Comments on: TiVo Loses More Customers, Sues AT&T & Verizon

By: MegaZone

MegaZone — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:07:23 +0000

I wouldn’t say I was uninformed, more that some people were not happy that I stated things in a public forum. Even more that I shared my personal opinion, despite prefacing it as such, as it didn’t necessarily mesh with the official position.

I am pissed about losing my job – it was the best job I’ve ever had and I’m not likely to find anything like it again soon. I miss both the people and the work and I still get pissed off when I think about it. But I don’t blame Dave for what happened, it just sucks all around.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:00:37 +0000

Yep, that line wasn’t meant to absolve me – I’m obviously prepared to have this discussion and take my lumps. I was merely attempting to make the point that without an editor around for sanity checks and formal publishing guidelines, as a hobbyist I will occasionally misstep.

By: tivonomo

tivonomo — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:22:11 +0000

“While I hope others occasionally find me entertaining and informational, this blog has always been just a hobby. ”

So you are a pretend journalist as a hobby… cute.

But seriously, your articles get decent exposure. And journalist or not, you have a moral obligation to get the context right when quoting others.

I realize that these events are in the past, but bottom line is that if you took your “hobby” seriously megazone might still have his job.

Maybe a message board is public, but always get permission from any source if you are going to post a quote in an article that will get picked up on Yahoo or Google. That is simply the right thing to do. You should have figured that out long before now.

Lecture over.

By: Marte

Marte — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:35:56 +0000

Newsflash: Dave Zatz is human. I’ll keep reading if you jeep posting.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:29:54 +0000

Kmiller14, While I hope others occasionally find me entertaining and informational, this blog has always been just a hobby. I don’t claim to be a journalist, just a lover of tech. I did remove the link and quotation marks as requested and apologized for putting Jerry in any sort of awkward position. That’s about all I can do for an event that occurred in the past. Having said that, I very clearly see the continued feedback/concerns here and on the TCF in how I applied his quote – it won’t happen again.

Next up, as far as MZ goes, I was very upset he was let go. Especially because he’s a pal and I lobbied extremely hard while I worked at Sling and after for him to land a job there. When your legal name is Megazone folks may not take you seriously. But MZ obviously has a lot to offer. The post in question is here. And his comments in the forum were notable – when I was with Sling, Palm was a pretty tight collaborator. And here MZ was saying Sling was taking a wait and see approach to WebOS. As it turns out, he was apparently uninformed about the business dealings and spoke out of turn. I agree that it’s pretty shitty how it appeared to play out.

By: Kmiller14

Kmiller14 — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:36:23 +0000

Dave, I used to read your blog religiously for all consumer tech updates, but no longer. The cavalier way you threw Jerry from TiVo under the bus with a completely out of context quote makes me realize you have no journalistic integrity. Your continued lack of remorse for what you did is further proof that all you care about is your own ego.

And it is ironic that you played a very similar role by misquoting and getting the longtime great TiVo and “gizmo” blogger Megazone fired just this year. You are on a roll.

Consider me one of MANY who will stop reading your board for good. Trust me…word moves fast on the Internet…as you know.

By: Chris Miller

Chris Miller — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:07:02 +0000

Ben,

I agree with you that over time, Tivo is a more expensive option when you take into account the service fees. In my area (Albany, NY), Time Warner has gone SDV on the majority of channels. Using a tuning adapter is pretty much required to get any of the digital channels. Right now, TiVo is the only game in town for the tuning adapter.

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:13:46 +0000

Chris,
I actually spent more on my HD TiVos than on my Media Center. I paid $800 for the first one and $500 for the second, plus $300 each for service. That is $1600! For Media Center I paid $800 for the OEM PC (overkill) $400 for the CableCARD tuner and $150 for a HDHomeRun. Then $400 for extenders. That is $1750, but for three rooms instead of two. Even with the TiVo HD at $250, the extra room would’ve cost me $550.

Dave,
I’m convinced that bkdtv works for broadcom, Cisco or Motorola. I mean how else could you have that great insight into the chips? Honestly I don’t really care, just so long as he keeps posting.