Apparently, TIVO is not satisfied dying on the vine thanks to its abandonment by DirecTV. Now comes news that the new TIVO operating system has the ability to place a bunch of DRM restrictions on the shows we record.
According to this post at PVRblog, the new DRM implementation allows TIVO to place limitations on how long certain shows can be saved (before now, one of the options was “Save Until I Delete”). Additionally, some shows cannot be copied using TIVO Togo (I wouldn’t know since my $1000 doorstops previously known as the TIVO HR210 never supported TIVO Togo).
A post on Tivo Community Forums, a very popular TIVO site that I visit regularly to talk about neat ways to use my $1000 doorstops, contains a bunch of screenshots (here, here, here and here) clearly showing the significant DRM restrictions.
PVRblog has an update that says the DRM on that old King of the Hill show was a mistake on the part of the TV station. Nevertheless, this little accident of grace shows that TIVO has implemented DRM and indicates that it may use it to prevent its (undoubtedly dwindling number of) loyal subscribers from doing what they have been allowed to do for a long time.
All in all, this is just one more reason why TIVO is dying on the vine. Whether TIVO is doing all of this stuff on its own (highly unlikely) or being required to do it by the TV network cartel (very likely), doesn’t matter. The result is the same: less appealing service that alienates its subscribers.
Bye Bye TIVO, it’s been nice knowing you.
