On Tue, 11 Mar 2014, Holger Granholm wrote to Mark Lewis:

ml>TIVO is the original Digitial Video Recorder... it is what became of
ml>the original *nix with TV Tuner card and large HD with software that
ml>could record output from the TV Tuner to the HD for later viewing...
ml>TIVO was spun off as a $$$ venture which provided the box all
ml>configured and ready to go...

 HG> Thanks for the explanation and history lesson.

you are welcome...

 HG> Here we call them VCR (Video Casette Recorder). 

just to be clear, those are the old tape storage formats... DVR is pure
digital and stores the video data on a HD or solid state memory device...
they require a computer of some kind to view the stored video...

[trim]

ml>the main additional desirable features offered were program listings
ml>like TV Guide(1) that carried and recognized a special encoded show
ml>numbering(2) so that one could tell the unit to record a show by its
ml>number and not worry about having to set the time for it to be
ml>recorded(3)...

 HG> That number is printed along for every program that is listed in
 HG> the weekly proram guide that is published weekly in our newspapers.

that's in print but to get it digitally with a guide listing costs...

ml> since the service has to pay for access to the program listings 
ml> and the show numbers, it didn't make sense to just give that away 
ml> to millions so it was part of the service sold at a subscription 
ml> rate similar to satellite and cable...

 HG> No charge is asked for the show numbers here.

because you are seeing them in print OR you are already paying to support
them with your subscription to some pay service...

)\/(ark

One of the great tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a
gang of brutal facts. --Benjamin Franklin

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