TiVo's quad Premiere Q, non-DVR Preview, iPad VOD slip out
updated 10:40 am EDT, Sun June 12, 2011
TiVo Premiere Q and Preview slip early
A premature reveal late Saturday has shown two new TiVo set-top boxes and a major update to the iPad app. The company will lead off with the Premiere Q, a quad-tuner version of the current Premiere devices that would be aimed at multi-room recording. The DVR could record as many as four feeds at once and take as many as three simultaneous IP-based streams in HD, either regular content over Ethernet or using the newer Multimedia over Coax Alliance standard.
The Preview would be the antithesis, TMCnet said: it would have no DVR functions at all and instead serve just as a set-top box that would provide both live TV and the provider's on-demand content while limiting TiVo's special features to Internet and local networking access.
Both would launch through cable TV provider RCN later this year and might be followed later by Suddenlink.
TiVo is also due to post an update to its iPad app that will tap into existing TV providers' services. When linked to a provider-supplied TiVo box, the iapp will pick up on the video-on-demand content the provider gives and use a direct interface. It should go so far as to show the live programming schedule and corporate logos. Content they get can be 'flicked' with a gesture to the TV.
It wasn't clear when the iPad update would arrive.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2011
It's the principle
I hate the idea of paying a monthly fee for the privilege of recording and getting a list of TV shows with their schedules. To me, it is like paying to press record on an old VCR. Just the principle of it drives me crazy.