TiVo DVR Nows Streams To Web Browser!

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So a variant of the web portal that TiVo had developed for their cable partners, like RCN, is now being made available to retail subscribers. And TiVo Online is looking pretty killer. Beyond the expected Season Pass OnePass configuration, recording management, and a highly polished guide, the tent pole feature is the ability to stream our DVR recordings and live content to Mac, PC, and possibly Chromebook (replacing the tired and archaic TiVoToGo, if not the infinitely valuable kmttg).

tivo-online-streaming

Sadly, TiVo is only allowing in-home laptop or computer streaming at this time while TiVo indicates all Roamio and Premiere models are supported… But I’ll go ahead and assume Premiere and lesser Roamios require purchase of the TiVo Stream accessory to make it happen, versus native Roamio Pro/Plus capabilities.

All we need now is that Fire TV or Roku app…

(Thanks Sam!)

105 thoughts on “TiVo DVR Nows Streams To Web Browser!”

  1. I’m not at home and can’t fully test… so let us know how it’s working out. Very, very cool. This also helps set the stage for whatever TiVo Aereo device is in the works. Sad to see that new logo persist – bleh.

  2. It is working really well – I am pretty impressed with it.

    I hope they open up away from home streaming soon.

  3. I didn’t even realize that it supported online streaming when I sent you the email this morning! :) I just streamed a recently recorded program. It seems to work well. This is very cool.

  5. Dave (or Sam), thanks for info. This is very cool! Tivo is awesome!
    Dave, I wish Tivo made a Roku streaming app or Roku made a streamer that could stream mpeg2.

  8. Working pretty well. Watching videos full-screen (1080p monitor) exposes some minor transcoding pixelation along edges, but overall it looks good.

    There is a 30 Second Skip button. That guy missed it.

  9. ensaburnur, MPEG2 is not efficient. Doubt we’ll see that.

    Zach, yes – I’m betting it’s the same transcode and streaming engine even if their policies are different. Can’t imagine they’d dare upload that stuff as full MPEG2 without knowing our broadband caps. Also, as immediately above, just not efficient.

    Another Mike, thanks for confirmation the skip button is there.

  11. The 30sec skip is there, look for it on the bottom right. It does lack closed captioning unfortunately. But unlike my phone app, I can stream shows that I transferred to my premiere from my TiVoHD.

  14. It looks cool, but how am I supposed to stream my shows? I don’t see a play button or option anywhere.

  15. Look at my screen shot above – there’s a green play button to the right of Orphan Black recordings. Also the (live) morning news had a Watch Now button. If you’re on TIme Warner Cable or another provider who doesn’t treat their customers well, assumes they’re crooks, certain content will be locked down via an inappropriately applied CCI Byte. Most cablecos only flag HBO and similar “premium” content as “copy once” whereas TWC prohibits everything but the locals. So if you have TWC, check a CBS or NBC show for the little playback button and let us know.

  16. It looks like only the non-copy protected content is playable. Most of my shows can’t be streamed. If you don’t see a play button, it means it is copy protected.

    The One Pass Manager is so much faster than the old interface. I was able to copy hundreds of season passes from one DVR to another in seconds. Before it would crash if I tried to move too many at one time so it would take several hours to finish moving everything.

  17. This works great! And in a surprise, it LOOKS great, too.

    They have the new lame looking TiVo logo on it, though. Not happy with that. But otherwise, this looks badass. Mostly because I work from home, and spend a lot of time in my office, so streaming to my desktop is something I’ve been hoping for for a long time!

  18. Wow, I’m stunned! I definitely did not see this coming. Can’t wait to try this when I get home.

  19. Trying to understand all these limitations. First, I have Time Warner and understand (but do not agree with!) their “copy once” restrictions having lived with it on the old Tivo Desktop. However, on my Tivo App on my Android phone I can watch these “blocked” shows” with no problem. Also, I can stream all my recordings to my phone even when away from home. So, question is, why does the android app appear more friendly than this new feature?

  20. This is cool, but needs to work with Linux (with HTML5 there’s no reason for it not to) and needs to work remotely like the apps do. A download feature would be acceptable in lieu of remote access in my view. I wouldn’t mind downloading some content at home for offline watching while traveling, etc.

    Encouraging though!

    -Matt

  22. Ed, real good question. Wonder if us because this video appears to originate from TiVo.com vs your home network? But, yeah, I’d have expected parity and this didn’t occur to me. Maybe it’s just an early rev limitation and they need to write more code?

  24. GeorgeO, you’re gonna need a TiVo Stream as the article says. I have a regular Roamio, which the OTA is, but without a Cable card slot (more or less).

    I had to add a Stream to mine.

  26. This appears to be a much-improved version of the RCN2Go portal. Though without a Stream added to my Premiere Q, there’s very little to stream.

  27. its pretty cool that it will let you play from external sites too… that is you can browse to a show and then click on it to watch it on hulu or a network site or whatever.

  28. Wow, TiVo just keeps delivering. My wish list is so small right now I can’t even recall what’s on it. Maybe Watch ESPN and HBO Go?

  30. Awesome! Plex and PC Streaming all in the same day! Now release the FireTV app and it would be like Christmas in June! Just tried out the web streaming on my local network. Seems to work great (haven’t tried Plex just yet). It is nice that it links to online versions of the episodes if they are not local but if there is only one option, it could be a little clearer as to where they are directing you.

    Matt – just tried on Chromebook and currently not supported :(
    “To watch shows on this site, please use Windows 8, 7, XP, Vista, or Mac OSX 10+”

    Can’t believe they support vista and not a current OS like ChromeOS.

    Fyi – I am running an original Tivo Premiere (OTA) and Tivo Stream.

  31. oh wait…Edit: I played around with the Chromebook a little more. Under the prior error message was a link that says “No, Thank you. Continue to the site”. This took me to the login page and I was able to login and stream a locally recorded show. Not sure what wasn’t supported in the first part. Everything else seems to be working ok on the Chromebook. Yay!

  32. Hi all. Can someone please answer a streaming question? The press release from TiVo implies streaming is accessible to Roamio and Premier owners yet from what I am reading here and on tivocommunity.com, it appears there should be an asterisk to TiVo’s statement (something like “*for Premiere owners, use of a TiVo Stream is required”).

    I own a Premiere XL (no other TiVo hardware). Am I correct that, in order to stream anything to my PC (non copyrighted shows already recorded on my TiVo, live shows on non Network channels, and live shows on Network channels) I will have to add a TiVo Stream to my Premiere?

  33. Above, the articles suggest that and the comments confirm.

    In regards to the newly issued press release, looks like out-of-home streaming is on the docket:

    Out of-home streaming/downloading is anticipated to be coming soon; when this functionality arrives, out-of-home streaming (a) will support streaming to only one of your devices at a time

  36. I figured they’d add a device limit at some point. One seems a bit too few. Two would work much more reasonably for a family on vacation.

    I’m excited to have downloading to an off site computer. That sounds very interesting.

  37. Regarding the press release promising out of home streaming, I “fondly” recall how long that promise took to fulfill with the Tivo Android App – “coming soon” for a couple of years! Oh Tivo, we love you and hate you at the same time!

  38. I played with casting from the Chrome Browser to my Chromecast this morning and it worked great.

    Looking forward to the OOH streaming and download.

  39. I look forward to trying it this weekend for scheduling and prioritizing my season passes. I have a feeling I will stick with KMTTG for that though.

  40. I wonder if they really, really mean ‘download’ – if so, that’ll be harder and they’ll be under more scrutiny to ensure the content is protected. If they do down this path (again), I wonder if they’d re-use the already compromised TiVoToGo protection sceheme and if they’d outsource custom video players for Windows and Mac?

  41. Well, Tivo Online is working is so far as I see my three recordings – 2 college football games recorded last season and an old “Black Sheep Squadron” episode. None of them show a button to “Watch Now”. I wonder how much locally recorded content is NOT copy-protected?

  42. “I wonder how much locally recorded content is NOT copy-protected?”

    Try using kmttg. It clearly shows you what is CCI-byte permissible, and what isn’t.

  43. Dave, regarding the “Download” question you posed, we know the current in-home implementation obeys the CCI byte, i.e. Time Warner customers (like me) and others are reduced to streaming broadcast networks only to a PC. I’m thinking this restriction will persist, such that out of home streaming/downloads are only available for “copy freely” recordings off broadcast networks.

  44. Yup, it works on ChromeOS, even though it says the site has “limited functionality” when you first sign in.

  46. Andrew, my gut is that it won’t persist and we’ll see something equivalent to the mobile apps. Unless they too will lose in-home streaming. But I’m thinking with out-of-home schedule for some future date that they just haven’t perfected the behind the scenes filtering code and whatnot.

  47. Here is my wacky theory:

    Tivo bought the Aereo list and what not in order to do a legal version of Aereo but they did not buy the tech.

    Tivo releases Tivo Online with streaming over the WAN coming at a later date.

    Tivo partners with Plex for a mutual agreement. Plex gets a client on a DVR with input 1, Tivo gets help from Plex on streaming over the WAN, something Plex excels at.

    Tivo releases their own version of Aereo.

  49. Hmm, this is of dubious value with the restrictions on the channels. I could hook up my Monsoon or Sling and get them all. The pq seems about the same.

  50. Yawn. More repackaged crap from Tivo. This is nothing more than a fancy (and typically slow) front end for web content. I can get it 10X faster off my mobile phone and stream it to Airplay.

    They’re giving the impression that you can watch your own recorded shows on your PC. Not the case. Not even close. This works about as well as the new streaming crap they added to the Tivo on the last major release. 95% of the stuff I watch is not available to stream.

    This is why they litigate. They can’t seem to figure out how to innovate, so they sue to get a little more cash to stay afloat. Some UX guy got paid a crap-load to design this interface, but trust me folks, just find it on your iPad. It’ll save you a lot of headache.

    Next.

  51. I’m joining this thread late, but I’ve just tried the in-home streaming to my Chrome browser (on Win8). Two comments.

    Most of the content on my Roamio (base unit) doesn’t show a “Watch Now”. This is unexpected, since I’m OTA only. Overzealous copy protection?

    On the few shows that play locally (CW network primarily), my nice 1080i content looks very soft. Why so much low bit transcoding for local playback over wireless-N.

    Link

  52. “They’re giving the impression that you can watch your own recorded shows on your PC. Not the case. Not even close”

    What? That’s exactly what you *CAN* do. I find this enormously useful. I work from home, and as such am in my office a lot. I have kmttg, but you can’t watch anything until the show is all copied over. With this, I can start watching it as soon as it’s recorded.

    You’re watching your recordings from the other room, this isn’t just picking up streaming from elsewhere on the web. I know this to be true, as I watch local news broadcasts with the local commercials, too.

    There’s no headache at all with this tool, I find it quite nice, and very useful. Stop trolling. I wonder if you even tried it.

  53. Trolling? Hardly. Not sure what to tell you. Want a screen shot? 98% of my TiVo content can not be streamed to my PC.

    Sounds like @link has the same experience. Perhaps they’re trolling too?

    Same experience with the new One Pass. Most content isn’t available. It nicely fills my folders with unwatchable show listings though. This is what we call in the business ‘crap’.

  55. “They’re giving the impression that you can watch your own recorded shows on your PC. Not the case. Not even close. This works about as well as the new streaming crap they added to the Tivo on the last major release. 95% of the stuff I watch is not available to stream.”

    Maybe you should direct your complaints to your MSO, rather than TiVo, since TiVo has zero control over what kind of CCI-byte policy your MSO implements. (Or, if you have the option, switch MSO’s to a more customer-friendly one, as I did.) But, FWIW, 95% of the stuff I’ve got recorded is available for streaming.

    If 95% of what you have recorded is really CCI-byte prohibited, your MSO is likely the one Comcast just failed to buy. And they’re the most customer-unfriendly outfit in the biz, which is really saying something. But I’m still not sure how the fact that your MSO sucks worse than all the others is TiVo’s fault…

    (Hell, TiVo even recently developed a damn clever workaround just for CCI-byte prohibited downloads to mobile devices.)

    “This is nothing more than a fancy (and typically slow) front end for web content.”

    “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean”

    Methinks “web content” means something different than what you think it means…

  56. I just finished watching one of my recorded programs from my Roamio OTA TIVO in the other room and it was great. Yes I also have Tivo’s Stream box. Here I was getting ready to hook up my old Slingbox Pro and not it looks like that is no longer needed.

    Tivo seems to be getting things right! A Nice Box to record all my programs from a Antenna. Supporting a number of Streaming services, and PLEX. A really all in one Box Solution. The Tivo Mini’s are really nice. Not tying up a tuner each to use them if great. No monthly fee’s for them is really nice. My $299 ROAMIO OTA Box with Lifetime service was great, and in that time I got a Tivo Mini and a Tivo Stream with plans to buy another Tivo Mini. The Remote works well, yet they all work great with my Harmony 900 remotes.

    For Cable cutters, TIVO Rocks!!! For Cable, I don’t don’t know, the whole Cable card thing seems to be such a hassle. There really needs to be a Non-Cable Card solution yet have the same level of security, yet but simpler to setup. Just enter a Code # or scan of QC code on a smartphone or whatever and it just starts working!!! At this point I’d recommend Tivo to others now!!!

    If Tivo can get better PLEX support, 1080P and higher bitrate, something a ROKU has no problem doing, adding some more services like HBO Now and HBO Go and Others. It’s the first Box I have I think that support Yahoo Screens which is cool. It’s making it easy to watch the new season of Community. I assume final season, but who knows.

  57. Having a Roamio OTA, so using a Antenna,from the many shows I’m recording, the only Show I see that I can’t stream is, “What would you Do?” on ABC. It actually shows “This show is currently unavailable to watch online”

    I looked and I couldn’t find anything else TIVO wouldn’t allow me to stream because of DRM. I even looked quickly through the 500+ Tivo Suggestions Recordings and they ALL have the little green Play button on them. Why this one show?!?!?! On cable I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of DRM, but on a Antenna, it should be very little if anything. Maybe Tivo can work out a way to allow these shows on Cable to stream also.

  58. JBDragon, it sounds like you still need your Slingbox, after all. Well this puts TiVo in the right direction, but it aint no DishAnywhere with which I can watch ALL the live channels, including premium pay channels LIVE and with no restrictions and also watch them from DVR recordings. It is like a Slingbox experience. TiVo has a long way to go to get to where Dish is at with remote viewing, but at least they are headed in that direction as of today. Unfortunately, TiVo subscribers sill need that trusty Slingbox to do what TiVo on line SHOULD be doing. I am not going to invest in a TiVo Stream because the Slingbox I have connected to my Roamio has NO restriction on the content I’ve recorded or choose to watch live, as well as full control of the TiVo box.

    The fanboys need to take a breath here and realize that TiVo Online is half-baked, and that my be because of a point made in an earlier post intended to demean another poster: TiVo is NOT and MVPD, and so they don’t have the leverage to get the kind of access the cable and sat companies can in regards to “digital rights.” However, as TiVo subscribers it is not incorrect to criticize TiVo for not obtaining those “digital rights” because TiVo crows as IF they don’t have flag restrictions on a fair amount of content, and because we are paying a subscription or paid a mountain of $$ in box + Lifetime and expect at least as good as DishAnywhere because TiVo has a legacy of innovation. It is TiVo’s responsibility to get those “digital rights,” but that costs real $$$ that TiVo just does not have and would undercut the MSO’s own online portals. The bar is high for TiVo because they are still a good service and make among the BEST DVR’s. Sorry, if others want to cut too much slack to TiVo on the underwhelming, and LAST to come such service TiVoOnline.

    The problem, the huge challenge for TiVo was that it was not and is still not an MVPD. This has been the curse from the horrible Cable Card mess to countless other tripping up of TiVo by the MSO’s. I truly hope we see TiVo Online become a robust DishAnywhere much sooner than later. We TiVo investors (paying for box and boxes + Lifetimes + Minis, etc.) deserve it.

  59. TiVo isn’t allowing copy protected shows to be streamed via this interface because the stream is completely open (no encryption). You can download directly to a MPEG4 file once you get the playlist.m3u8 URL. For example:

    $ /Applications/ffmpeg -i “http://192.168.0.189:49152/session-streaming/2/22402/playlist.m3u8” -vcodec copy -acodec copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc test.mp4

    Nice semi-automated way to use a hardware MPEG4 encoder to archive shows. Thanks TiVo!

  60. Hey Thinkdiff,

    I’ve been trying to do that for a while. Can you share some details on how to get to the log files? I want to give it a try.

    Thanks

  61. Folks without a CableCARD recording OTA content that can’t be streamed… definitely an issue of some sort and not intentional. Either the broadcaster or TiVo is not doing something right.

    In regards to Thinkdiff, I’m pretty sure this is why we’re in-home only for the moment. TiVo’s got to lock it all down and intelligently parse.

  62. I tested TiVo online last night and I definitely think it’s a nice addition. A native Win8/10 app would probably be better, but a web version (should) cover literally every possible OS. And the fact that you don’t even need a TiVo to use it is very clever. That’s one way to increase subscribers!

    For watching on a PC I’ll probably stick with using the native Android app through the Bluestacks Android emulator. Having all the same functionality as the native Android app is just slightly better than the current TiVo online version. Good to have options though.

  63. Like Mike, I find this a very nice addition. Doubly so if they really implement downloads to view on a plane, subway, etc. Regarding Slingbox, yeah you have fewer content restrictions but you also have complexity, latency, and ads. Given TiVo’s capabilities and the breadth of online streaming services, I’m Slingbox-free in 2015 for the first time since it launched in 2005.

    Fun trivia – here’s me chit chatting with Slingbox inventor/CEO Blake Krikorian on AVS in 2005, lamenting no Windows 2000 support at launch. As the story goes, he later hired me (and I obviously moved on shortly after the Echostar acquisition and given the dissapointment that was Catcher).

    http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networking-media-servers-content-streaming/529655-slingbox-release-date-update-8.html#post5833870

    Regarding portions of this being open to non-subscribers, I understand TiVo’s motivation but I think they’re spinning their wheels given a variety of content aggregators that have failed to gain traction. (And they had a similar thought once before with Pique.) The real potential is whatever TiVo Aereo hardware and service will be announced next month. I have some thoughts, may blog soon.

  64. My, Chucky is a feisty one. Yes, I know what web content is, and I imagine I’m relating that to the nightmare that is One Pass. However, its tough for me to really know WHAT it is since NOTHING WORKS. Correction. One show works.

    So, defend your beloved Tivo all you want. I can pretty much promise you I’ve been a customer longer than most on this thread. The point is, the Tivo marketing machine is in full bore, and you can say it’s because of this byte, or that provide, whatever. Guess what – the vast majority of Tivo’s customers could care less. They want to watch their shows on their PC, just like they’re selling. Unfortunately, it’s about as useful as all the SD menus Tivo can’t seem to figure out how to get rid of.

    “When I attempt to silence the naysayers,” Chucky said in rather a scornful tone, “they scatter like cockroaches”. lol

  66. Akismet automatically flags some comments for review and marks others as spam. Whatever heuristics it uses put your last message in the penalty box. It happens. And then I clear it. However, it is getting a bit too testy for my liking in here. Let’s please remain civil as we discuss our positions.

  67. Guys: I can’t seem to get it to work on a Microsoft Surface or my work laptop on my home network. I am able to get it to work on my Windows 7 Home PC but my Surface 3 Windows 8.1 gets the following message.

    Problem Playing Show
    We are unable to detect your Tivo streaming device from this location. If you are currently away from home, streaming video may not be available at this time.

    This is very annoying since I am connected to my home network,

  69. “I imagine I’m relating that to the nightmare that is One Pass.”

    Huh. User reaction seems to be pretty universally positive to OnePass. If I thought you had coherent thoughts, I’d be quite curious why you stand so far apart from everyone else in thinking it a ‘nightmare’. But since I don’t think you have particularly coherent thoughts, I’m far less curious.

    “So, defend your beloved Tivo all you want.”

    FWIW, I was heavily critical of TiVo during the S4 debacle. Check out some of my comment on this site during that era. I avoided the S4 generation like the plague myself, and had no shortage of bad things to say about the hardware/software package.

    But the S5 hardware is pretty damn top-notch. And ever since they switched to Haxe to make software development and iterations more rapid and innovative, that side has caught up as well. As far as I’m concerned, the current S5 hardware/software package, especially since OnePass rolled out, is by far the best thing TiVo has ever shipped, and is miles ahead of any other DVR solution. Plus, I expect it to continue improving at a reasonably rapid pace.

    In short, my point is that I’m perfectly willing to criticize TiVo if I think they deserve it, which I’ve amply demonstrated. And I’m also perfectly willing to praise TiVo to the skies if I think they deserve it.

    (And hell, I’ve still got criticisms. For the life of me, I can’t understand why on earth they refuse to ship a learning Glo remote for S5. The learning Slide has lousy ‘hand feel’, IMHO, and the remote UX has long been one of the very best aspects of the TiVo experience. Personally, despite having a Slide, I’m stuck using an S4 Glo as my primary remote, which causes issues with navigating some of the OTT services, though OnePass does significantly cushion that blow in normal usage…)

  70. I’m still not really appreciating OnePass… on the other hand, it also doesn’t bother me.

  71. I just have the one router that Verizon Fios provided. I was able to get it to work on my work laptop now running windows 7. So, it may just be that it is a surface 3 issue??? Trying to diagnose more.

  72. OK, I found the issue. It does not work with the IE for windows 8.1 from the Start Screen but works in Chrome desktop mode.

  73. Fellas, I’m only bothered when things don’t do what they are marketed to do. I am an OTA subscriber, and I think Tivo doesn’t really put much though into the OTA folks. I was excited to FINALLY see some innovation from Tivo with One Pass, only to quickly realize that it never worked for me. Show after show would return a ‘not available’. So now it’s just clutter in my menus.

    Same with Online. Looked really cool, and I again thought, “Maybe they’re turning it around!”. But they’re not.

    I reluctantly agree with Chuck that this is the best hardware and software they’ve ever had. But in the end, it’s the exact functionality from 10 years ago, just HD and faster. I’m just bitter from years of paying $28 a month for two Tivo’s with 12 channels. No love for the OTA folks. Once I can get locals on SlingTV or something, I’m out.

  74. I’ll interview you next month after TiVo Aereo is introduced… hopefully they’re working to get Sling TV integrated (as I doubt they’re planning a similar service). Perhaps then the dynamics shift for a percent of cord cutters. They had significant turnover in the marketing/sales group around when they floated the $10/mo rate for OTA-only and lost interest. But, given recent moves, I’m pretty sure they take OTA quite seriously these days. The audience is growing and CableCARD still sucks, with no replacement in sight.

  76. I’m curious about your thoughts, Dave, on what the TiVo Aereo will be. If it’s just the same functionality as my Roamio OTA plus a built-in Stream, I don’t see the big deal (although maybe it would make sense just from a marketing-naming viewpoint with a dedicated brand for cord cutters). If it launches with the option to subscribe to Sling TV and those channels are integrated into the same native TiVo program guide as the OTA channels (sorta like ChannelMaster is doing with online “Linear TV” on their DVR+), that would be very cool (especially if the Sling channels could be recorded but I doubt that would happen). But if TiVo gains Sling TV, why would they only put it on the Aereo? Why not their other models? Do you think the Aereo will be very different from the Roamio in terms of hardware/software?

  77. Just jumping in because I noticed that TiVo Online houses direct links to HBO Go and Watch ESPN (among other streaming content). Is this a sign that these might be integrated into the TiVo box experience sooner rather than later?

  78. Dan, it’s a good question and I’m I’ve been struggling with as well. I can’t imagine they’d deep link without at least an unofficial relationship… and a similar HBO linkage showed up in the iOS app a month or so ago. HBO GO, ESPN, and Sling TV would be and should be the most important apps to bring next.

    Tim, the current Roamio OTA is the same as the base Roamio minus the CableCARD hardware… if not the CableCARD slot and door. So I assume the next thing will feature a different, smaller enclosure. Even if TiVo goes to cloud storage and tiered pricing verus a local hard drive, which I think is a real possibility, they probably need to locally transcode prior to upload — MPEG2 is just not efficient and many people have broadband caps and throughput limitations that could become an issue. In this sort of scenario, I’d expect a certain amount of local storage as a sort of swap area.

    Sling TV is currently silo-ed in its own app – if TiVo could break into that, it’d be a huge win. But I’m not sure what DISH is prioritizing in development and how much of the experience they want to own. On Channel Master’s DVR+ it looks like Sling TV will remain its own app. Keep in mind Echostar helps produce DVR+ and Echostar and DISH have close ties. So if it’s not seperated there, it probably wouldn’t be separated for TIVo anytime soon.

  79. “I am an OTA subscriber, and I think Tivo doesn’t really put much though into the OTA folks. I was excited to FINALLY see some innovation from Tivo with One Pass, only to quickly realize that it never worked for me. Show after show would return a ‘not available’.”

    Hey, Frank Furter, that’s a perfectly coherent and valid complaint! I was obviously too harsh on you about this upthread. (Stipulating it’s not user error, of course.)

    If it’s halfway widespread problem with OTA, TiVo obviously needs to fix it pronto. OnePass has been out for a while now. But a too-lengthy wait here or not, I’ve actually got quite a bit of faith in the software dev team post-Haxe, and would expect them to correct it. They’ve generally been solid, prompt, and innovative. (Would also expect them to correct the OTA web browser-only false CCI-byte issue, and would expect that to happen far faster.)

    “Same with Online. Looked really cool, and I again thought, “Maybe they’re turning it around!”. But they’re not.”

    There’s a trick here. OnePass and OTT go together like peanut butter and jelly.

    I used to pretty much never go into the OTT apps on TiVo prior to OnePass. But since OnePass came out, I’ve retired my Roku except for HBO Go. (I’d use the Roku for Plex too if I didn’t have a better Plex endpoint, given the lack of OnePass.) The OTT apps are extremely sluggish, even on Roamio, though the new Mini is supposedly a bit better. I’d strongly guess TiVo hardware need to add/upgrade something in the chipset to get more acceptable performance in the OTT apps.

    But here’s the trick: my main love of OnePass is the ability to add OTT shows and movies to my ‘My Shows’ list. (Kmttg is my preferred tool, though others obviously exist.) Then, when you want to watch something on OTT, you’ve got your consistent TiVo interface to get there, and since you go straight to where you want, you spend very incredibly minimal time fighting the sluggish OTT interface.

    Were it not for OnePass, I’d be as down on TiVo OTT as you.

  80. “Just jumping in because I noticed that TiVo Online houses direct links to HBO Go and Watch ESPN (among other streaming content). Is this a sign that these might be integrated into the TiVo box experience sooner rather than later?”

    IMHO, no; it has zero relationship to those apps appearing on the TiVo box. The MSO’s, (or at least a bunch of them), would have to explicitly sign off on TiVo having those MSO-authorized apps, which isn’t the case for links on TiVo Online.

    However, I’m actually quite optimistic about HBO Go, (and now Showtime Anywhere), showing up ‘on the box’ in the near-future. (I’m less optimistic about Watch ESPN). But my reasoning has nothing to do with links appearing on other TiVo platforms. In short, my reasoning is all about the HBO and Showtime standalone services putting real pressure on the MSO’s to change policy toward TiVo. Fuller explanation here, if interested.

  81. “However, it is getting a bit too testy for my liking in here. Let’s please remain civil as we discuss our positions.”

    Well, however it started out, it turned quite civil at least. (Which will become even more apparent once my comment gets out of Akismet purgatory.)

    I very occasionally try to go up the line while not crossing over. And in those situations, I’m certainly vulnerable to a foot fault and getting my toes over the line…

  82. Just to clarify: Everybody who is successfully streaming their DVR recordings to their web browser has either a Tivo Stream or a Roamio Plus/Pro?

  83. “Even if TiVo goes to cloud storage and tiered pricing verus a local hard drive…they probably need to locally transcode prior to upload…. In this sort of scenario, I’d expect a certain amount of local storage as a sort of swap area.”

    I’m sure this is wishful thinking, but wouldn’t it be great if TiVo did release cloud storage as a free option for current lifetime subscribers? Even better, “smart” cloud storage where the very oldest episodes are stored in the cloud and more recent episodes are stored locally. Of course, TiVo does have to make money so even if they released Roamio V2 with similar options (and hopefully support for the software-based CableCard) I just might be convinced to upgrade from Premiere.

  84. “Well, however it started out, it turned quite civil at least.”

    Agreed, and on this forum we all seem to be very much interested in the very best, all encompassing media solution. TiVo has had a fantastic DVR for years and I’ve been a loyal supporter. But, they stagnated for awhile and competition has been quickly catching up. The issue for me has been things like the Android app taking 2 years to develop. As a non-Apple user, that one really got to me. But, since releasing the Android app, TiVo has started pushing out improvements much faster. OnePass, Plex, TiVo Online…all steps in the right direction…for me at least. There’s still more I’d like to see, but TiVo is still the best solution right now…supplemented of course with Plex, KMTTG, and a few others.

    And, to be fair to TiVo, IMHO, I think this “ecosystem happy” world we live in makes it very difficult for any company to continue innovating. Having to write a different app for every OS/ecosystem has to be a nightmare for software developers. Kudos to groups like Plex that are able to keep up and stay ahead. Maybe Plex should teach a class on “ecosystem agnostic” programming. :)

  85. “Everybody who is successfully streaming their DVR recordings to their web browser has either a Tivo Stream or a Roamio Plus/Pro?”

    Correct, I’ve got the TiVo stream with a Premiere.

  86. “Having to write a different app for every OS/ecosystem has to be a nightmare for software developers.”

    Well, significantly, Roku doesn’t seem to have a problem with the balkanization, getting excellently performaning clients for a wide variety of services. And my strong guess is that this isn’t simply a story of Roku throwing lots more resources at the task than TiVo.

    I think that either the TiVo’s chipset, or the (though far superior to what came before) Haxe software development environment, or some combination of the two is what’s responsible for why Roku is coping with the performance issues of balkanization far better than TiVo.

    My weak guess is that it’s mainly about TiVo having some crucial lack in the hardware chipset, compared to Roku, but I don’t have a high degree of confidence that the software development environment isn’t partly, or wholly, the issue.

    “And, to be fair to TiVo, IMHO, I think this “ecosystem happy” world we live in makes it very difficult for any company to continue innovating.”

    Well, that’s part of why I think OnePass and OTT go together like peanut butter and jelly. At least with my usage patterns, OnePass takes the OTT services out their siloed ecosystems, and lets me use them from a consistent interface. It’s why I think OnePass is an uncommonly BFD for TiVo’s UX. (Well, along with the fact that OnePass allows me bypass Roku’s current large OTT performance advantage over TiVo.)

  87. Chucky, I think you’re right about the new OTT services from HBO and Showtime increasing the chances of seeing the MSO-authenticated apps (HBO Go and Showtime Anytime) on TiVo sooner rather than later. I realize TiVo has a delicate balancing act between courting the cord-cutters and playing nice with the MSOs. Couldn’t TiVo tell the MSOs that, if they authenticate Go & Anytime for their subscribers on TiVo, then TiVo won’t sell that MSO’s subscribers the corresponding OTT service (HBO Now / Showtime) — I’m assuming this is simple enough to automate since an active CableCard should identify the MSO being used, right? However, should the MSO choose not to authenticate, then TiVo will sell them the OTT service, just the same as they would sell it to cord cutters like me who have no active CableCard in their box. If I were a cable subscribing TiVo owner (at least one not on Comcast or Cox with access to OnDemand), I might well choose to drop my Showtime subscription from the cable company in favor of streaming Showtime through an app on the TiVo — I’d still have the live original channel plus all of their content available to stream whenever I wanted it. And at $10.99, it may be less than what the cableco was charging.

  89. “How come TiVo doesn’t sell TiVo extenders larger than 1TB?”

    I’ve wondered that myself, especially now that they have a 24 TB TiVo. Weaknees might be able to hook you up though. I don’t think the TiVo OS supports larger drives out of the box, so if they can help you would probably have to ship your TiVo to Weaknees just to get the OS updated. Maybe TiVo’s next standard DVR (not the 24 TB version) will support larger drives. Or, they’ll just hook us up to the TiVo cloud.

  90. “Couldn’t TiVo tell the MSOs that, if they authenticate Go & Anytime for their subscribers on TiVo, then TiVo won’t sell that MSO’s subscribers the corresponding OTT service (HBO Now / Showtime)”

    Well, that’s certainly one plausible scenario, but I think it more likely that TiVo can have its cake and eat it too.

    Considering that TiVo wants a strong foothold in the OTA market, I think they really want the standalone services. But here’s the beauty part: if TiVo gets an HBO Now client, that creates a strong incentive for MSO’s to also allow authenticated HBO Go. Otherwise, the MSO’s risk driving cable sub customers to the standalone services, not to mention the risk driving some some small margin of customers away from cable subs completely to OTA.

    In short, I see HBO Now on TiVo as powerful leverage forcing the MSO’s to authenticate HBO Go for TiVo. Which is part of why Time-Warner would have incentive to produce an HBO Now client for TiVo in the first place…

    (Of course, I’m one of those rare freaks who highly value PQ on visually intricate programming like what HBO produces. So I’d keep subscribing to multicast HBO for the PQ, even if HBO Now were available on TiVo, even at a cheaper price point, and with all the convenience it provides, and HBO Go were not. But I don’t think my priorities are widely shared.)

  91. I just tried this and it seems to work well. I had three streams going in separate browser windows. One stream from a Premiere, one stream from a Roamio BAsic, and one stream from my Roamio Pro. Although I did notice that the temp of the built in stream in my Roamio Pro went up to 60C.

  92. As far as HBO Go. HBO Go is too expensive. $15 a month is high compared to the $10 a month or less you can get it the HBO channels from the cable providers(at least FiOS and Comcast) from the promotions they run constantly for HBO.

  93. $15 is actually cheaper than what HBO charges on either DirecTV or Dish, where it’s $18 or $19 (overpriced, IMO), although they do often offer deals if you bundle in a second premium channel.

    Chucky, as for PQ, I’m with you — I’m very picky about PQ. But there’s no reason why streaming PQ should be inferior to cable. Using HBO Go on my Apple TV 3 and a 20 Mbps broadband connection, the picture looks just as clear as it did on DirecTV (which, in my opinion, has the best PQ of any MSO I’ve ever used, the others being Dish — a close 2nd — followed by Comcast then AT&T U-verse — which had awful macro blocking and pixelation.)

    And the quality of HD on Netflix and Amazon Prime is *hands down* better than anything I ever saw on any of the four MSOs. Fire up Netflix’s Bloodline on your Roamio and look closely. Gorgeous. (No, I don’t have Ultra HD, I’m just talking about their 1080p streams, which look as good to me as Vudu HDX, another awesome streaming option.)

    That said, Showtime Anytime has some work to do. Its PQ isn’t as good as regular Showtime on DirecTV, although it’s probably still better than on U-verse. Hopefully they dump some $$ into their servers/encoders/connections before they launch OTT in July.

  94. I just received an email from Tivo. I quote: “6-tuner Roamio Pro/Plus and TiVo Stream users: Now, watch your recorded shows on your laptop anywhere around the house.” I have a 4-tuner Roamio HD so I guess I need to purchase the Stream in order to watch shows from my PC upstairs…

  95. “Chucky, as for PQ, I’m with you — I’m very picky about PQ. But there’s no reason why streaming PQ should be inferior to cable.”

    Well, no reason except for the tech specs.

    “Using HBO Go on my Apple TV 3 and a 20 Mbps broadband connection…”

    It doesn’t matter if you have a 20 Mbps broadband connection, or a Gigabit fibre connection. HBO Go is still not going to ship you a stream exceeding their maximum speed, which was around 4.5 Mbps, last I checked. Contrast to HBO via multicast, which my MSO ships at somewhere around 15 Mbps, depending on the show.

    Now, the OTT systems currently have a superior codec to the multicast systems, but not nearly superior enough to cope with 1/3rd the bit-rate.

    “And the quality of HD on Netflix and Amazon Prime is *hands down* better than anything I ever saw on any of the four MSOs.”

    None of the streaming services I’m aware of are shipping anywhere near the bit-rate to achieve PQ parity with the decent wireline multicast systems, even with the codec differential factored in. Now, admittedly, my MSO is shipping ‘uncompressed’ mutlicast, since it’s FTTH, but I don’t think that’s a huge difference compared to the competent coax MSO’s.

    (I could try to make the subjective ‘just look at the damn thing’ case to you, but I can well see that would get me nowhere, which is why I’m relying on the objective tech specs. And I have no idea how horrible the PQ is on satellite multicast compared to wireline multicast.)

    But hell, like I say, I’m an outlier in caring about PQ. I even buy Blu-Rays just for the PQ, while most folks wouldn’t notice the difference between SD and HD if the aspect ratios were the same. So cheers, Tim. Whatever makes you happy.

  96. I don’t see a cloud DVR unless the new model recodes into H.264 & time-shifts uploads from 1am-6am.

    Here even if I pay for the fastest (50MBps down) residential cable broadband the maximum upload remains 5MBps.

  97. Slightly off topic, @aaronwt, how do you get the internal temperature of the stream device (inside the roamio)?

  98. This is awesome. Here’s what it took in my house:
    TiVo roamio OTA lifetime
    TiVo stream
    Both of these must be directly wired to the router
    That’s it.

    Observations:
    Using safari, it had both the rewind and 30-second skip buttons when windowed and when full screen. But the show stopped abruptly about 35 minutes in, locked up safari, and couldn’t recover.

    Using chrome, we finished the show. The rewind and 30-second skip buttons only appeared when in window mode. Neither button was there when in full screen.

    What I really want to know is: are there keyboard shortcuts that work for remote functionality while streaming?

  99. Answer: only the ESC key seems to do anything. But it does stream live and recorded HDTV to my iMac. I’m not complaining!

  100. I found Tivo Online to be rather limited. I logged on and tried it. Tried about 6 different shows. Only one of the six actually worked. Some stated “not available to watch online”. Others showed a box with “more options”, none of which were to actually watch the show. Until these companies can get their issues concerning DRM worked out, it’s really not worth making an effort to watch online. Only a small percentage of the shows recorded on your TIVO will be available to you. I give it 1 out of 5 stars.

  101. “Only a small percentage of the shows recorded on your TIVO will be available to you.”

    Depends on your MSO’s policies. Since I’ve got a sensible MSO on this topic, most of the shows recorded on my TiVo are available to me…

  102. What is MSO?

    I have a Roamio OTA and I have yet to find a show which wouldn’t stream TiVo online.

  103. I means multiple-system operator – those are the cable companies, and similar, that deliver the content.

  104. Well, Joel M’s comment indicates that TiVo has rapidly fixed the OTA bug that plagued the rollout of this, as I did predict upthread…

  105. I have TWC. What I don’t get is if I’m on my home network why can’t I view all of my recordings with TIVO online? If I am on my phone or tablet (well, until the android tablet app stopped working when I updated to Lollipop) I could watch all of my shows if I was on my home network. Why is it different on my computer?

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