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TiVo has a strong CES showing

by on10 January 2008
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CES 2008: Still optimistic about future satellite support

While the word TiVo has become a noun and a verb, the company continues to move forward with its unification strategy to allow your Tivo DVR to bridge the gap between the ease of use of Tivo and your PC / portable devices. While the focus of the series 3 units is clearly directed at the cable market space in the U.S., TiVo has been expanding to deliver TiVo units to other countries, as well. What many people did not realize is that TiVo has not been standing still and they have made a slew of significant enhancements to the TiVo technology and software to make it more useful, but at the same time they have been able to do it in such a way that they have not lost the ease of use that has made TiVo the choice of millions of TiVo users and fans.

If you have not had a close look at the new series 3 TiVo and you are a TiVo fan, you are missing out; they have added many new features, including the movie and TV downloads from Amazon Unboxed, Music powered by Rhapsody, Music Choice music video and programming, Swivel Search, home movie sharing, TiVo online Scheduling, TiVo ToGo transfers, TiVo Mobile, and online services that can offer access to things such as access to your online photos, local weather/traffic, movie tickets powered by Fandango, and perhaps direct access to Internet radio from Live365 and podcasts. While all of these features are not exclusive to the Series 3 units, to enjoy all of the latest in TiVo technology you will have to have a series 3 unit.

We were able to see the new TiVo upgrade for a Comcast cable customer who has the Motorola DVR. The TiVo software upgrade to this unit does not require a “truck roll” so the software is upgraded and you receive the TiVo remote in the mail. Best of all, if you already have made recordings with your Motorola DVR,these recordings are moved directly into the TiVo upgrade so you don’t lose anything that you have recorded or are saving. We were impressed with the implementation of the TiVo on the Motorola hardware. It looked, felt, and acted just like any other TiVo that we had used before. This is impressive, considering that the TiVo software and technology is riding on top of hardware that TiVo didn’t design. By the way, the Motorola DVR with the TiVo software supports a live picture window playing the current channel in the upper right of the screen, which is a first for TiVo and something that we would not mind seeing incorporated into future units.

Well, if you are a DirecTV subscriber and you are waiting to find out if any progress has been made on the possible introduction of a TiVo powered DirecTiVo unit, you are going to have to continue to wait because while TiVvo is always open to the possibility of working with DirecTv on such a project, they have nothing new to report at this time. Beyond the fact that several updates are planned and previously announced for Series 2 DirecTiVos, there is really nothing new to report. The software upgrades are on track and on schedule to be delivered later this year once all of the testing has been complete.

Last modified on 10 January 2008
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