TiVoWorld NZ

Telecom’s director of home services, Ralph Brayham, has quit as the telco cleans out 200 middle management jobs.

Brayham was behind the company’s introduction of TiVo, is a director of its online joint venture, YahooXtra, and ran the online retailer, Ferrit, until its demise early last year.

Brayham has announced his June exit internally and is expected to be replaced from inside Telecom, a source said.

“While I’m disappointed to lose someone of Ralph’s calibre and experience from the team, I certainly respect his decision and who knows maybe one day we might convince him to come back into the fold,” said Telecom Retail chief executive Alan Gourdie.

An industry insider said Brayham had an entrepreneurial approach to products and services, but may have felt stifled by the Telecom corporate structure.

His departure comes as Gourdie reviews Telecom’s retail business with a proposed new structure released to staff last week.

Under Gourdie’s plan jobs held by Brayham, incoming head of mobile Kieren Cooney, branding and marketing head Craig Herbison and small business head Victoria Crone would disappear.

Telecom Retail spokesperson Nick Brown said rather than grouping teams around particular product sets, Telecom Retail will be grouped around key functions such as product development and management, marketing, sales, customer service and support, and these teams will work across all products sets.
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“There is a new structure and people will get appointed into new roles some of which will be more similar to what they were already than others,” said Brown.

“Final confirmation on all roles and appointments are still to be announced internally. This is happening through an ongoing process of communication and consultation with staff over the next month.”

Brayham, who became a co-owner of music store Real Groovy in 2008, said the organisational changes meant it was the right time to move on with minimal disruption.

“But a new structure is not the reason for the move, I’m simply looking forward to putting energy into my own business venture and looking at what’s next for me,” he said.

Telecom announced in April it planned to slash 200 jobs by mid-year with more lay-offs likely.

Taken from NZHerald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10645037

There are reports that the MAK (Media Access Key) is not included with the NZ TiVo now? TiVo just recently dropped the price of the TiVo by $200 but it came with a free $129 MAK so I guess it will increase the cost of the NZ TiVo now so effectively a drop of $71 . Unfortuately I can’t find where you can actually order the MAK in NZ so what gives?

Telecom’s Website says:

Please note the HNP is not currently available for sale. If you would be interested in purchasing this product in the future register here

The NHP is the thing which includes the MAK.

With the proliferation of high-definition personal video recorders, you need the judgment of the Three Wise Men to choose among them.

Essentially it comes down to three types: the subscription-based MySky HDi; the broadband-driven TiVo; and Panasonic’s Blu-ray recorder with twin FreeviewHD tuners.

The catch with the first two is you have to be a Sky or Telecom customer respectively, whereas the third option is fatally limited by an electronic programme guide (EPG) that won’t let you record more than a few hours ahead.

However, unlike the other two, there aren’t ongoing subscription or broadband costs with the DMR-BW850.

See Full Story @ http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/3185565/MySky-vs-Tivo-vs-Blu-ray-recorder

Steve Browning has stepped down as New Zealand general manager of the organisation that runs TiVo in this country – Hybrid Television Services.

Browning, who moved from Freeview in April, is now working as chief financial officer at up-and-coming publishing company The Image Centre.

Browning and Hybrid could not be reached for comment. But an industry colleague said Brown had always been expected to stay only for the start-up phase for the digital video recorder firm.

It is understood the uptake for the TiVo set-top box has been slow.

Tech reviewers are impressed by the slick technology that puts it on the cutting edge for a consumer-led convergence of television and computers. But apart from movie downloads, it lacks content compared with its main digital video recorder competitor, MySky HDi.

TiVo is backed by Telecom with an unmetered broadband deal that allows unlimited movie downloads. Unlike MySky it does not require an ongoing subscription. Hybrid is one-third owned by TVNZ and two-thirds by Australia’s Seven Network.

See Full Story @ http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=1&t=0&id=45709

Listening to the latest TiVo adverts they say you can transfer your videos to your iTouch. Bit what is an iTouch?? You would think if they spend lots of $$ on adverts they would actually use the right name for something.. It is an iPod Touch.. not an iTouch!

There have been quite a number of reports of people that have had problems with the Tivo Desktop 2.8 software not working correctly with Windows 7 as the software doesn’t install the MAK (Media Access Key) properly. A number of people have found a Fix (it may or may not work for you, but here it is).

1 – Uninstall Tivo Desktop
2 – Right click PROPERTIES on the Tivo Desktop INSTALLER exe and select Run as Administrator.
3 – It will install. Enter MAK code as asked.
4 – Right click the Tivo program Icon and also go to properties and select run as administrator….

While TIVO’s arrival on the New Zealand market sholud be wholeheartedly welcomed, MySky’s entrenched presence in the market has really stolen the thunder of the iconic US brand that made time-shifting and add-skipping standard TV watching behaviour.

Nevertheless, despite the lead Sky has with tens of thousands of paid up Sky subscribers shelling out extra each month to rent the MySky HDi box, TIVO has a few features that are very much new to New Zealand and could help secure TIVO a lucrative niche.

TIVO suggesttivo thumbs 2ions

TiVo has some seriously intelligent software built into the box which is designed to help you come across TV programming you are likely to enjoy watching. Every time you record a show on the TIVO box, the software tracks the type of show you are watching and offers up similar types of programmes based a series of criteria – genre, age demographic and the actors starring in the show included.

See Full Story @ http://sciblogs.co.nz/griffins-gadgets/2009/11/19/tivo-reviewed-part-2/

TiVo have announced a scheduled outage.

Scheduled Maintenance
18/11/09

On Wednesday 18th November between 8pm and 1am we will be carrying out maintenance on the TiVo Service. ‘TiVo Genie Online & Mobile Scheduling’ and ‘CASPA™ On-Demand’ services will be unavailable during this time.

We do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The TiVo Team.

The newest box of tricks for your television, TiVo, is the biggest step yet towards media convergence.

It’s packed with functionality designed to fast-forward television into the future, when it will be the home’s central hub for everything from entertainment to commerce.

The drawback for early adopters is that it’s expensive, with limited content.

To use TiVo as a hi-tech video recorder with on-demand options, you need $920, a Telecom broadband connection and Freeview high-definition reception.

Set-up was surprisingly straightforward, the only hitch being TiVo’s tuner seems weaker than other Freeview HD tuners on the market, which may mean fiddling with an inside aerial.

TiVo’s lively graphical interface is far more appealing than the dull, text-based architecture of its nearest rival, MySky HDi. It also boasts extraordinary recording flexibility and customisation, with options to tailor and categorise recordings that will astonish those old enough to remember shelling out $2500 for their first video recorder. If you’re 45-plus, chances are you won’t find TiVo as easy to use as the marketing suggests.

See Full Story @ http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/technology/3069776/Buyers-guide-to-TiVo-and-Caspa

jofizz @ geekzone has just done a review of the TiVo Glo Backlit Remote Control vs the standard TiVo remote control which is supplied in NZ with the TiVo.

This remote is not officially released in NZ as of yet (it can be aquired from overseas from various places) and is a huge improvement over the standard control.

You can see his review @ Geekzone