Hot on the heels of Roamio’s out-of-home streaming release, TiVo and Sling have begun trading blows online. And, once again, TiVo is positioning their DVR as the One Box. However, unlike the Premiere platform, they have a much more compelling argument this time around… featuring that aforementioned streaming and a usable Netflix client. However, without the Opera TV app store, they still fall ridiculously short of Roku’s vast library of channels and TiVo’s limited DIAL support is no match Apple’s infinitely capable Airplay.
In the other corner, Sling lays out a streaming comparison that is mostly correct. TiVo Roamio is currently limited to iOS and WiFi, whereas a Slingbox is largely agnostic when it comes to connection and platform. Sling claims Roamio is incapable of automatic quality adjustment, which we now know to be inaccurate (out of the home, at least). However, a Slingbox provides a broader bitrate range for potentially higher quality remote streaming and continued viewing under lower bandwidth conditions. Slingboxes are also unencumbered by CCI Byte copy protection flags — meaning TWC customers and HBO subscribers can actually benefit from the placeshifting functionality. On the flip side, and left unsaid, TiVo’s streaming is baked directly into Roamio Pro & Plus set-tops for an experience more akin to Sling’s integration into DISH Hopper – with control being much more intuitive and efficient. Further, TiVo offers up the ability to download shows for consistent picture quality and offline viewing.
Only thing stopping me from using a Slingbox, besides the obscene pricing, is that I don’t subscribe to cable or satellite. Cord cutters need not apply for a Slingbox.
The prior generation Slingbox PRO-HD has a builtin ATSC tuner that opened some interesting possibilities… Nowadays, Aereo and Simple.TV can meet that need.
is this commercial on tv yet?,because if it isnt it should be,I think the more people that see this the better for tivo sales!
well, quite frankly the slingbox can’t do anything to an apple tv, without ALSO have an ipad/iphone or a macbook model since about the last 1 years, so it’s not really a fare quote
I’m even surprised you can stream HBO live OOH with the. 1.0 streaming release. When TWC app 1.0 was released on Roku earlier this year you could only watch a handful of free networks CBS, NBC, etc.. And that was after having to login and validate your Time Warner Cable subscription!
“[TiVo] still fall ridiculously short of Roku’s vast library of channels ”
I think you meant most of Roku’s 750 channels are ridiculous. :-) It took Roku *years* to get that library and now Roku is stuck on a proprietary island in an open standards HTML5 world. Notice that Netflix still has not updated it’s app on Roku and won’t until 2014!
And unlike Roku the Opera TV platform is supported by multiple vendors. Samsung choose the Opera TV platform for their BluRays starting with the 2013 models! My new Samsung SmartTV has the latest HTML5 based Netflix app with user profiles.
As soon as the rush to push TiVo software features out for the holiday season is over TiVo will be gearing up deploy the TiVo Opera TV Store.
“By early next year, TiVo plans to deploy the Opera TV Store, the world’s leading HTML5-based TV app store, currently showcasing *hundreds* of applications. This number is predicted to grow rapidly with Opera innovations such as Opera TV Snap, a tool to convert online videos into connected TV apps, as well as the developer SDK.
Opera Software is the global leader in supplying web technology to makers of set-top boxes and connected TVs. In 2012, over 25 million connected TVs and devices shipped with the Opera Devices SDK, and the Opera TV Store has shipped on tens of millions of devices globally.”
I think we ought to get Michael Bay to direct a TiVo vs Sling action movie. Kickstarter, anyone?
Bryan, as someone who just invested in Roamio Pro, I hope your Opera optimism pans out. By the by, Roku’s up over 1000 channels these days, and I agree a large, large number are crap with about 25% religious programming. But, while the Roku framework may be proprietary, with that many channels it’s clearly a very accessible platform. (And it’s still faster than TiVo in launching apps.) Speaking of 2014, hopefully TiVo also gets around to implementing something they’ve attempted to patent that Sling and Roku already provide in allowing us to move content from smartphone-to-TV.
The Opera TV store doesn’t have any of the major apps. Those “hundreds” of apps consist of casual games, weather, movie trailers, maybe Facebook and Vimeo, and lots of other boring stuff. Tivo customers will continue to wait indefinitely for HBO, Amazon Prime, etc. as they have for the last few years.
Roku has tons of crappy apps too, but at least they’ve got all the major players. Roamio + Roku = happy land.
Couple other points.
1) TiVo mobile apps are free, Sling apps cost $15. That always stuck in my craw. They used to cost $30!
2) You mentioned other mobile platforms, but it goes beyond that. Sling streams to computers, TiVo doesn’t. You can’t watch it on your laptop.
3) TiVo streaming doesn’t work if your cable provider uses CCI bytes to copy protect everything. Like Time-Warner cable, the #2 provider in the US. That renders it completely useless for me. Sling works everywhere.
4) The Roku comparison was apt, but you missed the most important roku channel of all, Plex. I know tons of people who bought a roku solely for the Plex client. I know it was maybe 75% of my purchase decision.
Rodalpho, the CCI Byte thing has me real worried. There’s nothing stopping the other cable providers from locking everything down as well and the better Roamio does in the market, I fear the more likely the streaming benefit is further restricted. The larger cable companies would probably prefer us stand alone CableCARD customers get onto their hardware for simpler support scenarios and upsell opportunities. Crossing my fingers…
They would indeed, but for me (and many others) the choice isn’t between TiVo and the cable company’s DVR, the choice is between TiVo and cutting the cord entirely.
I changed my TV’s input to the TiVo last week. It had one of those messages about channel changes, you know, the ones you can’t skip? It was dated _september_.
Some people will have cable until the day they die. My parents aren’t going to cut the cord anytime soon. But I’m no spring chicken, I’m coming up on 40 years old, and I’m well on that road myself. What about the kids 21 years old graduating college now, will they pay for cable TV in 10 years? I don’t see it happening.
“Rodalpho, the CCI Byte thing has me real worried. There’s nothing stopping the other cable providers from locking everything down as well and the better Roamio does in the market, I fear the more likely the streaming benefit is further restricted.”
If they’d just kept the streaming to the LAN, worries would be unfounded.
TiVo’s short-term gain is TiVo’s medium-term pain.
I’m not sure if anyone cares, but apparently the tivo OOH will work on a data connection as long as the connection was started in wifi.
Chucky, it’s potentially TiVo customers medium-term pain. Now I’m spooked and wondering if I should return this thing. ;) Related, wonder if the Minis will receive access to the Opera apps. Might they lock it down to only display if you have a Roamio on your network? Hm.
@mike
TiVo Premiere customers will definitely continue to wait I grant you that. But Roamio doesn’t have the baggage that the Premiere’s do. It’s not under-powered and unlike the Premiere’s there’s a developer friendly environment for creating applications. Compare the Roamio SDK to the Premiere SDK and you can see how far TiVo has come. It’s Windows vs MS-DOS.
Only time will tell but I believe today’s TiVo with Roamio is similar to the New Orleans Saints after acquiring QB Drew Brees. Before Brees (aka Roamio) the Aint’s fans use to wear bags over their heads.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned one of the two biggest difference makers in Tivo’s favor. I don’t need to be hogging the TV when using the Tivo Stream functionality. That was the biggest downside to the Slingbox (besides the absolutely terrible delay in the remote commands. I have an original Slingbox Classic (first model) and I hated when relatives would want to watch something while I was watching something else. Now I can just have them bring over their Ipad to my house, activate it and they can watch to their hearts content. No TV screen hogging issues whatsoever.
The other major difference maker is downloading. I don’t know about you guys but I like to watch shows on my ipad when I commute. And besides for data usage issues I just don’t have good enough LTE to solidly watch shows without annoying pauses and breaks when I hit bad cell data spots. I live in New Jersey and work in NYC and there are just too many bad data spots to really enjoy video streaming even if LTE was allowed for streaming and even if I had unlimited data. Downloading beforehand (especially now that you don’t have to do it at home) is a much much better solution.
Overall, assuming you’re using iOS devices, I believe that the Tivo’s streaming/downloading feature set are far superior to the Slingbox feature set and I mean really far.
Anyone know if the 30 second forward and back buttons are there on Roamio ? Anyway to mark commercials ??
thanks, just wondering
The proper comparison is not TiVo Stream vs. Slingbox The proper comparisons would be the following (Dish is a sister company to Echostar who owns Slingbox):
1. TiVo + TiVo Stream VS. Dish ViP’s + Sling Adapter
2. TiVo Roamios w/bulit-in Stream VS. Dish Hopper with Sling
With those comparisons above, you have a true “oranges with oranges” comparison. In such a comparison as above, the functionality is virtually identical for both Dish and TiVo. So, the real differences are going to be UI, functionality, streaming quality/tech, etc.
Slingbox is designed to be, as mentioned in a previous post, agnostic. It is designed to work with as many STB’s as possible, and further, to work with other devices such as DVD/Blu-ray players, etc., something a TiVo Stream will never be able to do, hence, the poor idea of comparing a TiVo Stream to a Slingbox. Sling is fighting the wrong battle, but TiVo is clever to focus on Slingbox and NOT Hopper with Sling that meets ever TiVo Roamio Plus/Pro feature on the streaming and sending recorded content to iOS portable devices.