Over on Earth 2, cord cutters are loving the wireless, dual-tuner TiVo Mavrik. Yeah, like most TiVo products, it needed work at launch (channel changing was so slow back in 2017), but it’s finally become a viable Tablo competitor and then some. The “headless” network tuner with cloud DVR service pipes live OTA and recordings … Read more
TiVo+ has arrived. Boy is it underwhelming. Merely being available on a TiVo box for “free” isn’t innately compelling if the content isn’t interesting or usefully presented. And that’d be a double no at present. Given the number of places TiVo+ is advertised within the UI (home screen x2, guide, apps), it’s absurd how little … Read more
TiVo pre-roll advertising has arrived. And the experience is less than ideal. Basically, all retail hardware running the TiVo Experience 4 (TE4 aka Hydra) will insert video commercial interruption at the start of your DVR recordings by the end of the year. Sure, the ads are skippable. But that’s not the point. Especially given its … Read more
By way of CordCuttersNews, we learn that Roku is now selling interactive advertising widgets against television commercials displayed on Roku televisions (shown above). What makes this somewhat different from TiVo’s historic approach (shown below), and unsettling to some, is that our Roku smart televisions are watching what’s on our screen (since at least 2017) vs … Read more
Buried within the TiVo Edge release notes is reference to a new “Lux” remote control. So, as I’m wont to do, I tracked it down. The TiVo Lux is essentially the same TiVo Bolt/Mini Vox voice remote. But, now enhanced with full backlighting — as you’d expect from a premium product. This isn’t the first … Read more
The TiVo Edge is now official and CNET has gone hands on. As we surmised, this product line is something of an incremental upgrade over the Bolt — somewhat better hardware, providing pretty much the same superior TiVo experience for about the same cost. From TiVo VP Ted Malone: Main differences are faster CPU (BCM … Read more
TiVo has officially announced their Roku Channel and competitor in TiVo+ Available exclusively to TiVo customers in the coming weeks, TiVo+ delivers live streaming channels and thousands of movies and TV shows to viewers in an app-free environment, making them easy to find, watch, and enjoy. Listed below are the TiVo+ content providers at launch, but … Read more
By way of CordCuttersNews we learn that Locast has launched a TiVo app. Well, sort of. It turns out the Locast “app” is actually buried within another app (Vewd né Opera TV), entirely isolated from TiVo’s recommendation and recording capabilities. I can imagine the app eventually breaking out into the main interface, if and when … Read more