ReplayTVBlog

Roku has introduced their Netflix Player, a new set top box that’s about the size of a paperback book and will let you stream movies from the huge Netflix movie library right to your TV without a computer. Priced at $99.99, it’s cheaper than competing devices from Apple and TiVo, but it also does less — much less. In fact, all it does is let you select a movie from the Netflix library to watch and then it streams it directly to your TV.

While that may sound like a limitation, I think it’s actually an advantage. Sometimes, simple is good. For most people, when they want to watch a movie all they want to do is choose their movie and then have it play. They don’t need to see the DVD cover on the screen, know the bio of every actor in the movie, or even how long it is. They just want to watch the movie. This is where the Netflix Player will excel. Choose your movie and watch it — No PC Needed!
Of course, the Netflix Player doesn’t appear to be perfect. You don’t have access to the entire Netflix library, but hopefully this will improve over time. The other weakness is that you can only stream movies from the Netflix library. It would be nice to eventually be able to stream video from other sources (like YouTube) but for now it’s Netflix or nothing.

Shortcomings aside, is a simple to use device that does what it says it does and does it well — something that’s pretty rare these days in technology products.

Technorati Tags: Netflix, Roku, TiVo, Apple

Popularity: 2%

For everyone out there who was smart enough to buy a lifetime service subscription for their original TiVo (unfortunately I wasn’t) you’re finally being rewarded. TiVo has a special limited time offer to transfer lifetime service subscriptions to a new Series 2 Dual Tuner 80GB TiVo. There are a few restrictions:

• This is only for TiVo units that were activated with a lifetime subscription before June 15, 2003.
• The lifetime service can only be transferred to a Series 2 TiVo Dual Tuner 80 Hour Unit — No Series 3
• The offer is only good until July 23, 2007 and you must activate the new unit with the lifetime service subscription by August 31, 2007.

This is good and bad. Obviously, the lifetime service subscription was a good purchase even before this (especially considering how many old lifetime units are still out there chugging away) but now it’s even better — you get to start all over with a brand spanking new TiVo. With the track record of the early TiVo’s, these Series 2 TiVo’s will most likely last until the next lifetime service transfer offer. The bad part of this is you can’t transfer the lifetime service to a Series 3 HD TiVo — yet. I fully expect that sometime in the relatively near future, TiVo will offer a transfer of the lifetime service to the Series 3. The question is, will it be from an original TiVo or only a Series 2 that had the lifetime service transferred to it?

Let’s hope that TiVo offers the transfer to the Series 3 sometime in the very near future. If I were a gambling man, I would probably wait and hold out for the transfer directly to the Series 3. Of course, since I don’t have a lifetime service subscription to transfer, that’s easy for me to say.

For those of you looking to play it safe, Transfer Now!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 21%

Edging one step closer today to world domination, TiVo has announced that they will now be selling TiVo units in China. Partnering with a company called PacificNet they would sell the TiVo DVR and accompanying services through their iMobile subsidiary. TiVo devices would be available in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

It’s not clear exactly what services will be available for TiVo devices in China. I’m sure they will get some kind of a channel guide with updates, but will they have access to download videos similar to Amazon Unbox? Or will they have access to the TiVo To Go Software?

Plans may not be clear at this point, but this expansion is a step in the right direction. With the competition that TiVo faces from sub par Cable Company DVR devices here in the US, going into other countries where there is not much competition is a huge growth area for TiVo. Plus, they have the opportunity to establish themselves as the defacto standard for DVRs before the competition can really take hold.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, China, Amazon Unbox

Popularity: 19%

There may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. In what has been a textbook case of Vaporware, it appears that the Comcast TiVo may actually be almost ready! Over at Zatz Not Funny, Dave Zatz has a sneak preview of the upcoming Comcast / Motorola / TiVo DVR.

According to the article, the new TiVo software should be available from Comcast sometime this spring (still no firm availability date). Even better, to get the new TiVo software, existing Comcast DVR customers will only have to call Comcast and request the new TiVo DVR. Apparently (and I’ll believe it when I see it), Comcast will just “flip a switch” and the new TiVo software will download and install on your existing Comcast DVR box. After a reboot, you will have a beautiful TiVo DVR! As always, I’m sure it won’t be this simple in the real world.

There are still a number of questions that remain unanswered:

1. Will this work with ALL Comcast DVR Hardware? - So far, only the Motorola Boxes have been mentioned as being upgradeable with the TiVo software. Even though the new TiVo software is written entirely in Java for portability, it remains to be seen if it will ever be available for Scientific Atlanta boxes.
2. How much will it cost? - Comcast has stated that there will be a modest fee charged for the TiVo above and beyond their standard DVR offering but there has been no indication of what Comcast considers “modest”. While I would be willing to pay a little bit more, I’m not sure that I could stomach $25 - $30 a month for my DVR on top of my regular cable bill!
3. When will we actually be able to get it? - This is the big daddy of all the questions. It’s been over two years since Comcast and TiVo originally announced this partnership and we still can’t get a TiVo from Comcast. Even the TiVo Series 3 is out and we still don’t have a TiVo from Comcast. If they don’t ever release it, all of these great features mean nothing.

Making TiVo (and DVR’s in general) available to more people through different channels (Cable Companies) is a great thing — but I don’t think I can (or will) wait another year for a Comcast TiVo. It could be time to seriously think about a nice shiny Series 3 TiVo.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Comcast, DVR, PVR, Cable TV, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta

Popularity: 24%

PVR Wire has a nice photo post showing off a new TiVo Series 3 in it’s new packaging straight from the store. Check out the Apple like packaging on the Series 3! It definitely looks like TiVo has decided to add some perceived value to this $800 box with that little bit extra that they’ve put into the packaging. They have also made it very clear that this TiVo is all about High Definition TV (HDTV). Every where you look, you see the HD designation — on the outside of the box, on the inside of the box, on a wrapper around the TiVo unit, etc. They even have a new HD oriented slogan:

The TiVolution will now be televised in HD.

They’ve left no doubt — This TiVo is all about HD. It’s also got some very pretty packaging. Apparently, TiVo has been listening to Andre Agassi - Image is Everything.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, HD, Apple, Andre Agassi, HDTV

Popularity: 24%

Another win for Consumers and a definite blow to the Cable Companies bottom line. A Federal Appeals Court has upheld the recent mandate from the FCC that Cable Companies must provide consumers with CableCards. This means that newer TV’s and TV related devices (like the upcoming TiVo Series 3 DVR) that support the CableCard standard will not need a set top cable box to decode and display digital cable channels. Essentially, Digital Cable TV will be “Plug and Play”.

This is a good thing. Not only will it be easier to setup Digital Cable TV with DVR’s and other set top boxes, but the potential for dual tuners is just a second CableCard away — no more A/B switches and analog basic cable only tuners.

Of course the Cable Companies are not too happy about this mandate. It is estimated that the Cable Companies make approximately $2.5 Billion a year renting cable boxes to consumers. Not only will the CableCard eliminate the need for these boxes, but it will also cost the Cable Companies almost $470 million to implement the new CableCard technology. But don’t feel too bad for the Cable TV Industry. I’m sure they will make up for all that lost revenue by charging us a monthly fee for the CableCards they let us use.

Now I can’t wait to get my hands on a new TiVo Series 3 DVR and stick two cable cards into it — Mmmmmmmm…. Dual Tuner HDTV Recording Goodness!

Technorati Tags: FCC, Cable TV, CableCard, TiVo, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 23%

If there is one thing The Internet is good for, it’s rumors. This time, the current rumor making rounds involves the possible release date of the upcoming HD capable TiVo Series 3. Over at HD Beat, they say they have been informed by a source (and I use that term loosely) at Best Buy that the TiVo Series 3 will be available on September 17th, 2006 at a list price of $799. First off, don’t get too excited — this is a completely unsubstantiated rumor. Any or all of it could be completely wrong — including the price. And since I mentioned the price, $799. I’ll say that again — $799 Dollars — yes, that’s American dollars. I know that this is new technology and the price will certainly come down over time, $799 seems really high. As good as a TiVo is, who do they think is going to fork over $799 for a DVR And pay the monthly service fee when they can get an (admittedly inferior) DVR from their cable company for nothing other than the monthly charge?

While I love TiVo and I hope that the rumored date is right, I also hope that the price is wrong — $799 will Kill the TiVo Series 3 before it even gets started.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 21%

TiVo has posted a new webpage on their site about the upcoming TiVo Series 3. Although there is not much information on this page, they do have a signup form for a Series 3 mailing list to get the latest info on TiVo’s latest products emailed to you as soon as it is available.

I also noticed that they are calling the TiVo Series 3 a Digital Media Recorder. Does this mean the Series 3 will be a DMR as opposed to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder)? I don’t think this really means anything as far as functionality of the Series 3, but it will be interesting to see if this name change from DVR to DMR actually sticks — I, for one, have become kind of attached to the DVR name.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, DVR, PVR, DMR

Popularity: 21%

HD Beat has posted some of the first pictures of a Series 3 TiVo being used in the real world! They received the pictures from one of their readers who is part of the beta testing program for the Series 3 TiVo. Not only do the pictures show what appears to be an updated Series 2 TiVo from the front, but there are also pictures of the back of the unit that confirm some of the new features — Ethernet, eSATA, HDMI, Component Outputs (HDTV!), and TWO Cable Card Slots!

All of this is making me drool. Imagine — Dual Tuners, HD Recording, External SATA Hard Drives — enough with the Beta Testing! Hurry up and release the Series 3 TiVo!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, SATA, HDTV, DVR, PVR, Beta

Popularity: 23%

Last year at this time, the Internet was filled with rumors that Google was going to buy TiVo. They has a boatload of extra cash lying around (and apparently they still do) and all the big technology websites were speculating on how Google might spend their hard earned cash. Cnet even reported that they had multiple sources that confirmed that Google was in negotiations to buy TiVo.

Fast forward one year later and the rumors are starting again. But this time, instead of Google buying a DVR / PVR company like TiVo or ReplayTV, they are supposedly creating their own DVR. Thomas Hawk has a post on his Digital Connection blog about the CTO of OpenTV leaving them to go work for Google. He believes that this is an indication that Google is working on some type of DVR. PVR Wire also has a post about the same rumor with some more speculation about some new domains that Google has registered (googletv.com and googlehdtv.net) that they also think may be an indication of something PVR related going on at Google.

If any of this turns out to be true (and it’s all speculation and rumor at this point), what could Google possibly be working on that could compete with the likes of TiVo or the upcoming ReplayTV PC edition. I don’t see Google developing a hardware based DVR (ala TiVo) — they are mainly a software company, not a hardware company. And even if it is a hardware PVR, it doesn’t really fit into their usual business plan of giving away the product for free — this might work for software, but not hardware.

So if it’s anything, it will probably be a software PVR that will run on a Windows based computer. Which will put them in direct competition with the likes of the upcoming ReplayTV PC Edition (Not Free) and SageTV (Also Not Free), which are much more mature offerings but, again, NOT FREE.

If any of this ever comes true (pretty unlikely), it will be interesting to see how a new, immature, and untested software PVR that is being given away for free will fare against tried and true software DVRs (ReplayTV PC Edition, SageTV) that are not free. My guess is, because it’s Google and it’s free, they will have no problem taking a huge share of the DVR market from the existing players. I, for one, will always pay for quality — but I think I’m in the minority. To quote Field of Dreams, Build It and They Will Come — oh, and if you make it free, they will come in droves.

Technorati Tags: DVR, PVR, TiVo, ReplayTV, Google

Popularity: 23%

Apparently, we may not have to wait too much longer for some HDTV TiVo Goodness! According to Dave Zatz, TiVo has sent a letter to both the FCC and the Cable Companies that the TiVo Series 3 with HD and CableCard support are coming and will be available in retail stores soon. He even has an image of the instructions for Cable installers to help them configure the TiVo Series 3 with two CableCards!

While no one has any idea when SOON is, everyone is speculating that it won’t be too far in the future. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better — I can’t wait to get rid of my piece of junk Scientific Atlanta 8300HD — the only reason I keep it is to record HDTV and I would definitely rather have a TiVo.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, HDTV, Scientific Atlanta, PVR, DVR

Popularity: 23%

Woot, the infamous “One Day, One Deal” online technology / gadget store, has a great deal on a Toshiba DVD Recorder with a built in Series 2 TiVo. For $269.99, you get a Toshiba RSTX20 DVD Recorder with a built in TiVo Series 2 DVR with a 120 GB Hard Drive.

As usual for Woot, this deal is only available today — either 24 hours or until it is sold out. The only real caveat with this unit is that it is refurbished — meaning that there was something wrong with it, but now it is (supposedly) fixed. But on the plus side, there is a $150.00 TiVo mail in rebate that is good after you activate your TiVo Plus Service.

For $269.99 plus a $150.00 mail in rebate, it’s probably worth the refurbished gamble, but I don’t think I’ll be taking that bet. Instead, I’d rather spend my money on the new Dual Tuner Series 2 TiVo!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Toshiba, Woot, DVR, PVR, DVD

Popularity: 22%

For a product that has yet to be released, the mysterious TiVo Series 2 Dual Tuner DVR has quite a history. First, it was spotted on Amazon with no expected release date. Then, it just disappeared from Amazon’s website — no announcements from TiVo, just gone. Now, we apparently have an official announcement from TiVo that there will be a Dual Tuner TiVo! According to the press release issued by TiVo the new unit will be called the TiVo Series 2 DT DVR and will include all the features of current Series 2 Tivo’s in addition to the Dual Tuners. The new TiVo DT will be available in two different sizes — 80 hour and 180 hour — although the TiVo press release only mentions the availability of the 80 Hour unit. It is supposed to be available from retailers and TiVo.com on May 1st, 2006.

The product page at Amazon for the TiVo DT currently lists it as unavailable and they do not have a date as of yet. They also only list the 80 hour TiVo DT, so the 180 hour unit is, at this point, just a rumor.

Looks like I’m going to have to start saving my money. I definitely want to get one of these as soon as they are available in May and I’ll post an indepth review here after I’ve been able to play with it for awhile.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 13%

Craig of Craigslist fame has posted a short entry on his blog about how he thinks that we can save democracy using our TiVo or any DVR / PVR. He apparently had this flash of brilliance while watching The West Wing and reading about how Congress spends more time raising money for re-election TV commercials than actually working.

Craig’s theory is that if everyone with a DVR (TiVo, ReplayTV, etc.) were to fast forward through all TV commercials and completely stop watching TV commercials, Congress might actually do some work! This is based on the assumption that it will be very difficult to replace TV re-election ads for politicians with something that is actually part of a TV show, such as product placement.

This sounds like an interesting theory, but I don’t know if it would actually work. Politicians are a pretty crafty bunch and will most likely figure out a way around this plan. I can just see it now — instead of the stupid Ford ads that we have on American Idol now, we’ll have Hillary Clinton in the Red Room with Ryan Seacrest interviewing the American Idol Top Ten while she campaigns for President.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR, Democracy, Politics, Hillary Clinton, American Idol, Congress, Craigslist, The West Wing

Popularity: 14%

After just having accidently (?) leaked their possible new partnership with Blockbuster, TiVo seems to have sprung another leak — this time it’s a new feature called Guru Guides. Zatz Not Funny has posted a screenshot of the updated TiVo Privacy Policy and there is mention of something called “Guru Guides”.

Just like with the Blockbuster leak, this is all speculation, but maybe this has something to do with Celebrity or Expert Recommendations. Shows could be recommended by an expert or guru and recorded on your TiVo. TiVo Community has a discussion going on about a new page on the TiVo site about Expert Picks which sounds like the same thing.

While there is not much information and these are all just leaks — although I don’t think they are accidental leaks on TiVo’s part — it’s good to see TiVo trying out new things and adding new features. Seems like the Echostar victory might have given them a second wind.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Echostar, Blockbuster, Guru Guides, Expert Picks, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 15%

Matt Haughey of PVRBlog has posted about one of his major pet peeves with his Comcast / Motorola DVR — it can ruin shows (like American Idol) by showing you the live ending to the show while selecting to play the recording show in the DVR menu. Basically, Matt likes to watch American Idol delayed so he can fast forward through the commercials. But his Comcast / Motorola DVR shows the current live TV channel in the upper right corner of the screen while you are in the “My DVR” menu. So, as he was about to start playing American Idol from the beginning from the menu, he saw Ace Young being voted off in the upper corner of the screen, effectively ruining the show.

I definitely feel his pain. For those of us with a Scientific Atlanta DVR from Comcast, we have a problem like Matt’s but even worse. When you are watching a show that is recording on a Scientific Atlanta DVR from Comcast, when the show finishes recording, you are immediately brought to Live TV on that channel. Inevitably what happens is I will be watching American Idol delayed while it is recording and when it finishes recording, I will be thrown to Live TV and will catch the last few seconds of the show, which of course will be enough to let me see who was voted off of American Idol. This has happened to me more than once, and as far as I know there is no solution other than to not start watching American Idol until after it is over.

Unbelieveable as it is, Scientific Atlanta released their DVR with this “bug” and still has not fixed it. While Matt’s problem with his Motorola DVR is a pain in the but quirk, I wouldn’t call it a bug. And this bug is one of the reasons that Scientific Atlanta will lose all of their Cable company customers (like Comcast) to TiVo. As long as Scientific Atlanta is willing to release buggy software like this and not fix it — it has been like this for over a year — they will never be able to compete with TiVo.

It’s things like this that really make me hate Scientific Atlanta!

Technorati Tags: Scientific Atlanta, Comcast, DVR, PVR, TiVo, American Idol, Motorola

Popularity: 13%

Over at Zatz Not Funny, they have posted some screenshots of the TiVo Online Store showing an option to order a Blockbuster Online Subscription with your new TiVo. The speculation is that TiVo may be partnering with Blockbuster to offer online DVD rentals through your TiVo.

Since TiVo stated a while back that they are no longer working on a Video on Demand (VOD) service with Netflix, I guess they are going to test the waters of offering DVD rentals through your TiVo. I don’t think this will have anything to do with actually downloading the movies to view on your TiVo. This will probably just be the ability to choose DVD movies for your Blockbuster Online DVD Rental Queue from your TiVo. You will be able to browse their selection and add DVD’s to your queue, but not actually download them and watch the movies on your TiVo.

Why would TiVo be partnering with Blockbuster instead of Netflix? I have no idea, but I don’t think it is that big of a deal. While I am definitely not a huge Blockbuster fan, both companies seem to offer a similar service and Blockbuster does have brand recognition that is at least on a par with Netflix in this segment.

Of course, all of this is speculation — the Blockbuster offers have been removed from the TiVo store and there have been no announcements from either TiVo or Blockbuster regarding any agreements. It’s anybody’s guess what all this means, but it’s still interesting.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Blockbuster, Netflix, DVD, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 4%

One of the features that I love the most about my ReplayTV is the one I thought I would miss most on a TiVo — the ability to hit a button to skip ahead 30 seconds. It makes skipping through TV commercials so fast and easy that I go nuts when I use my Comcast DVR that doesn’t have it. Well it turns out that there is a hack that will enable a 30 second skip button on the TiVo Remote!

To enable the 30 second skip on your TiVo, you first have to start watching a recorded program on your TiVo. While watching the program, press the following buttons in this order on your TiVo Remote:

Select, Play, Select, 3, 0, Select

After correctly entering this sequence of buttons, you will hear three of the famous TiVo boing sounds that will indicate that you have enabled the 30 second skip.

To use the 30 second skip on your TiVo, all you have to do is press the skip button on the remote. It is the button that looks like an arrow pointing to the right with a line next to it. It kind of looks like this:

>|

That’s all there is to it. Now, every time you press the skip button on your TiVo, it will automatically advance 30 seconds. You will have to reprogram this hack after any reboot of your TiVo — such as after a power outage or a TiVo software update is installed. If you ever want to remove the 30 second skip, just enter the codes the exact same way and that will disable it.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR, TiVo Hacks

Popularity: 6%

Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that the jury in the TiVo vs. Echostar case has found in favor of TiVo! In addition, they have awarded TiVo more than $73 Million in damages. TiVo has released a press release about the decision and has said that they will seek a permanent injuction against Echostar’s (Dish Network) DVR products.

This is definitely good news for TiVo. While TiVo will probably never see any money from Echostar, if they can use this decision to pressure either Echostar or any other company into using TiVo DVR software instead of a generic DVR, this will mark a major turning point in the history of TiVo.

On the other hand, Echostar will of course appeal the decision and it even could be overturned on appeal. Echostar apparently has their own DVR patent lawsuit coming up sometime in 2007 against TiVo.

As I said before, TiVo will probably never see any money from this, but if they did I’m sure they could really use $73 Million Dollars. That would definitely be a nice addition to the old corporate coffers!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Echostar, Dish Network, Lawsuit, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 3%

Sometimes, confusion and rumors reign supreme on the Internet. Case in point is all the noise about the mysterious TiVo Series 2 Dual Tuner DVR that has been the subject of many blogs and news reports over the past week. First, there were reports of the new TiVo Series 2 Dual Tuner DVR after a product page for it appeared on Amazon. Initially, there was no release date from Amazon. Then, we saw a couple of possible release dates listed on the Amazon product page. Now, the new TiVo has mysteriously disappeared from Amazon all together — no release dates, no product pages, nothing.

So, will there be a Dual Tuner Series 2 TiVo? I know there are reports that the upcoming TiVo Series 3 DVR has been certified by Cable Labs and people are speculating that TiVo may not release the dual tuner series 2. I think this would be a huge mistake on the part of TiVo. While all of us DVR aficionados are anxiously awaiting the release of the High Definition TiVo Series 3, most people will not want HD and definitely won’t want to pay for it.

A Dual Tuner TiVo without High Definition recording capabilities would be an excellent addition to the TiVo product lineup. It would fill the gap nicely between the current Series 2 TiVo and the upcoming Series 3 TiVo and I hope that TiVo sees fit to release it.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, CableLabs, DVR, PVR, Amazon

Popularity: 13%