The new syncing, conversion, and watermarking features will be built into a future release of the TiVo Desktop. TiVo Desktop downloads will continue to be free, as will current functionality. However, the iPod and PSP enhancements are dormant options that can be activated through purchase. Many folks have wondered about the “low cost” and “small fee” that keeps showing up in print… Instead of using the free ffmpeg to perform conversions, as Videora and others do, the fee will partialy cover licensing of the commercial codec TiVo is using to perform the heavy lifting. They have no plans of bundling the TiVo-branded media player, first seen during TiVo Desktop 2.1 beta testing, into this release.
As previously reported, beta testing of the new software is expected to begin shortly with a target release of February.