[OT] VoIP experiences anyone?

[CowbellGuy]

I'm not sure I believe that, for the same reason that the only reliable data TiVo can generate is from season passes and, to a lesser extent, user ratings. The TiVo and, in most cases, satellite boxes, are always left on. Unless you tell the TiVo to record a show or get a season pass, it has no way of knowing what you're watching. It doesn't know when your ass is physically in front of the TV watching whatever is on. User ratings may be somewhat helpful, but you can rate the hell out of stuff and never watch it, so that's also pretty useless information. A satellite box is even worse because the most it gets is the occasional channel change, but has absolutely no idea what's being watched. Until Nielsen installs pressure sensitive devices in couch cushions to work in tandem with DVRs and cable/sat boxes, there's no useful data generated. Is your foil hat on tight enough? MLB's watching...

[nshapiro]

I agree that there is no confirmation that a body is in front of the TV.  

What DirecTV offers is tracking information that is not "sample based" like Nielson which puts a box in one of every 10,000(?) homes in key markets.  DirecTV tells advertisers exactly what channel every settop is tuned to, and for how long.  This is a new paradigm that has definitely piqued the interest of the advertising industry.  Nielson/Arbitron ratings are now being held up to DirecTV data as a sanity check.  

It is also true that a fair percentage of people turn off their TV but leave the settop on.  Advertisers can parse the data as they like, and define whatever parameters they like, excluding large blocks of time when no tuning takes place.  

[ugarte]

[Q]CowbellGuy Wrote:

 I'm not sure I believe that, for the same reason that the only reliable data TiVo can generate is from season passes and, to a lesser extent, user ratings. [/q]It probably does more data mining than you realize, though it claims that it uploads all information anonymously. You need to have the phone line for the sportspack so that it can black out out-of-region games that you haven't paid for.

[CowbellGuy]

Actually, you need the jack to un-black-out the games you should be getting. If you don't have it plugged in, you won't get anything.

[ugarte]

Well, right.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]CowbellGuy Wrote:
MLB's watching...[/q]
Do you want to know the horrible truth? ... or do you want to see some dingers!?!?!

Anyway, that's what I don't get though... I didn't have a phone plugged into my satellite box for 6 months, and it still perfectly correctly blocked out major league baseball on the regional channels all fall and basketball (as if I cared) all winter. I'm sure your box, or card, knows your zip code. All the signal would need would be a list of zip codes that it is blacked out in (or allowed in, that's probably shorter - Heck, you could even mostly do a range and make it very minimal data).

So if it does something like that for the regular Sports Pack, what's so drastically different about the subscriptions that they require a phone line?

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 [Q2]CowbellGuy Wrote:
MLB's watching...[/Q]
Do you want to know the horrible truth? ... or do you want to see some dingers!?!?!

Anyway, that's what I don't get though... I didn't have a phone plugged into my satellite box for 6 months, and it still perfectly correctly blocked out major league baseball on the regional channels all fall and basketball (as if I cared) all winter. I'm sure your box, or card, knows your zip code. All the signal would need would be a list of zip codes that it is blacked out in (or allowed in, that's probably shorter - Heck, you could even mostly do a range and make it very minimal data).

So if it does something like that for the regular Sports Pack, what's so drastically different about the subscriptions that they require a phone line?[/q]

Yeah, I've had the Sports Pack since I first got DTV and haven't had a land line in almost 3 years.

Of course, DTV really needs to join the 21st century and let you start substituting an interet connection for a phone line for the cable-modem-and-cell-phone set.

[MattShaf]

I've had Vonage for 2 yrs now. It's great. Has controlled phone bill. Only problem is when cableline has problem (minimal). Would strongly recommend this service.