| Exclusive Deal | While supplies last, save 40% off over 40 iPhone 5 and iPhone 4/4S cases and chargers as well as Samsung S III cases at Kensington.com. Use coupon code 'SAVE40%' at checkout to receive this exclusive discount. |
TiVo has started selling a compact set top box that expands where pre-recorded content can be played. The TiVo Mini, working over a home network, connects to an existing TiVo Premiere 4 or Premiere XL4 DVR, and can access the same live TV, recorded shows and other features that the main box can receive.
TiVo's fall update will feature updates for the To Do List and the My Shows page. A post on Twitter by vice president Margret Schmidt confirmed the update and also included screenshots showcasing some of the changes. While an official rollout date has not been set, TiVo is allowing some users to preview it early, via sign-ups to the Priority List.
The legal patent dispute between TiVo and Verizon has been settled, with the latter paying the former about $250.4 million and monthly licensing fees. Verizon will fork over $100 million initially and then pay the remaining amount in quarterly installments until it's paid off by July 2018. The monthly fees will only apply to FiOS DVR users above a certain level.
Nintendo has laid out its plans for the Wii U release in the US and Europe. Release dates and prices were discussed in both events, however the US and Canada will also have several applications for streaming video to the console, under the banner of "Nintendo TVii."
As reported earlier, TiVo has officially revealed the ship dates and prices for its Stream transcoder. The device lets users send live or recorded programming from TiVo Premiere-series DVRs to their iOS devices. It will ship on September 6, priced at $130.
TiVo has just released the Premiere 4 DVR, complete with four tuners that allows users to record four shows and watch a fifth one. There is also a 500GB drive onboard to store up to 75 hours of high-definition content. It supports the QAM digital cable system and Verizon's FiOS offering, but will not receive analog signals.
TiVo will reportedly announce that it has acquired research company TRA. This according to The New York Times, which puts the price of the acquisition at $20 million. The deal will likely give TiVo access to much more granular information on the shopping patterns of its customers, which would enable the company to target television ads on an individual basis.
Verizon's complaint in its ongoing patent case against TiVo has been whittled down to only one patent. This comes after the telecom company dropped another of the six patent claims initially filed in the complaint. As Reuters reports, the telecom company regards the dismissal as a procedural matter that doesn't affect the substance of its case.
PayPal and TiVo are teaming up to let TiVo owners buy goods through their TVs using only a remote control. Users will be able to link their TiVos with a PayPal account and purchase goods or donate money with just a few button presses. The new feature, part of PayPal's effort to expand to more devices, is expected to roll out this fall.
Very soon after Cisco sued TiVo to challenge TiVo's claims to patents used in DVRs, TiVo has gone ahead and sued Cisco back. According to a Tuesday report, there are four patents in contention and TiVo is involved in several lawsuits against a number of companies that bought the allegedly offending DVRs from Cisco. Cisco's Scientific Atlanta arm sells boxes to cable providers that include AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon Communications.
TiVo has announced early details of a new service, TiVo Stream. The platform will allow owners of Premiere or Premiere Q DVRs to access content on an iPhone or iPad. More importantly however, people will be able to stream or download shows to multiple devices simultaneously without interrupting playback on a TV. Users should in fact be able to "quickly transfer shows to their mobile device for viewing outside the home," though few other details have been made public.
TiVo is quietly reviving the Premiere Elite DVR as its range-topping model. Badged as the Premiere XL4, the quad-tuner box should come to Best Buy stores on April 22 for $400. The Premiere and Premiere XL are staying in place at $150 and $250 each.
TiVo picked an SEC filing to disclose that it had fired back against a 2011 Motorola lawsuit with one of its own. The new complaint, which also includes Motorola customer Time Warner Cable, accuses the two of violating its key Time Warp patents, including for simultaneous DVR recording and watching, converting TV to digital video, and performing functions on a live stream. The filing, as it wasn't a court document, was short on details.
TiVo appears to have quietly prepped a new expanded capacity version of its TiVo Premiere DVR line. Two years after its initial release, a new 500GB edition has been spotted on Amazon for pre-order. The new model carries the designation TCD746500 TiVo Premiere and is priced at $149, which is a substantial price rise over what may be the superseded 320GB model that can still be picked up for as little as $80.
Microsoft has now dropped its patent lawsuit against TiVo for allegedly violating its Mediaroom video purchasing and delivery patents. TiVo may have had to stop selling its set-top boxes in the US had Microsoft continued the lawsuit and been successful. The move was revealed by TiVo in an 8-K filing with the SEC, as it's needed to disclose this information to investors.
TiVo have updated its eponymous remote-management app for iOS to provide a new look for browsing, making it easier for users to discover and learn about new TV shows or movies. New categories have been added, such as "4 Star Movies This Week" and "2012 Academy Award Winners." The update also let users make more changes to Series4 and Series3 DVRs remotely, and adds the ability to create a wishlist along with other improvements.
TiVo through an SEC filing let slip that its co-founder and CTO Jim Barton was leaving. He had left Friday, although he would stay on as a consultant on legal and patent issues for $25,000 per month. No immediate replacement had been named.
Comcast is reportedly set to launch its Xfinity On Demand service for TiVo set-top boxes, nearly a year after plans of the offering first surfaced. Although the cable provider has yet to confirm a specific launch date, unnamed sources have told Zatz Not Funny the service will arrive sometime in April.
Blockbuster has started informing users of its Blockbuster on Demand service for TiVo that the app will no longer be available on their Premiere DVRs. According to Blockbuster, the move is the result of the company ‘updating’ its technology platform and that it will no longer support the platform. Instead, Blockbuster has pointed users to ‘our other devices or [to] stream via PC or Mac.’
TiVo has announced that it has established a licensing agreement with AT&T's advertising division, AdWorks. The deal will enable TiVo to access data detailing household viewing habits of AT&T's U-Verse television subscribers.
The long-awaited and promised TiVo-enabled HD DVR from DirecTV is finally available nationwide. Previously, the set-top was only available in 10 markets. The box is unique in combining the TiVo interface and peanut remote control with DirecTV's HD content lineup.
TiVo posted a much-requested update for its Premiere-series DVRs mid-week that answered a number of complaints while adding upsides of its own. The 20.2 upgrade speeds up the interface to touch on a common lag problem and brings the Grid and Live Guides into HD for the first time. Those who have more than one TiVo now have the luxury of streaming a show recorded on one TiVo to another on the same network instead of having to transfer it completely.
TiVo has been busy ahead of CES 2012 introducing a new Android app (Free, Android Market), while also overhauling its Premier DVR interface. The new app is compatible with Android 2.1 (or higher) devices as well as 7-inch tablets. Among its features includes turning a user's smartphone into a touchscreen remote, as well as the ability to browse the channel guide without interrupting shows.
TiVo has announced that it has settled a patent dispute with AT&T, as both companies have entered into a licensing agreement. AT&T is said to have agreed to pay TiVo a total of $215 million, split between an initial payment of $51 million and recurring quarterly payments through 2018 totaling $164 million.
The much-delayed arrival of TiVo DVRs at DirecTV is finally slotted for a launch date of December 8, according to the satellite provider's forums. The TiVo HD DVR from DirecTV (THR22-100) The release is limited to just ten major US cities, however, with an expansion still being evaluated.
TiVo is now shipping its Premiere Elite set-top box, which was officially introduced at the start of September. The premium offering has four digital tuners and a built-in 2TB hard drive. Meant for home theater enthusiasts, it's also THX-certified for picture and sound output.
TiVo has made its quad-tuning Premier Elite DVR official. The device is fitted with four tuners allowing for four channels to be recorded simultaneously on its 2TB hard drive. Users have the ability to record up to 300 hours of shows from Netflix, Pandora, Hulu Plus, Blockbuster, Amazon and YouTube.
A leak has exposed what appears to be a training video pitched at the DirecTV sales force in order to get staff re-familiarized with the TiVo box and its functions. This and other details have emerged pointing to a September shipping date for the long delayed set-top-box DirecTV TiVo that promises to bring the best of satellite TV programming and combining it with a subscription service DVR. The only apparent downside for users is that the device will use older hardware, a legacy of its long gestation period, which started back in 2009.
Details of the upcoming TiVo Premiere Elite DVR have leaked. According to documents filed with the FCC, the Premiere Elite will have four tuners and can operate (record or view) up to four shows simultaneously. It is THX-certified and fully compatible with 1080p/1080i video. The Premiere Elite has two terabytes of recording capacity, enough to record 300 hours of HD programming. It supports networking with other TiVo boxes for content sharing and is MoCA compatible.
Best Buy has announced its Insignia-branded Connected TV (cTV). The Insignia cTV is a smart TV that uses the TiVo interface to simplify searching for broadcast programming, internet content, and chumby social media applications. The cTV does not have DVR capability and does not require a paid TiVo subscription. Two models will be available, featuring either a 32-inch or 42-inch 1080p/120Hz LED display.
Insignia's once-vaporware TiVo-integrated TVs have shown up again in a leak on Friday. Now called the cTV, the sets would offer every non-DVR feature of a TiVo, ranging from CinemaNow and Netflix video to Napster and Pandora music. Materials obtained by Zatz Not Funny suggested TiVo would instead be used as a smart TV interface to find Internet content without Insignia, most often known as Best Buy's in-house brand, having to invest in the work.
TiVo customers may soon be able to stream programming between rooms, Zatz Not Funny reports. In the past, subscribers had to transfer a file recorded by a TiVo in one room to the TiVo in another room before it would be watched in that second room. With the new TiVo Premiere set-top, in conjunction with TiVo's latest software, transferring and watching, instead of directly streaming, may be a thing of the past.
TiVo in a recently unearthed FCC filing (below) has already shown that the Premiere Q is coming to regular users. The quad-tuner DVR is only coming to providers like RCN and Suddenlink, but a new model, the Premiere Elite, will hopefully be sold "directly to consumers" instead of pushed through cable subscriptions. It would arrive sometime later in the year.
The latest issue of CEPro's magazine has given away apparent plans by TiVo to expand its mobile apps beyond the iPad version. A full-page ad pitching the Premiere XL to custom installers mentions that TiVo has been developing apps for "the iPhone and Android OS products" alongside the iPad title. What features would change, and whether the Android app would include tablets, has been left open.
TiVo unveiled its first major set-top box updates in some time with its highest end DVR, a new entry box, and an updated iPad app. The Premiere Q is the first quad-tuner set-top box and, as hinted earlier, can tune or record as many as four shows at once, giving a whole home access to DVR. Those who want to use IP-based video can stream three HD feeds at once, either over Ethernet on the local network or the Multimedia over Cable Alliance format.
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.
Hints this weekend from Best Buy became real Monday with the arrival of Hulu Plus on TiVo. The DVR now has access to much of the multi-studio streaming site's TV shows, including both recent content and archives. The interface is optimized for the larger screen but has "limited advertising."
Marketing materials seen at Best Buy shows that Hulu Plus on TiVo is imminent. The materials also show that TiVo Premiere owners will get 6 months free streaming through the service when it launches. The Hulu Plus service has successfully launched across a several platforms including the Xbox 360, the iPad and Android devices.
Cable TV provider RCN has confirmed plans to allow customers to stream video between TiVo Premier set-top boxes. The company's director of video product and video operations, Jason Nealis, has informed beta testers that the multi-room streaming functionality will arrive in a software update. Other improvements include support for an iPad app, video-on-demand previews, and a revamped UI.
TiVo today chose to permanently alter its Premiere DVR pricing to draw in some viewers. Starting May 19, the company will now permanently sell the core Premiere for $100 on a year-long contract for those willing to pay $20 per month and the Premiere XL plus Premium Remote bundle for $300 on the same rates. Paying $500 now gets a Product Lifetime deal that gives service for free for the life of the hardware, up $100 from before.
Zatznotfunny reports that a possible slip up on DirecTV's website gives some encouragement to DirecTV customers that a TiVo HD-DVR receiver may be available in the not to distant future. Screen shots from the DirecTV site show a TiVo receiver that can be added to a customer's shopping cart as a receiver option. The photo of the unit is marked "FPO" (for positioning only), indicating that the webpage is a placeholder for a future offering. Price is listed as $99.
TiVo scored two coups on Monday with word of major deals with Comcast. Owners of the DVR in most Comcast areas will get access to the cable company's Xfinity On Demand video service directly from a TiVo Premiere box. Search and other features should remain intact.
Dish Network and its parent EchoStar started the month of May by reaching a settlement deal with TiVo. Following the loss of its last appeal in a finding of contempt, Dish and EchoStar said they would pay TiVo a total of $500 million to end all lawsuits and end trade bans on DVRs. About $300 million would be paid up front, while the remaining $200 million would be paid between 2012 and 2017.
EchoStar on Wednesday lost its case in a Federal Court of Appeals to try and overturn a contempt ruling in favor of TiVo. The court upheld a decision that EchoStar's Dish satellite TV DVRs were breaking a permanent ban on violating TiVo patents even after changes were made to the hardware. EchoStar is expected to pay a $300 million fine that it had reversed in May of last year.
TiVo Advisors panel has issued a new survey to members that hints at what the DVR maker is considering releasing. In terms of hardware, the survey makes mention of a four-tuner HD DVR that would have the ability to record up to four shows at once while a fifth is viewed. There is also a hint of a companion set-top that would connect to a TiVo DVR from another room and allow for watching live HD programming or recordings on the DVR.
Large-scale e-mail marketer Epsilon warned this weekend that at least 14 major companies had their e-mail lists compromised through a security hack. TiVo, as well as banks like Capital One, Citi, and JPMorgan Chase, warned that their customers could be targeted by phishing attempts or anything else that relies on knowing an e-mail address. The affected group stressed that they didn't have any other personally identifying data besides names, although rewards programs from Marriott and Ritz-Carleton also exposed point balances.
Nearly a year after Best Buy first announced plans to build Insignia televisions equipped with TiVo software, the retailer may finally be testing upcoming products. A post on the unofficial TiVo Community Forum suggests that a new TiVo device, without DVR storage capabilities, has surfaced in access logs for a third-party game that works with networked TiVo systems.
TiVo's plans to stream Hulu Plus edged closer to reality Wednesday with word from a field tester that it was in live testing. A field trial is giving TiVo Premiere owners a month of free service in return for streaming the Internet TV online. He couldn't say to Engadget when TiVo expected to take Hulu Plus public.
A notice in the TiVo for iPad app has validated hopes that it might come to Series 3 DVRs. A quiet update to the app on Monday (free, App Store) is now producing a pop-up message that tells users that full support is coming for set-top boxes provided by cable providers RCN and Suddenlink as well as "limited support" for the Series 3 and related TiVo HD. The update is "coming soon," it said.
The existing SlingPlayer iPad and iPhone app has now been updated to allow outputting video to an external screen through component cables. The move effectively turns Apple's devices into Slingbox adapters for TVs away from home. Both the SlingPlayer Mobile 2.1 for iPhone (App Store) and SlingPlayer Mobile 1.1 for iPad (App Store) are now available, with either priced at $30.
