Looks like we’ve finally found a cable company with the ability to communicate (SDV). Cox has been notifying Phoenix customers that certain channels will become switched as of 7/1. Impacted homes are offered the option of trading in their CableCARDs for a set-top box rental or waiting for the tuning adapter - no ETA, but an attractive price of zero dollars.

Notice to TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD owners: Cox, along with others in the cable industry, has worked with TiVo lnc to develop an external device called a Tuning Adapter that will allow TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD devices using CableCARDs to access channels delivered via SDV. Availability of the Tuning Adapter is expected later this year. At that time additional information will be sent to you. TheTuning Adapter will be provided by Cox at no charge. In the interim, continued access to channels delivered via SDV is available with a Cox digital set top receiver.

(Thanks, Rob!)

As TiVo often does (to soften the blow?), they’re putting our a release to coincide with an earnings call… Amazon Unbox doesn’t offer Disney digital downloads, so TiVo’s gone behind their back and worked an additional VOD deal:

Titles will be available to rent through an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow, a digital entertainment provider of high-quality Hollywood movies and TV shows across multiple platforms, and the latest partner to join TiVo’s broadband efforts. The companies will offer the movies for a 24-hour rental period in standard definition, with many also available in high definition. The service is available to all broadband-connected TiVo Series2™ and Series3™ subscribers later this year.

More content is a good thing, but as it is TiVo’s menus have gotten too cluttered (and the HME/Java UI is too slow). What we need is a speedier, unified front-end to drive all video download options (and a speedier, unified Swivel Search comprised of existing search options plus the Wishlist). If I’m ordering direct from the TiVo box, it shouldn’t matter to me if TiVo, Amazon, Jaman, CinemaNow, or someone else is providing the content. One shouldn’t need to visit separate areas to ferret out a Disney or independent film title. Let’s hope this all gets a facelift with the next software update.

(more…)

According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE Seven Media Group will launch its TiVo digital video recorder in July after a strategic overhaul that includes a surprise move to scrap a planned monthly subscription fee for the broadband-enabled service. TiVo’s launch plan comes as Seven’s wireless broadband group, Unwired, confirmed it was finalising deals with up to six retailers around the country to sell TiVo boxes. “The main thing is to get TiVo launched for the Olympics.”

I suppose it’s more economical for me to continue paying $6.95/month, than moving to Australia…

TiVo Desktop version 2.6.1 (download here) was launched on April 9, 2008 (See TiVoPony’s announcement, Megazone’s post, and TiVo’s press release). For TiVo Desktop users that have upgraded to TiVo Plus ($24.99 USD), the most important new feature of version 2.6.1 is its integrated support for video podcasts.

Video podcasts of your choosing can now be served up from your PC to your TiVo Series 2, 3 or TiVoHD. Once setup (see below) the TiVo Desktop software monitors your video podcast directories and automatically copies newly arrived video podcasts to your TiVo (sorted in podcast-specific folders).

This is a marked improvement over the prior ‘walled garden’-only offering. Under the walled garden service (which still exists), TiVo chooses which video podcasts you can subscribe too (see my prior critique here). With the new 2.6.1 functionality, you decide which video podcasts you want on your TiVo.

Also, for the first time, version 2.6.1 provides TiVo Series 3 and TiVoHD users with higher quality PC to TiVo transfers. HD video content residing on your PC (video podcasts, TV shows, movies etc.) transfer to high definition TiVo units at 720p compared to 480p previously (480p is still used for HD transfers to Series 2 units).

While not being promoted by TiVo, the TiVo Desktop software can monitor any folder on your computer - not just podcast folders. So, when new content appears in that folder, say, for example, a BitTorrent folder, the software will automatically copy that content to your TiVo as well.

I installed and tested version 2.6.1 on my Vista 64 PC, and I’m delighted to report that it just plain works! A bit of a happy surprise given the hair pulling I’ve gone through with prior TiVo Desktop installs.

Below I describe the installation process, demonstrate how to use TiVo Desktop to serve video podcasts to your TiVo and discuss areas where improvements are still needed.

Read the rest of this entry at The Daleisphere »

As promised, Cisco and Motorola SDV tuning adapters are on display at The Cable Show. Mari shot the photo below and EngadgetHD posted several pics of the Motorola SDV tuning resolver in action with a TiVoHD. I’m pleased TiVo customers will shortly (?) see a solution (even if it’s a kludge, bound to cause more confusion) to the retail CableCARD SDV issue, but it’s yet to be seen which other CableCARD products (TVs, Media Center PCs) will receive the firmware updates needed to utilize these boxes.

TiVo’s SDV status update press release hasn’t yet hit the wires, but here’s an excerpt:

NEW ORLEANS, LA - May 19, 2008 – The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), today announced that after a series of successful informal interoperability tests TiVo and several manufacturers of switched digital external tuning adapters have submitted products for formal testing at CableLabs. The tuning adapter will enable TiVo Series3™, TiVo HD DVRs, and certain other one-way digital cable ready consumer electronic devices that utilize CableCARDs™ to access digital cable channels delivered using switched digital technology.

Motorola and Cisco have both developed external tuning adapters and are seeking qualification by CableLabs® before being delivered to cable operators for deployment. The tuning adapters are expected to be offered in the coming months by cable operators including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Cablevision in areas where switched digital technology is being deployed. The cable operators and TiVo plan to work cooperatively to alert TiVo subscribers about the availability or need of the new external adapter and to ensure that installation of the adapter and CableCARDs will be easy and seamless for the consumer.

TiVo has modified its software for its TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs to communicate with the external Tuning Adapter. TiVo announced that the modified software has been submitted to CableLabs for verification testing. Upon verification, the software upgrade will be made available to TiVo subscribers via a regularly scheduled update.

Update: TiVo has published an SDV FAQ.

TiVo’s been testing the return Lifetime Service on a promotional basis, and I’ve just received word that it’s back for good. (Until they shift course again…) Current DVR subscriptions run $12.95/month or $129/year, so it’d take about 2.5-3 years before benefiting from the $399 Lifetime Service fee. And since Lifetime Service is box-specific, you may want to save your pennies for whatever new (tru2way) TiVo standalone model is introduced during that timeframe. The going rate for secondary (and more) TiVo units is $9.95/month, $99/year, or $299/lifetime.

In less than two weeks, we’ve gone from a manual keyboard kludge to a more polished method of TiVo network remote control (Ubuntu above, iPhone below). By using the Crestron hooks TiVo incorporated into the Fall 2007 Update, folks are beginning to design graphical apps. However, I still believe there’s more powerful and practical uses for this “hack”… TiVo could and should assist by documenting and expanding interface options - both via this port (31339) and the existing HTTPS/XML entrance.

While I’ve heard murmurs from various corners for quite some time, this is the first official confirmation from TiVo that Amazon Unbox will be going HD:

Unbox, the content-downloading service TiVo started with Internet retail leader Amazon.com last year, can’t process HD content, though the companies will announce HD capabilities “in the not too distant future,” Mr. Denney said.

Megazone suspects a rollout would be tied to TiVo’s support of H.264 later this year in conjunction with YouTube playback. Though, I agree that an improved aspect ratio might be more meaningful than higher definition content - which presumably comes at a higher price, and with a slower download.