I've seen the future!

[pseydtonne]

My coworker Anthony and I drove up to Manchester yesterday for what our employer calls "The Road Show". THis is an annual update on what new products and methods will be coming. The big news is that single-tuner DVRs (digital cable boxes with 80 GB hard drives and built-in Tivo functions) are already available and that, starting in the fall, we'll have dual-tuner DVRs. This means I could tape something on HBO while watching Showtime. We're excited out to heck cuz... dude, new box. No more of that 3-second delay.

We also found out You can go 85 on I-93 in rush hour and no one will notice. This felt neat. It was good to hang with Anthony, cruise around at a happy clip, and listen to my CD changer have a fit. We discussed how loathsome a long commute would be and how we'd lose our minds. Just because it's a reverse trip and a fast shot from Manchester back to Malden and neither state's cops seem to notice anything, doesn't mean I'd want to do it every day.

I feel better about my job now. They're starting a program to foster career advancement. I have no idea how well it'll do but it's better than being a milked cow. They see that we may wish to leave if we aren't getting advancement.

-off to the floor, Ps/d

Comments

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I go 80 or 85 at rush hour on I-93 whenever I drive to work, since I commute against the flow of traffic. I kinda love it.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I don't *trust* Comcast not to mess around with my viewing data, sell it blatantly (connected to my name, etc. without reimbursing me for the value that gives them), and more importantly interfere with my ability to watch what I want when I want. They already put commercials in On Demand programs, and override commercials with their own. They send messages to my box which require me to navigate through the menus, only to find out that all they are are ads for Pay-Per-View or some crap like that. That's betrayal of trust, right there, and I don't expect them to stop -- it's too profitable. I fully expect their tivo-like functions to pull stuff like pausing in the middle for a commercial, whether I want it to or not, or refusing to tape stuff that they want to censor (cf. the Comcast/Disney talks). I'm not a fan of vertical integration when it removes control from the consumer.

On top of this the manufacturers desperately need to hire better UI staff. The UI for TiVo is pretty darn good; the UI for every set-top box I've seen SUCKS ROCKS, and it's only gotten worse and worse with each new generation. The MediaOne boxes sucked compared to the previous, the RCN ones were worse, and the Comcast ones are worse yet. The remotes are clumsy and the buttons are in TOTALLY screwed up places (did they even test these?), there are many places where adjacent-key errors screw you to the point where you need to waste 30 seconds or so to recover (forever in remote-time). And why in hell does it take 3 seconds for the menus to display? I mean, how much processing power do overlays take? [answer: none, we're waiting for the ads to load]


The onscreen menus are slow, crowded, and include ads, which is truly offensive (imagine if your car's speedometer had an ad for laundry detergeant that popped up when you reached 55 mph, or every time you went to put on the heater your radio played a spot for LL Bean sweaters), and the info/guide is *still* useless. And don't even get me started about channel order, or the fact that I can't skip over QVC and the TeleIDon'taSpeakaDat channel, which my TV supported in 1978.

So maybe they should be looking into making what they have now work; but as we all know that isn't as profitable as adding new gizmos.

Tell that to the guys at the trade show next time you're there. Straight from the consumer's mouth.

[epanastatis.livejournal.com]

(imagine if your car's speedometer had an ad for laundry detergeant that popped up when you reached 55 mph, or every time you went to put on the heater your radio played a spot for LL Bean sweaters)

I think Philip K. Dick already imagined it (which would tend to indicate that it's not too far off).

[sml.livejournal.com]

There are two competitors in the market, RCN and Comcast. They deploy either the same set-top box, or at least boxes from the same OEM.

Where is the motivation for a good UI? Realstically, if the boxes suck so badly that you cannot deal with it, and you have a clue, you'll go buy a TiVo. You still need the box. Comcast still provides the box. The OEM still sells the box. Comcast still gets the advertising revenues.

These boxes primary purpose is still as a descrambler. You *NEED* them. The UI is never going to get any better. It is an afterthought.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I know this. The only way to put market pressure on them is if as customer troublemakers we screech loudly -- or produce our own set-top boxes, which I'm *sure* there are legal issues with.

What I'm worried about is that shortly we won't *have* a choice; the new cable settop boxes, I'm sure, are being designed to replace TiVos, and to eliminate choice of UI.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I suspect that TiVo will likely drop its monthly fee in these markets once the new boxen are deployed.

I kept my RCN remote. I like it a lot better than the ATT/Comcast remote - buttons are better placed and it fits my hand better. Works with the box - same brand, same manufacturer.

And for now I keep my TiVo.

[sml.livejournal.com]

How is a loud customer going to make them change in this instance? You cannot vote with your feet here, because, realistically, the�re is not a competitor to go to.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Actually, I can. There are competitors; they're called "non-subscribers". But that's not what I was talking about.

I'm not threatening to walk away. I'm not threatening at all. Amazingly, businesses do respond to feedback from their customers, when those customers offer solutions that add value.

Did you take your pessimism and argumentation cookies this morning or something?

[sml.livejournal.com]

It seems like the number of people who would drop their cable service because they are unhappy is probably an insignificant number. It is, for most people, a utility, and is up there with The Phone Company before the baby bells.

Also, while I agree with you that any company with a clue would listen to their customers and try to provide a better service, that may not be an option here for a few reasons.

1. Comcast makes more money out of spamming their customers with advertising than they would by making the customer happier

2. Comcast does not have direct control over the cable box, this is made by an OEM (Motorola, now, I think?). Can Comcast insist on them making a better UI? Probably. But the capital investment to do so would probably be a large capital investment.

While it would be nice if Comcast did the right thing, and insisted on usable set-top box (maybe license from tivo?) and didn't piss of subscribers by spamming them, where is the business case to act differently?

And I am procrastinating, I have papers to write. :P