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Stream will NEVER support android. Product is dead.

36K views 222 replies 49 participants last post by  aaronwt 
#1 ·
#3 ·
You are a little late Rip Van Winkle
 
#8 ·
Doesn't bother me one bit! I never liked android devices anyways! Prefer the interface of iOS or Windows over android.

Interesting thing... If android is so much better then windows or iOS, you think that TiVo would make their app for it first! ;)
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.
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#14 ·
**BUMP**

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.
We wish we knew. The only info we have at this point is an RCN employee saying Android streaming is coming soon in a post from a few weeks ago.

It's taken WAY longer then I ever expected for them to get it released.
 
#16 ·
It's taken WAY longer then I ever expected for them to get it released.
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.
 
#17 ·
The stream will have been out for two years soon. That is a long time to go without Andorid support.
 
#19 ·
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.
 
#22 ·
Was there a CableLabs rule about removable storage?

Many androids have to store to micro-SD card.
My android phone doesn't even have a micro-SD card slot. It only has internal storage. The one thing I dislike about it.
 
#23 ·
Was there a CableLabs rule about removable storage?

Many androids have to store to micro-SD card.
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.
 
#24 ·
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.
Meanwhile Echostar/Dish sells Slingboxes and sat receivers with built-in sling features. So you can't blame the content owners on this one.
 
#26 ·
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.

http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=16528
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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