Dave Zatz 
As promised, the TiVo goodie bag giveaway is here! The lucky winner will receive the sexy TiVo Glo Remote (works with both Series2 and Series3/HD units), a 1 year subscription to Real Rhapsody on TiVo, plus a stuffed TiVo doll.
If you want in, please leave one comment. The catch is that you must provide a link to a prior comment you’ve left on ZNF, other than contests. (The comment date stamp is your permalink.) And if you’ve never left a comment, you have some incentive going forward.
I journeyed up to Verizon’s New Jersey headquarters last week for a highly informative briefing by the guys defining FiOS TV product requirements and managing the engineering personnel. In addition to demo-ing the maintenance release due this quarter and having customer questions/concerns addressed, I’m the first person outside of Verizon to check out some compelling features they’ve got in the pipeline. It’ll take me at least two posts to cover all the info and, since the media extender functionality has got me all fired up, we’ll start there. The features below are pretty far along in development and slated to hit FiOS TV boxes in Q1 or Q2 of next year.
FiOS TV as Media Extender
Verizon’s FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide (IMG) currently offers rudimentary photo and music PC sharing capabilities. However, with upcoming releases, music and photo navigation will be enhanced (folders, playlists) AND the ability to stream video from “Media Manager” will be added. All sorts of file formats (AVI, MPEG4, DiVx, Flash, etc) will be transcoded on the fly. Currently, the transcoding is resolution-independent… Meaning you can throw any size video at it and, while the video will stream PC->DVR as MPEG2, the resolution won’t be touched. Thinking about all the HD video available via BitTorrent, I can see Verizon choosing to throttle back resolutions during the development process in order to keep transfers efficient.
Ah, Vudu. The box that’s generated more hate email towards me than any other product write-up – several folks have taken issue with my critiques. Look, it’s not that I don’t like the Vudu hardware or movie service… It’s that I primarily don’t like the pricing ($399), which limits their chances at mass adoption. I’m … Read more
So did the Comcast TiVo on Motorola hardware publicly launch this week in New England (AP, Bloomberg, Reuters), or is this damage control? The email alert that media outlets received indicated something along the lines of: TiVo Inc., the pioneer of digital video recorders, introduced its service for Comcast Corp. customers this week following delays. … Read more
In time for the holidays (yet prior to the real shopping season), TiVo pulls the trigger on a promotion many folks have been eagerly awaiting: Transfer Lifetime Service onto a TiVo HD… for $199. At the end of the day it may not be a bargain but, if you plan on holding onto the THD … Read more
A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: Why FiOS TV Doesn’t Need HD Yet: Connected Home 2 Go Fiber Fiber Everywhere: Connected Home 2 Go The Return of M&K Sound: TechLore TiVo’s PayPerPost Hook Up Is One Night Stand: Davis Freeberg Intel Gets Cable Religion: Connected Home 2 Go
Joost intends to expand their content beyond pre-recorded content into live television broadcasts early next year. According to paidContent UK: She said the live programming will include a âcombinationâ? catch-up option to watch on-demand shows following live transmission, then said Joost will offer widgets allowing viewers to bookmark favourite sporting moments and keep scores – … Read more
Dave, TiVo CEO, TiVo Mascot
In honor of the new Rhapsody on TiVo service, TiVo hosted a gathering in NYC last night with RealNetworks. It featured the sort of presentations you’d expect from the CEOs, followed by a Jim Denney (VP, TiVo) product walk-thru. Then the band hit the stage.
A few interesting nuggets I dug up while quizzing Jim Denney and Robert Williams (VP, Real):
Hope Chris Harrison enjoyed his potentially short-lived gig as TiVo spokesperson. He delivered the funniest line of the evening… On stage… Twice: “TiVo is a whore.”
Some pics after the jump.