It's not that iOS is better, it was probably that their market research showed that a majority of their users had iPhones over Androids at the time of decision back in 2010-11 when the product was going through requirement gathering. It seems they failed to look outside the San Jose/SF bubble to see that Apple was sitting on a paper throne, market share wise. They missed all the lower cost Android tablets that would become common place in most of their customer's homes and offices.
The entire concept was poorly thought out and executed. They should have build a device that streams to any browser and capitalize on the market of ANYONE UNDER 20 that only watch TV online on computers or tablets. By selecting a technology that was tied to iOS, they neglected defining a larger market and a new generation to potentially capture some brand loyalty from.
The entire concept was poorly thought out and executed. They should have build a device that streams to any browser and capitalize on the market of ANYONE UNDER 20 that only watch TV online on computers or tablets. By selecting a technology that was tied to iOS, they neglected defining a larger market and a new generation to potentially capture some brand loyalty from.
There wasn't and still isn't a single end-to-end technology solution that can stream to all browsers (smartphone/tablet mobiles and desktop). And I'm not talking about TiVo specifically, but the whole of the browser and video streaming landscape. You can use Microsoft Smooth Streaming, or Apple's HLS, or MPEG-DASH, or a variety of even less standardized methods, but NONE of them work universally amongst the most popular browsers right now in January of 2014, let alone when the product was being designed. At least by starting with HLS on iOS, they were able to (relatively) quickly launch into a large, and largely unfragmented market. While Android now has a larger share, the OS/device fragmentation it also has means that making a solution work across a majority of the platform is a much more costly thing to do.
And don't forget that whatever method they used for streaming had to be encrypted and had to be approved by CableLabs. By using an open source protocol with an established encryption method that process was likely a lot easier.
I have a sweet-a55 Nexus 7 tablet that needs TiVo Stream love. What gives? I mean, I can go out and buy an iPad Mini 3 in October when the new one drops, but I'd rather not.
I have a sweet-a55 Nexus 7 tablet that needs TiVo Stream love. What gives? I mean, I can go out and buy an iPad Mini 3 in October when the new one drops, but I'd rather not.
Why? Here we are, six months later and Stream still doesn't support Android. It's obvious that Tivo takes it's cable partners considerations over it's retail customers considerations.
They could have started from nothing from when this thread already called it dead and released a very robust product by now. I've delivered a lot more complex in a lot less time.
This is a terrible joke of business planning, lying to customers or completely off the rails development process. Really inexcusable.
I agree. Originally I defended their choice to only release for iOS, but after nearly two years they still don't have Android support and that's just ridiculous.
I called on this very subject recently. The Android app is getting closer, no date. Rumor is it will have features the iOS app doesn't have; not specified. I'm thinking maybe Chromecast support.
There are no CableLabs rules about this at all. The only reason TiVo can do it is because the cable companies set a precedent with their own devices first. That's why you can only download shows which are "copy freely" and you can only stream protected content inside the home. TiVo is walking a very fine line when it comes to legality with the Stream which is why they are probably being so cautious about it.
There are no CableLabs rules about this at all. The only reason TiVo can do it is because the cable companies set a precedent with their own devices first. That's why you can only download shows which are "copy freely" and you can only stream protected content inside the home. TiVo is walking a very fine line when it comes to legality with the Stream which is why they are probably being so cautious about it.
Yep, and Sling has an Android app too. And a small company like SiliconDust rolls out an Android app that supports protected content streaming directly from their tuners. Meanwhile Tivo rolls out nothing.
Yep, and Sling has an Android app too. And a small company like SiliconDust rolls out an Android app that supports protected content streaming directly from their tuners. Meanwhile Tivo rolls out nothing.
I see that protected channels can be streamed also with this app.
After everything is said and done. It becomes pretty obvious that Tivo would rather not do anything to upset it's current and future cableco partners and won't provide certain features to it's retail customers to accomplish this.
I hope that by now, all android users would have given up on the Tivo Stream ever working for them and moved on to Slingbox.
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