TiVo still has a few (minor) tricks up their sleeve this year…
Within the next month or so we can expect a Series 2 software update, which I’ll conveniently call 7.3. It enhances HME functionality, adds show overlap prioritization, and contains the requisite under-the-hood tweaks and bug fixes. In hardware news, a TiVo branded wireless adaptor will be available for sale.
As previously reported Tivo-hosted server-based HME applications will go live. Many of the initial TiVo-produced HME apps will provide similar functionality as Galleon, but without the need for running Java programs on your PC. I got to see a few in action… While I can’t say I was impressed with the little games (TiVo is no XBox), the Podcasting feature is useful and well executed for a first generation widget. TiVo has identified, categorized, and linked to quite a few Podcasts, but you have the ability to manually enter the location of any others you might fancy. The audio content is streamed via your broadband connection through the television.
In order to programmatically compensate for the networks’ strategy of staggered start and end show times (9:01 for example), TiVo will be introducing a configurable “Overlap” function in 7.3.
First spotted this summer in Vegas, I can now provide a few more details on the mysterious dongle of 2005 (not to be confused with the presumably abandoned 2004 TivoToGo dongle shown at CES). TiVo will begin selling a branded wireless G adapter which should result in fewer networking hassles, such as hardware compatibility. Nice enough, but not so exciting… The much bigger news is this dongle “offloads” some of the “heavy lifting” currently performed by Series 2 hardware – meaning both Multi-room Viewing (MRV) and TiVoToGo (TTG) will be noticeably quicker.
Sounds like a good time. Wish I could’ve made that show – but I can look forward to CES in a few months.
I can’t wait ti hear what the other vendors are up to. While you had TiVoPony cornered, did you get any info on the HD standalone box or status on Comcast?
Hopefully they’ll also have a wired adaptor for those of use that like to keep our TiVos tethered to the network. I’d like to have something that will offload some of the TTG processing but still keep the machines on wired Ethernet since wired is usually going to be faster than wireless anyway.
Hopefully the forthcoming update will fix the driver for my wireless G adapter, which 7.2 conveniently broke. (yes, it’s on the recommended list, and it worked fine for 6 months before the update). Grrrr….Tivo!