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Bye-bye Blu-Ray...we hardly knew ye

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ChadTower:


Okay, make me understand that.  Everything you just described is done in software.  Is it not possible that they will send updates to at least some of those models?  I have no idea what the actual plans are but I can't see how saying "anything not current will be a doorstop" is useful.

sirwoogie:


--- Quote from: ChadTower on January 24, 2007, 10:32:17 am ---Okay, make me understand that.  Everything you just described is done in software.  Is it not possible that they will send updates to at least some of those models?

--- End quote ---

Certainly. :)

Everything in the Tivo is done in hardware, not software. A majority of ebedded equipment uses specialized chips and circuitry to do what software does in a more common PC. But, even a PC needs specialized hardware to perform certain functions. Let me give a few examples:


* The original DirecTivo could simultaneously record two MPEG2 streams while displaying a third recorded stream on the TV. It has a IBM PPC CPU running at 60Mhz. You're not going to get that level of performance with the main CPU horsepower alone. You need specialized chips for encoding, decoding, and storage I/O functions.
* You could put the latest core2duo processor in a PC. But if you put some dink 8MB PCI video card in it, those latest FPS aren't going to run to well. Again, the graphics cards have specialized hardware to perform the tasks a normal CPU just can't do well in software.
You can't exactly just flash those specialized chips and reprogram them for another purpose. Granted, the technology exists to have chips with this kind of flashing, but they're far and away more expensive than a vendor would use in a commodity piece of hardware such as a DVR.

Make sense?

ChadTower:


I wasn't aware of how much hardware decoding/encoding the DirecTivos were doing, but now that I think about it, the CPU/RAM specs are pretty damn low.  Makes sense.

AlanS17:

Well then I just hope I get a good upgrade discount when that day comes. I've already paid a lot for this DirecTivo box and don't plan on getting another any time soon.

The new Series 3 standalone HD Tivos are a whopping $800 if that's any indication of what the next generation of DVR's is going to cost. Forget that! They even increased the monthly charge and cancelled the whole lifetime subscription program.

ChadTower:


--- Quote from: AlanS17 on January 24, 2007, 02:52:01 pm --- They even increased the monthly charge and cancelled the whole lifetime subscription program.

--- End quote ---


They did that a long time ago, though.  The lifetime sub was too easy to fake.

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