TiVo Spring Update Arrives, Fall Update Teased

TiVo-Parental-Controls

As promised, TiVo’s Spring Update has arrived — and, with it, are refreshed Netflix and YouTube apps in addition to the ability to access parental controls from the HD UI.

Having had the Premiere-only software about a week, thus far, I’d say it’s a mixed bag. The HD UI remain incomplete and while the new app UIs are certainly richer, similar to those on the Best Buy TiVo TV (RIP?), but we pay a penalty in terms of speed. In fact, I can actually switch television inputs and launch Netflix on Roku in about 1/3rd the time it takes to come up on TiVo. But, of course, the point is maybe you wouldn’t need a second box and once you’re streaming (Netflix), audio and video quality are quite high. Beyond these apps, developed by Netflix and Google respectively, new Parental Controls (that mark the end of KidZone) are accessible from the HD UI… yet they themselves aren’t actually rendered within the high def interface (and feature a sad padlock icon that looks like it was grabbed from an old CD of clipart).

Netflix_Search

As with all TiVo updates, no official change log is provided. However, TiVo’s User Experience Veep Margaret Schmidt has unofficially itemized notable additions and fixes on the TiVo Community forum. Amongst the interesting discoveries:

  • Cox customers that had difficulty receiving “Plus Pak” channels should find that issue resolved.
  • Customers experiencing pixelation in Amazon Video downloads should find that issue resolved.
  • If you bring up the Guide over a recording, it now highlights the channel on the foreground tuner, rather than the lowest channel in the Guide.
  • SELECT-PLAY-SELECT-9-SELECT now displays a clock (without seconds) in the upper right corner when using HD Menus.

As to what comes next, TiVo suggests they may actually finish the HDUI this year. Or, at least, move it forward.

  • HD version of the Season Pass Manager
  • HD version of the To Do List
  • HD version of My Shows for Multi-Room Streaming
Beyond that, we know both TiVoToGo 2.0 and Preview-esque Extender hardware are slated for release later this year (and I’ll be buying). Although, I also pine for an updated Amazon Instant app and perhaps a Blu-ray accessory.

44 thoughts on “TiVo Spring Update Arrives, Fall Update Teased”

  1. “Although, I also pine for an updated Amazon Instant app”

    An Amazon Prime app is obviously low-hanging fruit.

    But an HBO Go app seems even more obvious low-hanging fruit, given that HBO Go is tied to a cable subscription, and that TiVo is still essentially a cable subscription device at the core.

  2. I don’t know how low hanging it is… the onus is now on the content providers and Amazon or HBO may not see TiVo’s small subscriber base as the best use of their presumably limited resources. But, hey, I’d appreciate both/either if it ever came to pass.

  3. You know in this startup environment where people create businesses and flip them for tons of cash in short cycles it’s hard to imagine how TiVo survives. You get the idea that their software developers are working 4 hours a day and no one is really incentivized to perfect the system. So much potential and so little execution.

  4. “it’s hard to imagine how TiVo survives.”

    Simple. No competition.

    Given the MSO’s advantage in bundling in DVR’s, and given the fact that CableCARD won’t be around in 20 years, nobody ever made a decision to invest the money to dethrone TiVo.

    So all TiVo has to do is provide a better DVR than the MSO’s do, which is simple, given that the MSO’s have incentive to cripple their own offerings, and as long as the FCC enforces the law, TiVo has the market all to themselves.

    As always: TiVo, the worst DVR in the world with the single exception of all the others.

  5. I thought it was particularly nice and effective of them to share what the next HDUI updates will be. Their openness since the last update (along with listening directly to us by creating a new remote control code), has worked and it’s turning the enthusiast community a bit back in their favor.

    Since the extender and Preview will be able to zap record commands to a Tivo with the next update… I guess we can add whatever fancy name that’s called to the list of fall software updates as well. But I wonder if this is strictly extender-to-tivo or if it can be tivo-to-tivo as well. It’d be kind of cool if it could… But I digress. Getting ahead of things. I’m just excited for the extender is all. :)

  6. The new YouTube app had me running for the GoogleTV. Sure happy I have a slide remote. God I can’t imagine using the provided keyboard.

    John

  7. “TiVo, the worst DVR in the world with the single exception of all the others.”

    Chucky, I couldn’t have said it myself. TiVo sucks, but god knows it’s better than the alternatives.

  8. Rodalpho & Chuck. I think you guys are a little off base.

    TiVo is actually a great DVR.

    What they are not so good at is all this streaming stuff.

    In that regards to streaming as far as I can tell nothing is perfect and nothing has access to everything – not even a HTPC.

    Or more simple put all the current streaming devices have limitations.

    My opinion is that Roku is current the best but it certainly has limitations and issues.

  9. Atmusky, I agree. TiVo is the best “retail” DVR available. When you consider the number of changes TiVo has implemented in the past 18 months I’m a very happy TiVo user. WMC is a great alternative to TiVo for the enthusiast community. There is significant room for improvement and the lack of apps has caused me to purchase Vudu & Roku boxes as supplements to my TiVo for OTT content. The PQ of the new Netflix app on the TiVo is one more reason I won’t be switching inputs back to the Roku. The PQ of the Amazon Instant downloads make it my go to media app for newer release movies. I do wish there was a way to stream movie trailers (like on Vudu).

    As far as the speed of the new Netflix interface. The really speed issue is associated with the launch time. We now know from a Margret tweet that Netflix actually downloads the app each time Netflix is launched which results in a 30 second start-up. The nice thing about this method is Netflix is able to easily update the app with new features and bug fixes. I believe Hulu works this way as well. Once the app is launched Navigation of the user interface is very snappy for me but this speed is extremely sensitive to ISP performance and DNS resolution performance.

    Why am I getting the sense that Rodalpho is a frustrated Series 3 / TiVo HD user who is upset that TiVo has stopped adding features to his six year old DVR?

    As far as the “new” open communication from TiVo, in addition to actively participating in Twitter, blogging about the update, and actively reading the TCF, TiVo has also updated their page on TiVo.com to describe the new features added to this Spring Update.

    http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/service-updates/index.html

  10. I am a S3 user, actually, but I don’t blame them for not supporting my device. I blame them for not improving the platform and giving me a real reason to upgrade.

  11. “I am a S3 user, actually, but I don’t blame them for not supporting my device. I blame them for not improving the platform and giving me a real reason to upgrade.”

    If you don’t have a reason to upgrade now you may never have a reason to upgrade regardless of what TiVo releases. I was a long Series 3 and TiVo HD user and the release of the Elite/XL4 finally gave me enough reason to upgrade. The January software update further differentiates the Premiere from the S3. TiVo has also made enormous strides on their iPad and Android companion apps that work extremely well with the Premiere.

    I think you might feel differently if you actually started using the Premiere platform. Its a very solid device. TiVo has made many design choices that make it a pleasure to use. With the latest software releases, there are times where they’ve grayed out areas of the UI but the interface is very responsive to user input. Over 80% of the users on TCF are now using the HD user interface. That percentage will grow as further upgrades are delivered to the HD interface.

    If you choose to use the SDUI on the Premiere, it is significantly faster than your S3/TiVo HD.

  12. “I am a S3 user, actually, but I don’t blame them for not supporting my device. I blame them for not improving the platform and giving me a real reason to upgrade.”

    I’d say that’s a bit harsh. I’m also on S3, as a happy user of a TiVo HD. And now that the S4 SDUI emulation 10 minute hang bug finally seems to be quashed, I’m pretty much ready to upgrade.

    If you run an Elite in SDUI emulation mode, you get:

    – Snappier UI responsiveness
    – Dramatically improved throughput speeds
    – 2TB instead of 1TB
    – Four tuners instead of two
    – iOS remote access

    That’s a lot of incremental improvement over my TiVo HD. It’s a lot of incremental reasons to upgrade.

    Now, given my experience the last time I played with it, I still wouldn’t use the HDUI given the laggy UI. And that’s a shame. I wish TiVo would make the HDUI usable by my personal specs. But they’re not there yet.

    And I wish they’d put more effort/money into working with Amazon and HBO to deliver support for their IP offerings.

    But they’re actually doing pretty good work in advancing the platform considering that they have no competition, and thus little incentive to really push development.

    —–

    “Rodalpho & Chuck(y). I think you guys are a little off base. TiVo is actually a great DVR.”

    I’d phrase it differently:

    TiVo is a very good DVR, clearly the best DVR you can use by a pretty wide margin. But there are significant areas for improvement that keep it a bit below the “greatness” category.

  13. I have used a premiere, although that was several years ago when they were first released.

    My S3 UI is perfectly snappy, and I don’t use multi-room viewing. The 4 tuners and 2TB bit is only if you spring for the elite, which is a significant cost over just buying a base premiere and upgrading the drive yourself, which is what I would do. For remote access, I have a slingbox pro-HD, for netflix/hulu/etc I have a HTPC with XBMC.

    TiVo is the best DVR on the market, no doubt about it. The problem is that they haven’t focused their development efforts on improving core DVR functionality in a decade. The only core DVR feature added was multi-room streaming, and while that is certainly welcome and a long time coming, I personally have no use for it.

  14. “I don’t use multi-room viewing”

    Neither do I. I want the faster throughput speed of the S4 for getting stuff onto and off of the TiVo in realtime, given that my wireline provider has customer friendly CCI byte settings.

    With KTTMG and pyTiVo, you’ve got as much storage as you want, and realtime throughput speeds make it all a lot easier.

  15. Ahh. I have time-warner cable, so everything is locked down, and again I have a XBMC HTPC anyway.

  16. “My S3 UI is perfectly snappy”

    But more snappy is always more better in my book. OS X had gotten reasonably snappy by 10.5. But then I stuck an SSD in my box, and more snappy is more better than not.

    “For remote access, I have a slingbox pro-HD”

    My household uses our TiVo a lot, and some of the things you can do via the iOS remote are a lot more convenient than doing them via any conceivable 10 ft interface.

    “The 4 tuners and 2TB bit is only if you spring for the elite, which is a significant cost over just buying a base premiere and upgrading the drive yourself, which is what I would do.”

    S4 doesn’t have a public source manner of sticking in your own hard drive, (which is actually a minor reason to stick with the S3), so if you want 2GB, you have to buy the Elite unless you possess esoteric knowledge. Happily, the recent price cut in the Elite makes that all a lot easier to swallow.

    —–

    Like I say, all the S4 improvements are incremental, especially if the HDUI isn’t up to your personal specs for acceptable. But those incremental improvements do exist now that the SDUI emulation mode bug has been squashed. So upgrading ends up coming down to a cost/benefit analysis. The S3 is still a fine device if you can’t justify the cost.

    (And unlike everybody else in the world, I actually prefer the S3 Netflix client, since the UI is more like the TiVo UI that one is already using.)

  17. Huh? JMFS works fine to upgrade tivo premieres. Or did you mean that it wasn’t open-source?

    More snappy would indeed be better, but I don’t actually find the S3 interface to be slow, so I have no particular incentive to upgrade for that.

  18. “Huh? JMFS works fine to upgrade tivo premieres.”

    I learned something new and useful today. Thank you.

    I guess I haven’t been following the forums closely enough.

  19. The HDUI on the Premiere is still pretty slow.

    The only use it on my Premiere since it shows how much space is used.

    That’s important since it has the original drive, and I am OTA-only (nearly 7GB/hour for full HD)

    Once 2TB drives drop back down to $75 I’ll drop one in the Premiere and probably switch back to SD menus.

    Right now I use my Blu-ray player for Netflix.

    I’ll have to try the new app on the Premiere.

  20. “JMFS works fine to upgrade tivo premieres.”

    FWIW, I did the math, and in my particular situation, the Elite is reasonably competitively priced.

    My particulars are that I need the Glo remote for its programability, and I’d need to buy a second $20 drive toaster to use JMFS.

    So in my particular situation, I’d have to pay $330 for a base Premiere that I’d upgrade with my own drive.

    For the $70 extra for the Elite, I’d get two extra tuners, (no biggie, but welcome during NBA season), plus the convenience of getting to skip a few hours of semi-fun DIY tinkering.

    Always nice to have options.

    (If you don’t need a programmabile remote, and already have a second bare drive enclosure, DIY would be $120 cheaper than the Elite.)

  21. (If you don’t need a programmabile remote, and already have a second bare drive enclosure, DIY would be $120 cheaper than the Elite.)

    One other minor consideration is the Elite/XL4 will probably be worth more when you are ready to resell than the base Premiere (even with the larger hard drive).

  22. Not really sure how that adds up. The base premiere is $99 (they still sell the old model), 2TB drives are $119 at newegg (and prices are dropping fast), and the tivo slide remote is $40. The Glo is $50, if you really prefer it.

    $099 – tivo premiere
    $119 – 2TB disk
    $040 – slide remote
    —————–
    $258

    Not entirely sure what a “drive toaster” is. You just plug the disk into your computer, or use a USB adapter.

    Anyway, that’s $258 versus $342, the best price I could find for the previous model of the elite, before it was called the “XL4”. The difference is $84.

    You know, I started this post planning to show why the elite wasn’t a good idea, but at an $84 premium, I would probably buy it too. Of course once electronics expo runs out of the old elites, you’ll pay $380 for an XL4, and that’s a bit more difficult to justify.

  23. Well, we’ve had the Elite for a few months now, and I have to say its a nice improvement over the HD. I like getting updates. I like the advantages of the HDUI like the suggestions on the home page, and the improved navigation. Certainly the HD Guide with the little red icons for what’s going to be recorded.

    The thing is seriously slow though. I haven’t switched back to the SDUI yet, but I might try it. With 2TB of storage your My Recordings menu gets pretty damn long. Long enough that scrolling through the complete list to find Mythbusters, let alone Weeds can take just ages.

    I think its actually acceptable. HOWEVER, I’m entirely aware that if anybody (imagine Apple say–no they won’t do it, just IMAGINE if they did) produced a version that scrolled like butter how much better that would be and how you’d abandon TiVo in a heartbeat.

    Like others I’ve long since stopped using TiVo for anything other than a DVR. I’ve got an Apple TV for movie watching, music & photos, a Roku for playing content from my computer, Amazon Prime, etc. This is dissapointing but I honestly don’t care. I just want TiVo to do better at being a DVR. That’s all.

    For now the upgrades we’ve seen lately, the increasing willingness to communicate with TCF etc are all keeping me from going anywhere else.

  24. “Not really sure how that adds up. The base premiere is $99 (they still sell the old model)”

    I did not know that. Thank you. That cuts $50 off my BOM.

    “2TB drives are $119 at newegg (and prices are dropping fast)”

    I’d go for an A/V drive for $130 instead.

    And I’m dubious about retail 2TB drive prices continuing to drop fast. They’ve sort of plateaued around $120, and considering the price of 1TB drives, I’m not sure they’ll continue to fall back to pre-flood price levels anytime soon. I think the big price drops will be in the 4TB arena, which I’m eagerly awaiting, though obviously not to stick in a TiVo.

    “Not entirely sure what a “drive toaster” is. You just plug the disk into your computer, or use a USB adapter.”

    I’ve got a Mac Mini for my home server, (and HTPC using Plex), which means all bare drives must go external. I’ve already got one bare drive toaster, which was sufficient for upgrading my TiVo HD hard drive, but if I understand JMFS correctly, I need to have both drives hooked up simultaneously. It’s only a $20 item, but it’s there.

    “$342, the best price I could find for the previous model of the elite, before it was called the “XL4”

    I did not know that either. Thanks again.

    —–

    “psst TiVo… an update to TivoToGo to support mkv files would be much appreciated”

    Given the provenance of most mkv files, I’m not sure TiVo will want to go there, though it would be nice.

    —–

    “MoCA could also be a benefit…”

    Why would I want chocolate in my latte? Coffee and milk alone is good enough for me. We don’t need no stinking mochas.

    (As an urban household without the need for MRV, ethernet seems quite sufficient for my purposes.)

  25. “You know, I started this post planning to show why the elite wasn’t a good idea, but at an $84 premium, I would probably buy it too.”

    Yeah. That’s certainly a viable option now.

    TiVo’s recent price drop on the Elite makes DIY less of a must-do than it used to be. It’s nice to see TiVo not profit margining up their high-end box to the extent they used to do.

  26. Rodalpho, how’d you get to $342? The best I could come up with was $350 (after $25 off code) on Electronics Expo plus $15 shipping. Hm.

    Strike that – it’s $339.97 after that $25 off code. Then again, it’s cheaper and easier to just get a bigger drive. But those tuners…

  27. “Rodalpho, how’d you get to $342? The best I could come up with was $350”

    Eight dollars is just two MoCA’s at Starbucks…

  28. “I just want TiVo to do better at being a DVR. That’s all.”

    Hell. I’m actually incredibly impressed that TiVo finally got around to squashing the SDUI emulation mode 10 minute hang bug, which is the only reason why I’m ready to upgrade in the first place.

    I’d figured that the SDUI emulation mode would receive zero engineering hours, even for bug fixes, and that I’d have to skip the entire Premiere hardware generation.

    Good on TiVo.

  29. It’s certainly much cheaper to buy a $99 premiere and drop a $120 2TB disk in it. But Chucky needed a $40 glo remote which dropped the price premium all the way to $84, which seems like a fair price to avoid the trouble of upgrading yourself. I don’t need the remote, which is a different story.

    Also I don’t think the $340 elites will be available for much longer. Those are just the old branding clearing out. In a week or two you’ll only be able to buy tivo XL4s, not elites, and you’ll pay ~$380.

  30. The fact that TiVo has NEVER FINISHED the GUI in the Premier and will never finish it in the HD/Series 3 products says a LOT about TiVo’s failures as a company. How complicated is it to create an HD sized and shaped GUI? Apparently for TiVo it’s not worth hiring another graphic designer and a few programmers to work full time on it until it’s done.

  31. “Paradoxically, The Grey was more gruesome, more philosophical, and less good than I had imagined. (Streamed via Amazon over Roku.)”

    Do your travels leave you temporarily without a TiVo?

    If not, why the hell wouldn’t you download the movie to your TiVo via Amazon instead? Better quality at the same price, no?

  32. We’re down to one TiVo and it’s in the bedroom. Whereas we watch most movies in the living room. After three consecutive weeks of Apple TV streaming sh*tiness, I wanted to see what kind of results we’d get from Amazon over Roku. (Since Netflix and Redbox won’t offer the disc until June 12th.) So either the network in this temporary housing was less saturated last night or Amazon/Roku performs better. I do have a feeling there is something up with the network here (and the provider will be replaced by Cox before we move on, and I expect it to get better).

  33. “We’re down to one TiVo and it’s in the bedroom. Whereas we watch most movies in the living room.”

    You ought to head out to a Best Buy and purchase yourself a TiVo Preview. Problem solved.

    (BTW, your response to Henry Blodget was very, very funny.)

  34. You ought to head out to a Best Buy and purchase yourself a TiVo Preview. Problem solved.

    TiVo Preview??? I think we all wish that the Preview was available via retail channels. I’m anxiously awaiting the IP-STP with MoCA (hopefully).

  35. “I think we all wish that the Preview was available via retail channels”

    It’s like the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plot. There is one retail Preview available for purchase at five different Best Buys around the nation. They’re each hidden behind other boxes in the dustiest sections of the stores.

    So just go out and find that golden ticket. (Hint: I’d suggest trying the Dakotas first. If that doesn’t work, there’s got to be one in Idaho.)

  36. I’m not sure why, but I still haven’t received the latest update that upgrades the Netflix and You Tube clients. I live in the Southeastern U.S. Region if that has anything to do with it.

    My random wish list is:

    A 6 tuner STB so that I can finally get rid of my 2 S2(s). It could be in the works since Tivo has lowered the price of their premium offering.

    A cable card tuner for PC enthusiasts similar to what Ceton is offering (I’m sure Tivo would heavily lock it down with their own software as opposed to using WMC as a segue).

  37. Just got update. It has some good improvements.
    We bought a Premier for Mom to replace old series 2/cable box/Roku setup.
    I think she’ll like it.

    I came across this thread and wanted to add my 2 cents. In reality the box cost us over $500. Everyone is talking about the cost of the box but don’t forget service. I wouldn’t give something that required monthly payments.

  38. It looks like YouTube has quietly updated the YouTube app to support Remote Pairing for control from an Android, iOS, or other mobile second screen device.

    I’ve used it with the YouTube Remote app on my Android Table (original Galaxy Tab) and using my iPad3 in the Safari browser.

    Controlling YouTube via the second screen device is a huge improvement over navigation using the onscreen (TV) controls.

    There is an issue where the pairing is LOST every time the app is exited. I’m hoping that YouTube can correct this issue.

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