Ever since the first PVR/DVRs were released, they have transformed the home TV experience.
No longer were you stuck to the schedule, you could watch a programme whenever you wanted, and they were an excellent replacement for tape or DVD based recorders. The only thing that could get in the way were obscure User Interfaces, something that many believe that TiVo solved. However TiVo never really succeeded at the first attempt in the UK, and is going to try again with a partnership with Virgin Media.
However the growth of on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer online, through Wii or through Virgin Media, or Sky Active, plus the many new OTT services are really starting to challenge the usefulness of the DVR – in fact so much that my own usage of the DVR is dropping off to near zero. I can see this starting to happen to mainstream viewers also as devices that make easy access to on-demand OTT services become more mainstream and user friendly. The only thing I can see going wrong is the industries mis-guided approach to the availability of content – the removal of content so customers no longer have access. It is in this respect that DVRs offer a clear advantage, allowing the customer to watch what they want always… at least as long as the CE device makers and operators continue to not listen to content owners.
So what does this mean to the future? If everything goes well then on-demand content will make DVRs obsolete (RIP the DVR). If content owners have their way, then DVRs will become the only way that customers will get what they want, when they want. In the real sense, the future is a combination of both, unless a new entrant or incumbent sees the light and moves towards ensuring the delivery of content in a TRUE on-demand basis, with content having release dates/schedules (as I have written about before) and then content always being available to the consumer. After all, I only have on-demand access to a subset of content on the main channels, and I have to use my DVR for those not online.
The only thing left is the business case, how will revenue be generated? and how will that revenue model be setup to increase content use, so that profits can be made? A pure pay per play model will always act against this. That is however for another post.
Oh, how do I get access to my On-demand content? A combination of Windows Media Centre on Windows 7, and a nice plugin by the name of TunerFree MCE. Great, but still not for the mainstream viewer… yet
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