More On Verizon FiOS TV: The Q4 Update

Now that we’ve covered some of upcoming significant Verizon FiOS TV features (first half 2008), let’s take a step back and discuss the 2007 Q4 “maintenance release.” At the core of this update, Verizon believes they have addressed the “top 100” concerns based on continued testing, blog feedback, call center data, and home visits. While they’re not really adding any major new features, the software should appear more polished with UI improvements and dozens of resolved issues.

Enhancements

  • More complete guide data and for upcoming programs
  • Larger fonts (in program descriptions)
  • Less chopped text
  • Just one UI “bread crumb”
  • Transparent guide no longer default setting
  • Improved storage space calculations and indicator

New Features

  • Set-top box reminders (non-DVR models)
  • Pad recordings
  • Additional recording options
  • Option to channel surf favorites only
  • Subscribe to channels

Hover your mouse over the thumbnails for a description; Click for a larger view:

Full guide view. Pad your recordings.

Recording options. Record by channel or all channels.

Upgrade FiOS TV packages from the box.

Read more

iTunes Price Drop

Adam Smith’s invisible hand is at work in the music download world. Apple apparently plans to announce tomorrow that it will drop the price of its DRM-free tunes from $1.29 to $.99. Coming on the heels of Amazon’s launch of its own MP3 store, this sounds like a bit of competitive pressure on the music … Read more

Led Zeppelin Modernizes, Radiohead Evangelizes

Thank you Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for opening your catalog to digital downloads. Led Zeppelin gets started this week on Verizon Wireless but, come November 13th, will also make songs available via iTunes and other services. Kevin Tofel, of jkOnTheRun, has loaned me his Zune so I may try out the all-you-can-eat Zune Pass … Read more

TiVo Goodie Bag Giveaway

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.

Read more

Verizon FiOS TV Getting Media Extender Capabilities (and more!)

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.

Read more

$100 off Vudu

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

Did the Comcast TiVo Really Launch?

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

TiVo HD Lifetime Transfer Arrives

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