TiVo Takes It To The Edge With Upcoming DVR

TiVo is seemingly taking it to the very edge of the retail CableCARD viability with new hardware discovered by Variety. Of course, there was always going to be a new”Series 7″ DVR (faster, cheaper) for the cable industry and Arris is an obvious partner given TiVo’s desire to delegate hardware manufacturing and prior initiatives with the company. And, as TiVo has stated before, it’s a relatively light lift to retrofit and package those solutions for retail, which remains a lucrative market despite limited uptake.

Enter: The TiVo Edge for Cable, aka the Arris Media Gateway 3-R. The Arris MG3 is presumably the successor to the MG2, sporting Dolby Vision, and at least one Edge iteration will ship with a 2TB 2.5″ drive. Increased communication speeds also seem likely.

Beyond Arris, I can also confirm Technicolor is developing Series 7 hardware for TiVo’s cable partners. However, neither of these are the Android TV solution TiVo is concurrently working. Those smaller footprint (IPTV) solutions are being led by Evolution Digital.

But hardware isn’t the real story here. As mentioned above, it’s the continued presence in the retail market (yes!) … along with a spiffy new product name and lettering. But what I’m wondering is: Will there be an equivalent cord cutting solution or will the Bolt OTA linger on? What’s up with those streaming set-top apps? Also we know a substantial new interface is being evaluated, one that even more closely merges linear and OTT streaming content… alongside new advertising initiatives.

UPDATE: The TiVo Edge for Antenna (MG3-OTA) has now also been confirmed by FCC for cord cutters. As pictured below, TiVo will offer both a 2-tuner, 500GB model and a beefier 4-tuner, 2TB model.

42 thoughts on “TiVo Takes It To The Edge With Upcoming DVR”

  1. I hope they don’t orphan the Bolt. I’m still hoping for more OTT apps. Maybe it’s a lost cause. The Viewd app store is supposed to have 1500 apps but I couldn’t find anything of interest for me.

  2. Why, oh why are they sticking with 2.5″ drives? More expensive, smaller capacity — why not just let the drive be a little bigger (plus additional ventilation) and make something that can support larger capacities over time?

  3. Michael, industry moving on from them for whatever reasons. Larry, Bolt will be supported for a long, long time. It’s still very good hardware and good deals to be had. But I do wonder if we could seem some sort of Android box with the new interface for cord cutters, partially subsidized by advertising as Roku and Fire TV do.

  4. Why not go with an SSD at this point? They have dropped in price considerably and the speed/performance uptick would be worth the extra cost for the consumer. My Bolt has had plenty of lag for some time now.

  5. @Rob N – reliability and cost. My understanding is that Tivo is constantly writing to the drive whether you’re telling it to record something or not. SSDs don’t have the ability to handle that constant sustained writing without dying an early death.

  6. My wish is that Tivo would create an app for Android TV that works like a Mini, where there is no transcoding or resolution limitation. Then I could stick the Tivo main unit in the basement rack and use my Nvidia ShieldTVs for everything.

    Unless they use their Android based OS for the Edge, I just can’t see the reason to purchase an Edge over a Bolt.

  7. SSDs are not yet good candidates for long term rewriting. Wait a couple more years. Also, SSD would raise the price point for a lot of folks.

  8. Mike, all signs point to this being at least a 4-tuner, possibly 6, 4K cable DVR.

    Regarding SSD, taking TiVo’s technical implementation out of the equation, they are still cost prohibitive.

    Pete, TiVo is working on streaming apps for Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV to receive live and recorded content like Tablo or HDHomeRun. But it appears delayed.

    https://zatznotfunny.com/2019-01/tivo-appletv/

  9. Roku and TiVo should merge, that would be awesome. Tivo needs to advertise heavy on TV etc..a lot of people I talk to never heard of TiVo…

  10. We really like our Roamio Pro, but we are stuck with our cable company because we use a cable card and have a tuning adapter. There is google fiber and at&t fiber in our area, but those are not compatible with TiVo. Any idea if the Edge will 1) be compatible with google fiber or At&t fiber and 2) allow me to ditch the Spectrum/TWC tuning adapter with cable card. TIA

  11. Given that the BOLT OTA can only run TE4/Hydra (all it was ever tested to support), I have to wonder if the new EDGE box will be similarly limited to TE4/Hydra, with no rollback possibility.

  12. If they get rid of the stupid curved design I may buy one. Still have my roamio because I hate the bolts design.

  13. Re:

    Also we know a substantial new interface is being evaluated, one that even more closely merges linear and OTA content… alongside new advertising initiatives.

    “OTA” is a typo, right? And should have been “OTT”?

    (highlighted by NashGuy on TCF)

  14. The article didn’t say it was going to be a retail product, did you get that from one of your own sources?

  15. Ahh, didn’t know what the R signified. Thanks!

    Pleasantly surprised by this, I would have bet heavily that TiVo would never release another retail product.

  16. At this point, I’m a little weary of buying another Tivo. Not because of Tivo itself, though they are still a little bit of a question mark, but because how much longer is CableCard really going to be around. I always buy all in service, which means it takes a few years to really break even. Is CableCard going to be around for the next 3 years or are cable companies going to drop it? If they dropped it now, I would feel I got more than my money back for my Roamio. Could this device be updated to allow another method of authentication with cable companies? These things are what would make me hesitate on buying a Tivo at this point in time.

  17. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Tivo, but without Spotify or new apps/features, I’m staying with the Bolt.

  18. APPS. APPS. APPS.

    Sadly, their linux boxes will never be a competent app platform. The only thing they can do to change that is port to Android or partner with Roku/FireTV, but they most likely won’t do either.

    If the only thing their mechanical DVRs are going to be competent at is linear cable/OTA, then there’s no point upgrading. They all do the same job. Buy the cheapest used one you can find.

  19. Dave Zatz, thank you for the info. That’s about the same as the TiVo box I have now, through ‘Mediacom’. I just rechecked, to be certain, it seems to have 5 tuners, it’s 4k ultra HD, but not HDR compatible. I wonder why that feature wasn’t part of the upgrade plan.?
    Of course my 4k HDR TV is a reasonably smart one, and since, pretty much, all the 4k HDR content is on various streaming services, and YouTube, I almost always access them through the TV’s browser and apps, not through the TiVo box.
    It doesn’t look like I need to worry to much about upgrading right now.
    Thanks again Dave.

  20. Looks like there’s a couple different Mikes here. I’ll add an initial, following the last comment.

  21. I wish they’d make one box that could do cable or over the air broadcasts, I have cable now but since we only have 1 viable internet and cable TV provider (charter spectrum) in my area I’d sure like to dump them as soon as starlink is a possible alternative.

  22. If they are releasing an OTA model, they may have to wait for more ATSC 3.0 to come out for testing, as I would think that would be a requirement for any person thinking about buying a new unit. I wanted to buy a new tv this year, but figured I would wait for that tech to finally roll out, knowing the one local station I can’t get in currently, will be the first to offer 3.0.

  23. It needs more storage. 4K is a lot of data to record. I would interested in a 5tb mode maybe. My bolt is 3tb and with old expander it’s 4tb.

  24. @Nick B – I have the Bolt 500GB with the All-In service plan. We currently have it working on Charter Spectrum. It only has 4 tuners but it has both OTA and Cablecard capabilities. I then copied the 500GB to a 4TB drive with MFS Tools. (I saved the 500GB drive for backup.) We are cutting the cord very soon. I just need to put the final tweaks on our new roof antenna.
    The only issue I have with Tivo is not enough streaming apps. SlingTV and/or Philo would complement it immensely.

  25. Tivo was suppose to add HDR with updates. Also still waiting for spring update. Always want a bigger expander. Mine is old.

  26. Update: A TiVo Edge *for Antenna* has just passed through the FCC. Gonna be a fun fall! And, no, this will certainly not support ATSC 3.0. Way too early for that.

  27. Have the Bolt and use it less and less as time goes on. These days we watch more Netflix, Prime, Hulu, YouTube, HBO Now as they are cheaper and more responsive on the Apple TV or are unavailable on the TiVo. I suppose if the new TiVo was massively faster I’d consider it but like others wonder how long CableCARD support will continue especially with this FCC. Probably switching to some cord cutter version instead anyway in the reasonably near future.

  28. TiVo should merge with Dish and combine Sling TV and AirTV with TiVo’s services. It would be the perfect marriage!

  29. Update: A TiVo Edge *for Antenna* has just passed through the FCC.

    That makes an “EDGE for Cable” model, and two different “EDGE for Antenna” models.

    So where does that leave the hybrid Series 7 “EDGE for Cable or OTA” model?

    Was the BOLT the last box to offer both, in an either/or setup, much like the 2-tuner Premieres were the last to offer simultaneous “cable & OTA” tuning?

  30. Not really an upgrade from my bolt +. We have 6 tuners 3tb internal. Edge maxes out at 4 tuners 2tb. So much less to offer than bolt + 2 years old.

  31. The Bolt has had HDR for a while. Even from broadcast QAm content you can get 4K HLG HDR. Like when FiOS broadcast that NASCAR race in May. In UHD and HLG HDR.

    And I thought I read this new TiVo would be Dolby Vision capable?

  32. I’m optimistic for the next product. I hope TiVo continues to innovate. I have so far not found a compelling reason to upgrade my 6-tuner Roamio.

  33. When will the Edge for Cable be available?

    Will the Cable Card still have to come from your cable provider?

  34. Tivo’s launches are usually in the September/October timeframe. Nothing’s likely to change about the cablecard requirements.

  35. @krkaufman – I have a 500GB (upgraded to 4TB) Bolt. It doesn’t do OTA and Cable simultaneously. It’s either cable or OTA. The choice was offered during setup.

    @Mike – Cablecards are much like STBs except it’s a card. It has to be provisioned and programmed by the cable provider. If you acquired a cablecard from a source other than from a cable provider, it would be a miracle if it worked.
    Many providers no longer broadcast QAM in-the-clear so we are stuck with needing them. Spectrum only charges $2 each so it’s not a big deal.

    In addition to boxes, Tivo is in the business of selling a service. This may be why they haven’t added a product like Channels or FitzyTV that combines OTA and OTT streaming for those who own OTA capable boxes..

  36. CableCARDs won’t go away anytime soon. There are a lot of set-top boxes in use right now that use CableCARDs.

    I have a feeling that it’ll be at least 5 years before we move away from CableCARDs, and it’s likely TiVo will develop an IP solution or a software-based CableCARD solution.

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