austria? I wonder if some of his brilliant conceptions were fostered by materials submitted for patent by other scientists in the 1904-1906 period...)

Don't forget that Apple patented the icon technology invented by Zerox, after Zerox had put it into the common domain. Whatever else, Jobs is ballsy. Of course, it took Microsoft several million dollars and 2 years time to disprove Apple's patent.

But of course, patent office staffers would probably differ with my view--or maybe not; they may completely agree. One would not wish to rule out the possibilities...

Regards, Fitzie

 

[Thomas22]

The patent office is apparently unmanned, and also unwomaned, and as a result routinely grants almost all patent requests.

TiVo's patent went through a year-long reexamination by the patent office at Dish's request and emerged unscathed. The patent is bullet proof.

 

[Uther Pendragon]

I am SO glad I disconnected my 510. Now I will buy another Seagate FreeAgent Pro to move more of my 722 content, or put content on my PC via video conversion, just in case.

 

[bbtkd]

Maybe...

If my DVRs get disabled (a 508 and a 622) I am gone, and right away too. The WAF on a disabled DVR would force my move. Good thing FiOS is coming to my neighborhood soon. Gives me an excuse to switch.

If you are under contract, please find and post the part that their providing DVR is part of the contract, and their inability to provide it lets you out of the contract. It is not there. If you are not under contract, then of course you can bail - otherwise you are stuck...

 

[Thomas22]

If you are under contract, please find and post the part that their providing DVR is part of the contract, and their inability to provide it lets you out of the contract. It is not there. If you are not under contract, then of course you can bail - otherwise you are stuck...

Do you know which (if any) models can show "live" TV with a disabled hard drive?

 

[Juan]

Do you know which (if any) models can show "live" TV with a disabled hard drive?

VOD

 

[kstuart]

Do you know which (if any) models can show "live" TV with a disabled hard drive?

501, 508 and 510 can - not sure about the others, but they are probably designed in the same way.

 

[OoTLink]

Tivo needs to go the hell out of business. This whole "No, you bought the DVR, but you still need to pay for SERVIC!" thing is complete, and utter Bullsh!t. If I want to pay $200 for a DVR, I'll do whatever the diddy F I want to do with it, and I'm not going to pay for a service to use it. Why not make an ad supported system, or have an RSS style system, or just use normal EPA signals? Sheesh.

Gayest patent ever. DVRs existed before Tivo did anyway.

 

[Curtis0620]

DISH needs to quit stealing, and pay up. DISH is the most dis-honest company ever.

 

[Zero327]

TiVo's patent went through a year-long reexamination by the patent office at Dish's request and emerged unscathed. The patent is bullet proof.

Nothing is bullet-proof, ever.

*points up*

Tivo fanboy kids.

 

[vodad]

Tivo's patent has nothing to do with standard DVR technology.

What it has to do with is time-warp. Don't start Star Trekking on me. That was their marketing name for it.

They were the first to allow you to record one program while watching another.

This does not seem like much, but at the time, it was spectacular. Never done and NEVER THOUGHT OF BEFORE. Hence patentable.

If you remember, the first Tivos BLEW AWAY the competition at the time and sure was totally different than VCRS, which were prevalent then.

Looking back with after thought about 'old' technology does not allow one to say it is stupid, because back in the day, it wasn';t

Actually you could do this with a VCR, and rather simply too, we used to do it all the time 15-20 years ago. and I know Tivo has not been around this long.

 

[riffjim4069]

DISH needs to quit stealing, and pay up. DISH is the most dis-honest company ever.

I agree, but TiVo is not far behind...and they learn how to run a business. Unless TiVo can conconct some new patents (substitute flash memory for hard drive) they'll be out of business as soon as their patents start to expire in 2018.

 

[riffjim4069]

This whole "No, you bought the DVR, but you still need to pay for SERVIC!" thing is complete, and utter Bullsh!t.

That's why I still don't have a TiVo. I would prefer to load and manipulate whatver guide data I wish to use. While I can actually see paying $ to use the TiVo guide service, it should be optional and, just like E*, it shouldn't cost $ for each DVR on the account.

This another reason why I love the GemStar TVGOS so much! The TV Guide data is supplied free of charge for the life of the TVGOS device. However, thanks to the TiVO "Time Warp" patent, my dual-tuner (OTA/QAM) Sony HD DVR will only record one show at a time.

 

[dlsnyder]

If you are under contract, please find and post the part that their providing DVR is part of the contract, and their inability to provide it lets you out of the contract. It is not there. If you are not under contract, then of course you can bail - otherwise you are stuck...

Yes, forgot to mention that bit. Contract up in August.

 

[Jim S.]

You could have multiple processes reading and/or writing the same file for a long time before Tivo came along. The fact that the file contains video data wasn't innovative, it was just, as I said in another thread, a problem waiting for the processors to be fast enough and the storage big enough.

 

[dlsnyder]

Do you know which (if any) models can show "live" TV with a disabled hard drive?

My 508 did for a brief time when it had hard drive problems. Worked just fine showing nothing but live programs.

 

[vurbano]

And the earth is flat!

On an individual square foot basis yes it is very flat depending on where you are standing..