As you may have read, Roku pulled the trigger on Amazon VOD this week. And I was supremely depressed to learn that the HD-capable Roku Player ($99) is only serving standard definition Amazon video-on-demand titles at this time. While Amazon’s library is quite large (40,000+ titles), including many of the new releases not available via the Netflix service, it’s unlikely I’ll spend “real money” on SD content. (As opposed to the “free” streaming included in my Netflix DVD rental plan.) So, in 2009, where the heck is Amazon VOD in HD?

The first official confirmation of Amazon HD VOD came from TiVo last May:

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.

And, in fact, one of my TiVo moles had told me Amazon HD VOD was headed into beta but had been pulled back for some reason. It seems inevitable that this service goes HD (one day…), so there must be technical or licensing issues at play. More recently, in December, TiVo flipped a bit and accidentally revealed an Amazon VOD “Available in High Definition” menu item.

Come January, at CES, we started to see some concrete evidence directly from Amazon that HD content is on the way. First, a Gizmodo photograph of a Vizio Yahoo Widget-ized set shows an Iron Man HD rental ($4.99). Then, just last night, I discovered a January post on Amazon’s very own End User blog essentially pre-announcing “Amazon Video on Demand HD Downloads” with video proof:

Given all this evidence, Amazon VOD in HD is obviously under development and pretty far along (at least on the Yahoo Widget platform). But the question remains the same… Where is it?

Photo by Zandir

As TiVo, Inc (TIVO) often does, they put out a pair of small news releases to coincide with earnings yesterday. First, they announced a business relationship with embedded cable software company Alticast:

“Teaming with Alticast allows global video providers to offer the unique combination of TiVo’s award winning user interface, advertising solutions, and broadband television functionality on set top boxes running Alticast’s industry standard embedded software for ITV applications,” said Joshua Danovitz, Vice President and GM of International at TiVo. “We hear from cable, satellite and IPTV operators around the world that they want better middleware solutions capable of quickly bringing TiVo applications to market and Alticast is in the pole position to fulfill this need.  We look forward to their cooperation in making the TiVo experience available on a broad range of platforms, both in the United States and around the world, similar to the way that we have developed platforms for Comcast and Cox.”

Given the speed of TiVo’s Comcast and Cox development (and rollout), it’s not a bad idea to lean on others for assistance. Especially those with penetration in foreign environments (both figuratively and literally). However, as a geek gadget blogger, this doesn’t particularly interest me… until they have something to deliver. Related, TiVo announced a second partnership with video-on-demand (VOD) provider SeaChange:

“By teaming with SeaChange we are enabling cable operators without OCAP/tru2way deployment plans to increase the breadth and depth of their offering by quickly deploying TiVo set-top boxes that seamlessly integrate VOD in a single, intuitive TiVo interface,” said Tom Rogers, TiVo’s president and chief executive officer. “This solution also enables participating MSOs to take their on-demand offering to a whole new level by highlighting VOD titles within TiVo universal search results.  And the beauty of this is that it can be achieved faster and at a lower cost than most solutions that have been available to cable operators to date.”

Seems like this one’s about empowering smaller or, perhaps, International cable providers to offer and/or profit from TiVo units. Given TiVo’s small, shrinking (see below) footprint and previous rural outreach, I’m not sure this one has legs. We mat begin to find out “later this year.”

And then we have the earnings call, itself. No news on additional Comcast (CMCSA) deployments, beyond New England. Supposedly Cox trials are going well and the initial rollout is expected to begin in the first half of 2009. TiVo, Inc had a bit more to say on the renewed DirecTV (DTV) initiative:

“Additionally, we continue to work on our new DIRECTV HD DVR. The new HD DVR will include popular TiVo broadband features, and will be immediately accessible to DIRECTV’s entire national customer base on day-one of the launch. We have had a very successful history with DIRECTV and those subscribers are some of our most loyal customers.

I gave one of my TiVo contacts a call to dig deeper. Specifically, I’m interested in learning more about the hardware platform, who’s providing it, and if they’re resetting expectations regarding the possibility of a 2009 launch. Unfortunately, TiVo remains tight lipped and I came away with no new or additional info. (more…)

Another week, another fun giveaway here on ZNF! The current prize package consists of the fine TiVo Glo remote ($50) that I acquired from the now-defunct Rewards program, a TiVo cookie cutter (resembling an armless Noid) that was a freebie, and a TiVo-emblazoned Cross pen that I might have picked up during a TiVo HQ visit. Entering the contest is as easy as it gets, simply leave a comment. (US residents in the lower 48 only, please.) We’ll choose the winner at random in a few days.

i.TV
The i.TV entertainment listings app isn’t new, but the 1.3 update offers a new and visually appealing landscape grid guide (above) with pop-up show info “cards.” Previous functionality, such as TiVo scheduling and Netflix queue management, remains. And is joined by performance and stability improvements.

Roxio Streamer
Roxio Streamer is a brand new app that hooks into their OS X Toast 10 software ($80) to transcode and stream transferred TiVo video, EyeTV recordings, and a variety of other media from Mac to iPhone or iPod Touch over WiFi. Given Toast’s historic inconsistency in keeping transcoded TiVo audio and video synchronized, I’m still running version 8 and haven’t been able to do anything more than install the client.

DVR Remote Lite
DVR Remote isn’t new, but the “Lite” version is. Meaning you can test drive this app for free before deciding to pay $3 for the full version. It’s definitely worth checking out, and we’ve come a loooong way from my terminal-based remote control demo last spring. In addition to typical network remote control of your TiVo units, the developer included a clever series of keyboard macros to streamline the search experience. But wait, there’s more. He’s also tapped into the TiVo web server to display your Now Playing list. And as if that weren’t enough, there’s easy access to TiVo’s mobile web scheduling site from within the app.

TiVo Desktop 2.7 has hit the streets. This Windows software update packs several enhancements. On the TiVoToGo front, Desktop now functions more like TiVo itself by allowing you to specific the number of transferred shows that are kept on your PC. This long sought after feature is pretty critical if you have limited storage and a predilection for high def content. Another requested improvement has been partially implemented, by allowing you to browse previously transferred shows in folders back on the TiVo. For those who’ve paid for Plus ($25) functionality, the codec package appears to have been upgraded – additional file formats and containers (such as HD MKV) can be transcoded and transferred from PC to TiVo for playback. Although power users or those on a budget might prefer to continue using pyTiVo. (Thanks, Zeo!)

While we haven’t yet arrived at Todd’s (cybernetic) activity stream vision, mere days after our post, Darren Cloutier has answered the call:

I saw the post about this on Friday night and thought it would make a great weekend project! From my old PC in the basement, a PHP script logs into the web server on each TiVo box and grabs the XML file with everything that is currently on the box. This part was written by somebody on the community forums back when TiVo2Go was first released as a way to translate your now playing list to an HTML document. Since I already run this script every hour to update my website, I simply added some more code which looks for recordings that have a start time greater than one hour ago, format the text as a nice Tweet and then redirect these to Twitter via the Twitter API which is easily accessible in PHP.

A little imagination and some PHP elbow grease is all it took to give Darren’s TiVos a voice. Again, not quite as interactive as what Todd envisions. But a cool project, nonetheless. And, if you’re feeling voyeuristic, those TiVo recording tweets can be found here: http://twitter.com/TwiVo

In other Twitter automation news, Macworld’s Jason Snell documents a variety of ways to script or filter tweets. But, wait. There’s more! The Twitter team recently documented the incubation and evolution of their 140 character service. Plus, yours truly has been anointed as a top tech tweeter by Jason Hiner of ZDNet.

Ah, the day after the Super Bowl. Time to reflect on the advertising hits and misses. But how do you quantify success? (Or failure.) USA Today provided about 300 select viewers in Oregon and Virginia “ad meters” for rating commercials in real time. Of course, we also saw  a wide variety of web-based polls open to all. Annually, TiVo takes the unique approach of analyzing ad success based on a sampling of DVR interaction – pauses, replays, etc. In addition to providing a top ten list of commercials, they’ve identified the top five moments per half:

Click to enlarge

After speaking with TiVo today, I’ve gotten a bit more insight into their second-by-second analysis from Todd Juenger, VP of the Audience Research and Measurement unit. The line above charts viewership in TiVo terms, and is cumulative based on how many times video is watched – taking into account those rewinds, on top of straight up viewing. The spikes clearly indicate areas of interest and total viewership seemed to have increased as the game progressed. We surprised Todd by actually focusing on the football towards the end as Cards staged a comeback: “Historically, the commercials always get highest viewership spikes, from rewinding and multiple views. The fact that the 5 highest viewership moments in the 2nd half were all game related, not commercials, is remarkable.” So, was the game that good or were the commercials that lame?

Me, I can’t say I loved any of the commercials. However, the pair I immediately recalled today, beyond the movie trailers, were the Doritos and Cheetos spots. I’ve been known to consume more than my fair share of junk food, although both ads were memorable for other reasons. The Cheetos ad was both amusing and somewhat creepy – think the Burger King. Not to mention I haven’t seen Chester the Cheetah in over a decade. (“It’s not easy being cheesy.”) And who doesn’t want to smash things at work? Which is why I found the Doritos Crystal Ball ad entertaining. As it turns out, the commercial wasn’t even developed by a pricey advertising firm. As far as misfires, the Sobe Lizard football ballet was a nonsensical disaster. And there’s probably a large contingent of television owners that Vizio didn’t connect with utilizing a condescending ‘you spent to much’ pitch.

In the recycling of tech category, DreamWork’s Monsters vs Aliens commercial and Sobe’s ballet were both presented in 3D. We don’t feel like we got much of a return on investment, given the time spent tracking down glasses and then cutting them out. In fact, while the movie looks cute, I’d rather catch it unencumbered by cardboard glasses and 3D effects that really didn’t seem to add much to our enjoyment. For compelling 3-D experiences, I’ll continue to stick with the Orlando theme parks. (more…)