With little fanfare, TiVo just introduced a new 6-tuner, 1TB Bolt DVR to the consumer market. And, as with the existing 6-tuner, 3TB model, this $300 unit is designed solely for cable customers… who are dissatisfied with their provider’s hardware options, in terms of pricing or functionality. Like other recent TiVo Bolt additions, this one comes bundled with the quite-nice Vox voice-control remote.
Interestingly, both the new Bolt OTA, released just a few weeks ago, and this unit appears to be manufactured by TiVo partner Arris — as discovered by BigJimOutlaw within a single manual that covers both devices… leading me to wonder if TiVo is streamlining their retail catalog in an effort to control costs, as they’ve previously signaled, and more precisely target market demand.
Of course, the subscription-centric TiVo prides themselves on delivering a superior user experience for television content alongside a number of top tier streaming apps like Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube… some of which the Bolt line will even stream in 4K. Although the company’s business model may be shifting to better integrate online and “linear” content (good) within an updated ad-filled interface (not good).