First previewed at CES, TiVo’s dedicated “transcoder” hardware is slated for a summer release according to remarks made during the company’s quarterly call. The small box above is designed to relay both live and recorded television from a TiVo Premiere DVR to so called “second screen” devices such as a smartphone or tablet. For example, back in January, Tech of the Hub took a look at the prototype streaming video from a TiVo to an iPad.
TiVo currently describes this upcoming product using technical terms (transcode, sideload), so I’ve taken it upon myself to label the new initiative a more consumer-friendly “TiVo To Go 2.0”. Whereas the original TiVo To Go feature, first available in 2005, copies recorded programming from a TiVo to a computer for viewing or processing and later transfer to a mobile device, TTG 2.0 transcoding duties have been offloaded to the box above. Real-time TiVo-to-portable streaming will be limited to in-home usage… meaning, this won’t replace a Slingbox. However, any TiVo video recordings that aren’t locked down (via the Copy Once CCI Byte flag) can be quickly transferred via a “high speed side load capability” to take those shows with you on the road.
