Aereo had its antennas clipped by the Supreme Court, but the justices were cautious not to rule so broadly as to squelch new technologies.
To Aereo’s credit, it offered a more robust high-definition picture than that offered by pay-TV operators.
This dirty little secret comes courtesy of Tom Rogers, the chief of DVR-pioneer TiVo.
“When HD TV travels through a cable wire or is transmitted through a satellite path, it has to be compressed,” Rogers said.
“And while the compression maintains the HD character, the resulting picture isn’t as clear and pure as an HD picture coming directly from a broadcaster’s transmitter to an antenna.”
To duplicate the Aereo experience, Rogers recommended TiVo’s low-end Roamio DVR, which retails between $179 and $199.
To stream from it, however, also requires a TiVo Stream. This device, compatible with iPads, iPhones and iPods, pushes live and recorded shows over the Internet for a one-time fee.
Rogers acknowledged that TiVo isn’t the only Aereo alternative out there — Mohu, Simple.TV and others are vying for attention as well.
An antenna is necessary, too, but this is no longer that huge roof-mount of yore. Instead, Rogers said, an effective antenna today is small, cheap, easy to install and fits right outside a window.
Throw in a $15 monthly TiVo subscription and, to quote Rogers again, “Aereo’s consumer proposition lives — maybe even in a healthier form.”
But even he seemed surprised by how many TiVo customers have already connected the dots to get over-the-air and over-the-top viewing that’s pay-TV free.
“Roughly 25 percent of our retail sales these days are coming from people doing just that,” he said.
What’s impressive about the sales is they’re being achieved without any marketing support from TiVo, which is hesitant to undermine a core business that Rogers defined as “lighting up cable as a great way to watch TV.”