Via regulatory filings, Steve Donohue has turned up a new Samsung DVR. Given its specs, including Zigbee and MoCA 2.0, this set-top is presumably destined for a MSO partner like Time Warner Cable. However, possibly more interesting is the box turned up by tipster Alex D on Flickr.
Pictured above, the Samsung “Smart Cable DVR” looks to be a retail product and the successor or up-sell to the Smart Media Player introduced in 2013. Whereas the Player tuned a single cable channel, this newer product is a 4-tuner DVR. Further, as an app platform, Samsung touts universal search capabilities, à la TiVo, and by leveraging their broader consumer electronics product line, the Smart DVR also optionally integrates Samsung’s wireless audio system.
But here’s the rub. Beyond knowing nothing of pricing, these photos were taken at the annual Cable Show… last spring. So it’s possible this product may never ship. It’s also possible the solution is being rethought given retail CableCARD uncertainty and the FCC’s newly formed post-CableCARD committee… of which Samsung is a member.
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This just strenghthens my belief to stay with Tivo. Like them or not, they are the only option if you want a Fios/Cable: universal search and OTT in one package. Let alone being able to take most content on the go. Outside of the cable/satellite/telcos, no one else can even offer that and they don't do it as well as Tivo, in my opinion.
It's about time that Tivo had some competition. That can only make things better. The Roamio keeps delivering new features and has made me very happy. It almost never misses a recording unlike the creaky TW 8300 it replaced.
"This just strenghthens my belief to stay with Tivo."
You ought to at least try the Samsung “Smart Cable DVR”. Ever since I've received mine from Amazon, I've been impressed by both the ergonomic remote, eliminating that uncomfortable peanut thing with too few buttons, and the convenient availability of all our voice conversations on our public Samsung web page. Just last week, I settled an argument with my S.O. by playing back the disputed conversation for her. (Her friends and co-workers had already listened to it and pointed it out to her, but she didn't admit it to me until I found the evidence.)