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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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