[mythtv-users] re:MythTV production run

Thu May 6 03:58:58 EDT 2004

    $50K would not be  a problem for a well-funded startup.  Does anyone
know if TiVo designed its own motherboard, or it paid other company like
broadcom or conexant to do so?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Bitterman" <bitter at staticemi.org>
To: "'Discussion about mythtv'" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 6:49 AM
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] re:MythTV production run


> You're looking at around $30K to $50K to get production ready prototypes
> built. That is what I have seen the cost range for building advanced
digital
> set-tops which are pretty much the same thing you need to run mythtv.
>
> If you use an SOC from a company like broadcom or conexant you might be
able
> to get your BOM cost below $80. Remember that the reason Tivo sells there
> units so cheap is because they want to make money from the paid
> subscription. Tivo doesn't make much money from the PVR unit.
>
> - Brad
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of almyth at sbcglobal.net
> Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 9:16 PM
> To: Bill at Explosivo.com; Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] re:MythTV production run
>
> Hi Bill,
>
>
>         I am thinking of how much it would cost to design or hire a
company
> to design a specialized  motherboard to cut cost like Tivo did, e.g, no
> mouse/keyboard/VGA interfaces, with integrated tuner/mpeg en/decoders.
>     Would you give us some ideas of how costly it was for your several
small
> projects? and how did you proceed?
>  what tools/companies were involved ?   That would be greatly helpful.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
>
> Are you still doing the above "design specialized hardware to reduce
costs"?
> That would be a significant investment.  Then getting someone set up to
> produce and troubleshoot a few boards would be costly.  I've been on a few
> small design projects and the costs were significant even for seemingly
> trivial (board was a few cm long, 1/4 cm wide).  Unless you are going to
be
> able to sell the aforementioned thousands, the payback would make it worth
> just using COTS parts.  Micro boards, etc...
>
> > Ok,
> > Cable companies would not allow you to advertise mythtv, like what
> happened
> > to Tivo, but there are many other ways to advertise like
>
> Cable companies are starting to develop ways to compete with Tivo...
Pretty
> soon the Cable box will have a DVR built in for only a higher monthly fee.
> Everything I read says Tivo is going to be in trouble from all the
> competition coming along.
>
> > newspapers/radio/mails/.... When the startup company is small, the big
> > companies would not bother to sue you.
>
> Either that or you never hear about the smaller companies getting sued or
> stamped out by lawyers.  I'm sure the Microsoft media lawyers would just
> drive by and slap you with a lawsuit just so they don't have to compete
> sometime down the line.
>
> >   Any other major hurdles for a startup company?  Anyone interested in
> this
> > topic?
>
> The problem is that the market will soon be firmly established as the big
> firms (Pioneer, Panasonic, JVC, Microsoft) finish their offerings.  Tivo
has
> a chance because they got backing and they were there first.   Myth is
> probably a superior product but would take such backing to make it the way
> your talking about.
>
> This seemed decent about what else is going on in dvr land:
> http://www.sltrib.com/2004/apr/04252004/business/160155.asp
>
> The one thought that sounded good was building a real high end box...  If
> you
> did that, got some advertising in some of the audiophile magazines then
> maybe
> you could sell some high end system...  You know... DVR of the rich and
> famous...
>
> I'm interested from a thinking exercise point of view - not to actually
> implement something.
>
> Later
>
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Mike
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Getting married? Find tips, tools and the latest trends at MSN Life
> Events.
> > http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=married
>
> - -- 
>
> Bill Chmura
>
> w. http://www.fistfullofcode.com
> w. http://www.explosivo.com
>
> - ------------------------------------------------------
>
> "No matter what, never, ever, ever, ever tell your girl friend she is
> looking
> a little puffy."
> - -Ancient chinese proverb
>
> "Some people go to bed with Lucifer, then they cry when they don't greet
the
> day with God"
> - -Monster Magnet
>
> Without good motivation, science and technology, instead of helping, bring
> more fear and threaten global destruction. Compassionate thought is very
> important for humankind.
> - -His Holiness the Dalai Lama
>
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