We are happy to announce that we have started shipping upgrade kits for the TiVo HD DVR. We expect to have upgraded TiVo units shipping shortly. We will be getting a large shipment of TiVo HD units—plenty to cover our existing orders. For pricing and additional information, please see here.
For the curious, here is a screenshot from a TiVo HD DVR with a 1TB hard drive inside:
A couple of years ago, this would not have been news, but in 2007, with DIRECTV pushing its own home-grown DVRs instead of those with the TiVo software, it truly is a surprise.
This afternoon, DIRECTV and TiVo jointly announced that DIRECTV receivers with the TiVo software will be getting a software update in early 2008 that will add some basic features that the Series2 standalone boxes have had for awhile now: Among other things, the DirecTiVos will get an “Undelete” folder (called “Recently Deleted Items”) as well as “soft padding.” (Soft padding, officially called Overlap Protection(TM), is a feature that enables you to have a scheduled recording record over the regular program by a certain period–say 5 minutes–but only if doing so does not conflict with another scheduled show.)
These new software features, in and of themselves, really aren’t a big deal. The big deal, at least from our perspective, is what this suggests about the ongoing dialog between DIRECTV and TiVo. TiVo has said repeatedly in conference calls that talks are ongoing, but here is some concrete evidence.
Some of the quotes from the short press release are particularly promising for TiVo lovers:
“It is important to us that our customers with TiVo service also have access to the latest DVR technology and we look forward to exploring additional opportunities with TiVo,” said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Strategy and Development for DIRECTV, Inc. (emphasis added)
And how about this: “In addition, DIRECTV and TiVo will continue to explore ways to bring future enhancements to DIRECTV customers with TiVo receivers.”
It’s anyone’s guess what, if anything, we might see next. We (and a load of our customers) would of course love to see a broader relationship that includes a DIRECTV HD DVR with TiVo (and MPEG4), not to mention TiVo to Go and the Home Media Features, but I think it would be wildly hopeful and speculative to assume any of this is coming soon, if at all. At this point, though, we’ll take what we can get. At the very least, this press release will give us something to point to when customers of ours call concerned that their DIRECTV TiVo boxes will become boat anchors in 2010. Until now, we have explained how incredibly unlikely it is that DIRECTV would drop 3 million of their most fiercely loyal customers.
It’s been rumored for weeks, and it’s now here! The new, lower cost HD TiVo for cable is announced, and we expect to have stock and begin shipping on August 1. You can preorder one (in a variety of sizes) on our HD TiVo for Cable page.
The new unit is called the TiVo HD. It’s similar in a lot of ways to a TiVo Series3, but it does have some important differences. Based on what we know, here are the differences:
CableCARD slots on the front – Might make life with a difficult cable installer a bit easier. Since the eject button is something you can see rather than just feel in most cases, this should work better in general.
Composite outputs – The newer unit has only one set of composite video and L/R audio out. Probably not an issue for most since the composite doesn’t carry HD, and if you need secondary audio, it would likely be via optical out. Also, these connectors provide one-way analog signals and can easily be multiplied with a splitter.
Front Digital Display – The newer unit omits the digital display from the front. This is a pretty nice feature of the original Series3 unit. It shows what shows are recording currently. It also functions as a clock.
THX – The new unit has no THX certification, and the unit is likely to be louder than the original Series3.
Remote – The original Series3 TiVo ships with the TiVo Glo backlit, programmable remote. The newer HD unit ships with the standard TiVo remote.
Buttons on the unit: The new HD unit has only a format button on the front, while the TiVo Series 3 has navigation buttons as well.
Full info here on our TiVo Series3 v. TiVo HD comparison.
The HR20-700 was released by DirecTV last August as a replacement for the HR10-250. These two machines are pretty different, and each has its own advantage. The benefit of the HR10-250 is that it’s a TiVo – running the TiVo OS. The benefit of the HR20-700 is that it can get the MPEG4 HD channels that DirecTV is adding. These channels are largely local HD stations in areas outside New York and LA, but they are hinting that they’ll have 150 new nationwide HD channels by the end of the year, many starting in September.
Since the HR20-700 was released, people have come to us looking for upgrades. And now we’re ready to upgrade the HR20-700 units! We are now selling two upgraded HR20-700s: a 100 hour HD unit, and a 145 hour HD unit.
We’re still TiVo fanatics at heart, but since the TiVo HR10-250 is out of production and DirecTV’s new channels can only come through this new DVR, we’re upgrading it also.
Finally, if you already have an HR20, and you want to send it to us for an upgrade, we’re doing that too. Just find the HR20-700 upgrade that you want, and once you checkout, we’ll email shipping information. Send us your unit, and we’ll turn it around within two business days (most often the same day, in fact). Due to various complexities, we are not offering self-install kits.
Two pieces of site news today:
-First, we’ve added 1 Terabyte upgrade kits for the Series3 TiVo. These kits are based on the new Hitachi 1 Terabyte drive and provide 144 hours of space for HD or 1350 hours of space for SD at Basic.
1 Terabyte Upgrade Kit for Series3 TiVo
-Second, we have a pretty comprehensive troubleshooting and repair page specifically targeted toward DirecTV HR10-250 models. These models have some issues that differ a bit from other TiVos, so we made a special page to cover them.