TiVo

TiVo Mini Updated With Roamio RF Remote

As we’ve reported for several months, TiVo has been poised to release a slightly refreshed Mini … with an RF remote. And, while sources had indicated the folks in Alviso were tracking for a March delivery, the TiVo Store has just been updated with the new DVR extender model. While there could be under-the-hood changes in … Read more

TiVo’s 4K Plans Slowly Come Into Focus

tivo-angelAt one point, it seemed a Series 6 TiVo might be off the table. Yet, given my perception of minimal MSO interest in their network DVR and often anemic specs from hardware set-top partners, TiVo regrouped to begin developing a 4k reference design … that was initially unveiled (behind closed doors) back in September at IBC. Indeed, TiVo’s go-to chip supplier Broadcom announced that they’d selected the high-end, quad-core BCM7445 to power an Ultra HD STB. And, just last week at CES 2015, once again privately demoed at least one 4k solution – where TiVo Vice President Jim Denney provided Fierice Wireless a glimpse into the company’s thought process:

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Hands On TiVo OnePass

Just a few weeks back I had lamented TiVo seemingly being lapped by “the lowly cable company” and Dish’s “binge bar” in sensibly stringing together episodic television à la Netlix. Not to be outdone, and as alluded to in patent filings, TiVo takes it to a whole ‘nother level with OnePass:

OnePass is a powerful feature that lets you organize and watch all episodes of a specific show, whether they come from TV, video on demand, or streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Instant Video. Available on Roamio and Premiere Series DVRs, OnePass gathers episodes of your shows from all available sources, then organizes the episodes by season and displays them seamlessly in one place.

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TiVo to Demonstrate Chromecast & Roku Clients

As CES gets rolling, TiVo has announced plans to demo Roku and Chromecast clients… to cable partners. So there’s no telling when or if these implementations will make their way to us retail customers or to what extent, but it’s exciting stuff – on top of the already previewed Amazon Fire TV app. In the interim, you can effectively turn your Amazon Fire TV Stick or box into a TiVo Mini now by sideloading their Android app. Speaking of which, that app is being entirely rewritten from the ground up (to presumably add content downloads) and the iOS app will soon see the addition of “premium sideloading” … as the current implementation is uncomfortably slow and requires the app remain open for long periods of time. Should CES visual imagery present itself, we’ll update the post. 

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TiVo Wants You To Know Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

tivo-hatWhile the official TiVo blog generally engages in trivial (and bizarre) marketing, they’ve taken to WordPress this week to cover something far more significant in CableCARD. And, while cable companies like Time Warner and Charter will soon (12/15) be able to provide set-tops without integrated CableCARDs, TiVo reassures us that these companies remain on the hook to provide CableCARD support for third party solutions… like TiVo. Further, TiVo and Comcast have agreed to something vaguely communicated which the DVR pioneer believes further ensures solid ongoing Xfinity support.

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Stream TiVo Recordings to Amazon Fire TV (Today!)

tivo-firetv

While we’ve seen the TiVo experience running on Amazon Fire TV, there’s no telling when or if the company will ever make this feature available to retail customers. However, with Android streaming in the bag, Roamio Pro/Plus and TiVo Stream owners can take matters in their own hands by sideloading the TiVo APK onto Fire TV or Fire TV Stick… as recorded here.

Getting your TiVo-ed shows onto Fire TV does require a small amount of elbow grease. First off, you’ll need a method to navigate the touch-centric TiVo app interface on a television. Fire TV ($80) owners can get by just fine with a mouse. However, the portless Stick ($40) requires other means of control such as this wireless Android gaming controller or the Wukong app should you happen to have an Android smartphone or tablet available. Then, you’ll need to track down the TiVo Android app APK file. If it doesn’t end up hosted somewhere, the APK can be retrieved via something like Raccoon from a computer. Lastly,

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What’s Next For TiVo (Mini)?

Apparantly TiVo Mini promotional pricing has been so successful that the company will be shifting the expiration date from January 6th, 2015 to May 4th, 2015. As a refresher, the TiVo Mini hardware launched at $100 and required either $6/month or $150 for Lifetime Service. Yet, with a new CMO on board tasked with revitalizing retail sales, one … Read more