Due to a possible shipping slip up, we may have just caught our first glimpse of the next model in TiVo’s Series3/HD line. When Patrick McCarron recently upgraded to a TiVo HD, his packaging contained a TiVo Premiere and Premiere XL setup guide. Which diagrams a back panel we’ve never seen before.
The reworked DVR is limited to a single multistream CableCARD slot (M-Card), versus the two slots found on prior HD models. Additionally, S-Video output has been dropped along with the dialup modem. All of which results in a slimmer package that should lower HD TiVo production costs.
Other than the “Premiere” branding, given my doubts we’ll see a retail tru2way TiVo anytime soon (reinforced by TiVo’s recent FCC filing), it seems like this would be an evolutionary product. However, it could still be significant if the DVR incorporates more horsepower, 3 or more tuners, and/or an updated TiVo user interface. Perhaps we’ll learn more about the hardware refresh next week from CES. (Thanks, bfdtv!)
