Yes I use TiVo and love it. Biggest issue there is that TiVo is being bought by another company right now so things are up in the air. My favorite thing right now is watching British TV thru a VPN can watch all the shows we love in real time right off the web page.:)
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Denny Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016 10:00 PM To: Topics related to Apple and Macintosh computers Subject: Re: [MacGroup] Unlock The Box I guess what I don't understand is for those who are unhappy about the cost of a DVR from cable provider, why not buy a TiVo and just rent the cable card? I set my dad up with two of them so his cable bill isn't higher. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 7, 2016, at 8:09 PM, John Robinson <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Today I received my TimeWarner bill, they have increased the DVR set top boxes by $4.23 cents, to a total of $34.48, $413.76 for the year or in the 10 years we have lived here to over $4,000.00…. Times are changing, I sent a note on 2/9/16 about the FCC’s “Unlock The Box”….it’s gaining legs and the two article below give hope. The second was published yesterday and at the bottom is a link for us to send our approval or disapproval. Wouldn’t you think it would be in our best interest for cost as well as preserving a program of importance? John FCC votes to fight cable's reign over set-top boxes And you could see lower monthly bills. 02-18-16 <464526214.jpg> Last month, reports surfaced that the FCC planned<http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/27/the-fcc-is-going-to-war-over-set-top-boxes/> to pry set-top boxes out of hands of cable and satellite companies. Today, the Commission passed the "Unlock the Box" plan<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0127/DOC-337449A1.pdf> that would do just that. The proposal aims to introduce more competition when it comes to the boxes you rent from television providers. As it stands, you have to lease the equipment from a cable or satellite company for a monthly fee that's added to your bill. You have little choice in the matter, and those fees earn service providers millions of dollars a year. With the FCC plan, opening up cable boxes to third parties would not only lower costs, but make it easier for pay-TV subscribers to tap into internet programming like Netflix and Hulu. Under the new rules, cable companies would have to give third-party device makers, like TiVo, the information they'd need in order to build set-top boxes. This would not only provide alternatives to the hardware that television providers tack on, but it's meant to drive better software interfaces as well. Of course, with billions on the line for cable and satellite companies, this issue is far from being resolved. Before today's vote, Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai noted that instead of increasing competition, the FCC should be trying to kill the set-top box altogether. "Right now we are en route to eliminating the need for a set top box altogether and apps can turn the iPad or phone into a navigation device," Pai explained. "The commission should be encouraging those efforts. But this proposal would do the opposite." Bob Quinn, AT&T's SVP of Federal Regulatory, agrees with Pai, calling the FCC's move "a missed opportunity" and expressing concerns over companies like Google being privy to consumer viewing habits. Quinn explained: The focus of that proceeding could have been how to eliminate the set-top box while protecting content creators' incentives to develop interesting programming, building upon and growing the base of minority programming which exists today, and ensuring that what consumers watch on television remains none of Google's business. Quinn went on to explain that the Commission would need to set up a regulatory process to oversee the whole thing, which will take time and money. "As an added bonus, the FCC will have to establish an enormous regulatory infrastructure to create and oversee this new technology mandate that involves the creation of new technology standards and standards bodies," he said. The AT&T SVP argues that the policy will stifle the very innovation it seeks to encourage. By "unlocking" the set-top box, the FCC also wants make it easier for independent and diverse content providers to reach their audience. In other words, the Commission wants to boost minority programming. "We hope that the two proceedings launched by the FCC today will ultimately result in better representation in the media for people of color and that representation matters," said Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. <logo_full.png><https://www.eff.org/> ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION<https://www.eff.org/> DEFENDING YOUR RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD APRIL 6, 2016 | BY CORY DOCTOROW AND MITCH STOLTZ<https://www.eff.org/about/staff/mitch-stoltz> The FCC's Plan To Unlock Your Set-Top Box Is About Competition, Not Copyright The Federal Communications Commission is trying to open up the closed world of TV set-top boxes, with the goal of finally killing that dust-gathering, power-sucking box altogether. They’ve proposed a new rule known as “Unlock the Box<https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-337795A1.pdf>” that allows devices and apps from any manufacturer to connect with your home cable or satellite TV feeds. We think the FCC’s effort has the potential to unlock new competition, delivering cost savings and innovation. Imagine being able to search for shows and movies available on your cable or satellite TV service, online services like Netflix and Amazon, and even over-the-air broadcasts, all with the same search-box. Imagine being able to change and customize your cable's janky interface as much as you do with PCs, smartphones, and browsers, and to add new features from any source. Oh, and imagine not having to pay $231 a year to rent a set-top box that's really just a three-generations-stale PC in an ugly case. The FCC’s “Unlock the Box” proposal<https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-18A1.pdf> might achieve all this, if we nudge the agency to do it right. The set-top box is a frozen artifact of a bygone age whose features have been caught in a time-warp of innovation-through-permission. For the past 20 years, everyone who's had a cool idea for making the pay-TV experience better was sent packing. If the FCC's order comes through, they'll deliver. This isn’t about control over copying, but control over the entire experience of TV watching, from the studio to your eyeballs, and over search and discovery as well as viewing. Open competition could bring many more options, like new TV interfaces that present recommendations from various critics and tastemakers, or from your friends. New video devices could take you straight to those shows and movies in one step, no matter which of your pay-TV or Internet video services they appear on. This could be a boon for niche and non-mainstream programs of all kinds. So, when you hear from opponents that Unlock the Box rules will violate copyright, ask them: do you mean copyright, or the made-up right to tell people how they're allowed to watch? And consider sending a comment<http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/display> to the FCC asking them to pass the Unlock the Box rules, before April 22. (Enter "15-64" in the box labeled "Proceeding Number"). _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list Posting address: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>
_______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list Posting address: [email protected] Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>
