Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

HDHomeRun Connect Duo+ is an OTA DVR

Beyond doubling down on cable television capabilities at CES, Silicon Dust also announced an upcoming cord cutter DVR. While the company has produced network tuners, basically forever, and been iterating on DVR software recently, the upcoming HDHomeRun Connect DUO+ is the first to merge both solutions within a single box, along with a hard drive. As … Read more

Roku Preps “Smart” Soundbar & Multiroom Audio

As rumored, a newly public Roku will be expanding their portfolio to include audio. And, first up is a Roku-powered “smart” soundbar produced by long-time partner TCL.

This product will take advantage of the Roku OS to deliver a superb entertainment experience. It will offer premium sound, while taking advantage of Roku Connect to connect to other AV devices, and new voice controls accessible through the Roku Entertainment Assistant. Although the TCL Roku Smart Soundbar will be compatible with any TV, it will be even better when combined with TCL Roku TVs by extending hands free voice and audio capabilities to the TV for more control and entertainment functionality.

SiliconDust Doubles Down On CableCARD

Well, what do you know… CableCARD ain’t dead yet. And, at CES, network tuner manufacturer Silicon Dust is showing an updated HDHomeRun Prime. This incoming model doubles the existing unit’s capabilities by simultaneously tuning six cable channels, in a smaller form factor that SIliconDust has been noodling on for several years. It sounds like the $200 … Read more

TiVo Announces Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT Capabilities

As TiVo puts the finishing touches on their CES experience, we can clearly see from the “booth” signage (above) that they’re expanding beyond newly introduced native voice control to embrace third parties. While TiVo “Vox” offers far deeper integration and control, including stacked commands, than Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant can provide, those offerings are always-listening (for better or worse) and already installed in many TiVo customer’s homes… and options are good. No word yet on availability, but I assume this will come to all Hydra-endowed retail units and whichever MSOs choose to integrate (who may be limited by regional availability).

Channel Master Reveals Smart Antenna

Channel Master just unveiled an $89 “smart” antenna, featuring “seven different reception patterns.” And I had the same question as you – what does that even mean? So I rang up VP Joe Bingochea to get some answers.

It turns out the company has partnered with Ethertronics to integrate a variant of their “active steering” technology, also implemented within Samsung handsets for years and years. The amplified SMARTenna+ incorporates a tuner and some digital circuitry that will automatically scan the airwaves at first power up and then polarize the antenna elements for max receptivity – in this case, they’re going with the highest channel count as the preferred “pattern” (and presumably, in case of tie, higher quality signals would prevail). However, Channel Master recognizes your favorite channel may be an outlier, so the button on the bottom of the antenna manually steps through those patterns, should one need to fine-tune… in the literal sense. As an analogy, Joe reminded me of those old, powered rabbit ears that sported a dial.

Of course, the pinnacle of this technology would be a bundled antenna and set-top to match optimal “pattern” with currently tuned channel on the fly – something it turns out Sezmi had actually implemented back in the day and something Channel Master may look to in the future.

WeMo Finally Speaks Apple HomeKit

Although announced last spring and having missed Belkin’s promised fall release, we knew the HomeKit-endowed WeMo Bridge was poised for release… and here it is. The Bridge does exactly what it says in linking up (a subset of) WeMo hardware to Apple’s smart home control — not only do you get direct Siri control of … Read more

AirTV To Gain OTA DVR Capabilities

By way of Cord Cutters News, we learn that DISH subsidiary AirTV has inadvertently leaked upcoming product plans for at least one, if not two, DVR services. AirTV, of course, is designed to harness over-the-air television signals, with the first iteration displaying content locally and the newer edition implementing Slingbox technology to stream OTA around the house or around the world to apps on a variety of platforms including iPhone, Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV.

While live antenna programming is nice, it’s also available on nearly every HDTV and “appointment television” is pretty darn limiting… so DVR capabilities would certainly enhance the value proposition of these offerings. Based on the pre-release marketing materials, it seems DISH will take divergent approaches in how they handle AirTV DVR based upon hardware model – but we’re reserving judgement until it all becomes official, presumably in the coming days as CES ramps up.

With little fanfare, TiVo quietly retired their Amazon Fire TV client application a few weeks ago.

After two years of successful adoption, the beta program of TiVo for FireTV has come to a close. As of November 2017, the app has ceased its current functionality and will no longer be available for new downloads from the Amazon Marketplace in the coming days. TiVo and FireTV technologies have grown and changed quite a bit since our release of this beta application in 2015. To best support these advances, we’ve made the difficult decision to end support for the existing beta application. We at TiVo are committed to incorporating your beta program feedback so we can provide a truly optimized experience for today’s Streaming Video technology and user needs.

While it’s sad to see it go, the app really wasn’t very good. And, so once again, the TiVo Mini remains the DVR’s lone TV extender option, compared to say Tablo, Plex, or even Comcast that provide clients for boxes like Roku and Apple TV. But it’s been a tumultuous time at TiVo, punctuated by a shifting strategy and integration a new (inferior) guide as part of the Rovi acquisition. Yet, all is not lost, as my old pal and former colleague Ted Malone has been brought in to potentially turn around TiVo’s retail fortunes. And, on the app front…