Category: TiVo News

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DirecTV Product Information TiVo News WeaKnees News

DirecTV HD TiVo Update – Broadband Features!

TiVo, Inc. issued their financial year-end results today via a press release. Beside the numbers (profit is up, but not on a large scale; subscribers are down, but not on a large scale), there is an interesting tidbit on the progress of the DirecTV HD DVR:

“Additionally, we continue to work on our new DIRECTV HD DVR. The new HD DVR will include popular TiVo broadband features, and will be immediately accessible to DIRECTV’s entire national customer base on day-one of the launch. We have had a very successful history with DIRECTV and those subscribers are some of our most loyal customers. Now, as these customers look to upgrade from standard definition programming, they will have the option to choose the TiVo experience to help them truly get the most out of their high definition viewing experience.”

That’s really the first official news update we’ve had on the DirecTV HD TiVo DVR since the initial announcement last September. And, better yet, it specifically mentions that it will include “popular TiVo broadband features.” Of course, it doesn’t say it will include all broadband features, but if it has some, that’s better than any older TiVo for DirecTV. So we’re hopeful. Now, we could use a release date, and a price . . .
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TiVo News

TiVo Adding More VOD Support With SeaChange

TiVo announced today that they’ll be working with a company called SeaChange to enable many cable companies to pump the cable companies’ video-on-demand content to TiVo boxes. SeaChange sounds like it’s basically a competing technology to tru2way which TiVo also hopes to adopt in the future.

VOD is a big issue, at least among our customers, and potentially one of the top reasons a customer wouldn’t choose a TiVo. But our experience is that a TiVo is actually far more broadly connected to the world of online content, and is actually a great choice for customers wanting VOD – just not necessarily VOD from the cable company. TiVo DVRs connected via broadband can get content from Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, and TiVo’s own TiVoCasts, among other sources. And more are coming. Yes, Amazon and Netflix cost money, where a lot of cable company VOD content is free, but they also have a much wider range of content. Further, Netflix content is free for those who already have Netflix plans for physical DVD mailings.

TiVo is a growing platform for online video sources. They’ve been aggressive about adding new content, and we expect that to continue. A TiVo DVR is really a combination of three types of units at this point, and it’s really poised to bring the most content to your TV. The three categories that a TiVo now covers are:

  1. DVR – The original ability a TiVo DVR had to record TV from cable, antenna, and satellite broadcasts. Unfortunately, many people think of this as it’s only feature, still. It’s central, and TiVo is the best DVR, but that’s just not all a TiVo does.
  2. Internet Video Connector – This new category is often defined by products like Microsoft Home Media PCs, AppleTVs, Roku, and Boxee. In reality, a TiVo is probably the most sophisticated device here, outside the PC, and since it has an amazing remote and on-screen interface, it really easily surpasses that unit, at a far lower price point. It’s also much, much more stable.
  3. Home Media Link – With the ability to stream MP3s from computers on your home network, and the ability to transfer home video to the unit, and store and play it, the TiVo can be a focal point for media on a home network, and a way to get home media to the largest screen and best-sounding audio system.

More VOD is better, and TiVo is, again, leading the way.

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Customer Contacts TiVo News Troubleshooting Help

TiVo Dial In Problems

We hear from a lot of customers who have problems with their TiVo modems. And we sell a TiVo external modem kit to address many of those problems – basically the ones either involving hardware failure, or VoIP phone lines such as Vonage.

But there’s another issue that accounts for many modem failures at the moment, and you don’t need our modem kit to fix it: a problem with local dial-in numbers. We’ve been getting calls from many customers over the last week about this problem, and TiVo has a support page up for these problems. They are basically telling customers to access a new dial-in number by having them query the main TiVo number for an updated list of local access numbers.

So if you think you might be having a problem getting local guide data, and you use a phone line to access TiVo, then you should visit the above link, or, if you have a Series2 or Series3 TiVo, consider networking your TiVo to avoid these problems.

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Product Information TiVo News

Moxi Presents TiVo Comparison – TiVo Wins

While digging around online, I found a page on Moxi’s website comparing the two companies’ HD DVRs. These are basically the only units around that use CableCARDs, so it’s interesting to see how the underdog tries to compare itself to TiVo.

I just found this today, so it may be that this is dated, but here’s a screenshot of the comparison:

picture-9

Sure, I’m a big TiVo fan, so I’m biased, but I’ll ask the obvious question: what unit costs $699 and has 32 HD and 120 SD hours of capacity? I’m guessing they’re taking the TiVo HD ($299) and adding in lifetime service ($399 for new subscribers, $299 for existing) to get $699. So, for the record, that should be 20 HD hours and 180 SD hours. The TiVo Series3 was 32 HD hours, but not 120 SD hours. So I can’t figure out where that figure ever came from.

OK, so then multi-room DVR sharing? They both have it, but the extra Moxi boxes will cost $799 while extra TiVo boxes with lifetime will now cost $598, since you save $100 on lifetime for each extra box. That’s $200 less than Moxi. 

Yes, Moxi has HD menus (although those are coming to TiVo) and arcade games (which you can do to some extent on TiVos) and Flickr. But TiVo has:

  • Netflix streaming – this, alone, is pretty huge
  • Amazon VOD – formerly Amazon Unbox
  • YouTube
  • Yahoo! connections
  • TiVo cast
  • many more internet features, with more coming all the time

Beyond that, of course, there’s the chance that “lifetime service” means something with the unit. I’m pretty sure TiVo is here to stay for quite a while. Moxi and Digeo? Very uncertain, to say the least. That’s not an $800 bet I’d want to make.

Now Digeo and Moxi may be around for quite some time, and they may make a big deal with a cable provider who would use their units to deploy in customers’ homes like the Scientific Atlanta model. But not at these prices. And judging by the traffic in our Moxi forums, it doesn’t seem like too many boxes are already out there.

I wish Moxi the best, and I do hope they survive even if it’s just so that TiVo always has a competitor. But this comparison chart just feels very misleading, to me. If the product can’t compare to TiVo on TiVo’s true features, fine, just don’t post a very selective list.

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TiVo News

TiVo Stepping up the Advertising at CES

TiVo hasn’t had a booth on the floor at CES yet, but they’ve consistently had a meeting room in the North Hall. Often meeting rooms are only for pre-arranged meetings, but TiVo uses their space as a demonstration area open to everyone.

The problem is, it’s a little hard to get the crowds who are lugging their freebies around the main halls all day to come up to the meeting room – if they even know that TiVo has one.

So this year, for the first time we’ve seen, TiVo has taken to advertising their location, both outside the hall in a big canvas ad:

Their other method of attracting attention was definitely a bit more unusual. They sent a team of “surfers” through the halls complete with TiVo skimboards and tattoos. I didn’t manage to get a shot of the topless men, but here are the women from the team:

Maybe they were actually destined for the conference next door?