TiVo Premiere to add Xfinity on Demand

[Endymion_]

Why the hell not, if the system can be gamed.

[Endymion_]

Okay so here we go. Click here and you will find comcast's TiVo information page, which as you can see shows several screens of TiVo Premiere displaying comcast on demand. From this page you can see links to other items, including a faq list, a demo, a manual, etc. etc. etc. If you look at the PDF files showing the "tip card" and the manual you will first see that the TiVo remote you know and love has "comcast" branded on it, somehow I doubt that the TiVo Premiere itself will be spared this similar branding but the reason that I point it out is to show that this is a product made specifically for comcast. Also, you will see TiVo screenshots that look decidedly like the Premiere, but incredibly comcastic as well, sadly. In other words it appears the TiVo interface and guide has been crapped out in favour of Comcast's. This means something has been reprogrammed. We have absolutely no information anywhere that I can see that this programming is not required for comcast's VOD, i.e. that you need their TiVo Premiere.

A lot of the stuff in all of these links simply wasn't there when I first came across this page, a month or two ago, however one bit that is still there now has not changed. Also linked from the above is this FAQ which I mentioned. Near the bottom you see tell that you do not deal with the TiVo company when using this TiVo Premiere, all of your billing and account information is with comcast. If that weren't depressing enough just hit the link that says "Already have a Tivo? Activate Online Scheduler now." Fine print at the bottom of this page states "Comcast TiVo Online Scheduler is not compatible with retail TiVo devices. Comcast Digital Cable with TiVo service available in limited geographic areas."

So in light of seeing where the implementation appears to be heading, I'd like to see something more substantial than the press release before I get too excited about the prospects of using comcast's VOD on my retail TiVo Premieres. If there's a plus side to this (and if I'm right about my suspicion), it also appears that a lot of the better features of the TiVo Premiere have been removed. I see no netflix, pandora, youtube etc. in the screenshot images they provide, so I'd guess that is being removed for the "comcastic" box. If they actually DO update our TiVo Premieres to allow us to capture comcast's VOD, there's no way in hell that TiVo would allow the removal of those features, and if we never get comcast VOD directly to retail Premiere units, at least we still have those features that the comcastic box lacks.

[rainwater]

I'm pretty sure those screenshots are just showing the TiVo interface that was available in a few markets on existing boxes (and pretty much bombed out). I don't see what that has to do with the Premiere.

[Endymion_]

They look a lot more like the Premiere's screens, albeit with a different guide, than the older retail TiVos. I'll admit I haven't seen previous TiVo models that comcast may have had, but what I see there looked similar to other photos I had seen of the Virgin TiVo guide. (Edit: Actually I guess you are right, just looked for a copyright date on the manual and it shows 2009 so this is for an older box.) Also, the wording of the press release reminds me of another bit that I came up against with comcast recently which is even more food for thought here.

I've got telephone service with comcast, and in order to use that I need their EMTA cable modem. There are EMTAs that you can purchase yourself, but if you are going to use an EMTA for telephone service with comcast, you absolutely need to purchase their EMTA. When I finally had enough of paying their leasing fee for the EMTA, I had to look high and low to find one to purchase, and it turned out best buy was the only store "authorized" to sell the proper EMTA modems I needed. Now bear in mind, this was "at retail," but it was still a modem made for comcast, packaged by comcast, to their specifications.

[aadam101]

Those are not the Premiere screens. Those pages have nothing to do with the Premiere. Those pages are for the Motorola DVR with Comcast software. They were available only in the Boston market and they have canceled that plan.

Let's take a look back at history. Tivo/Comcast announced a partnership in 2005 to bring the Motorola DVR with Tivo software to market. It took them 3 years to do it. The box wasn't released until 2008 and even then was a huge failure for both companies.

I don't know why anyone is getting excited over this new partnership. I have no reason to believe that any Comcast/Tivo product will surface anytime in the near future. Tivo doesn't do business this way. They announce their products YEARS in advance. They have done this over and over again.

[hummingbird_206]

Originally Posted by aadam101

Those are not the Premiere screens. Those pages have nothing to do with the Premiere. Those pages are for the Motorola DVR with Comcast software. They were available only in the Boston market and they have canceled that plan.

Let's take a look back at history. Tivo/Comcast announced a partnership in 2005 to bring the Motorola DVR with Tivo software to market. It took them 3 years to do it. The box wasn't released until 2008 and even then was a huge failure for both companies.

I don't know why anyone is getting excited over this new partnership. I have no reason to believe that any Comcast/Tivo product will surface anytime in the near future. Tivo doesn't do business this way. They announce their products YEARS in advance. They have done this over and over again.

I happen to be a gullible optimist when it comes to something I want. And I really want the Premiere Elite to have Xfinity On Demand capability.

[aadam101]

Originally Posted by hummingbird_206

I happen to be a gullible optimist when it comes to something I want. And I really want the Premiere Elite to have Xfinity On Demand capability.

It could happen. I imagine this is much easier to implement than the first deal was. Hopefully, Tivo has some Comcast resources.

[hummingbird_206]

Originally Posted by aadam101

It could happen. I imagine this is much easier to implement than the first deal was. Hopefully, Tivo has some Comcast resources.

Thank you for indulging me!

[MichaelK]

Hopefully we see the pig fly soon....

[jfalkingham]

I think the failure was with the hardware, 16 hours of HD recording with no upgrade possibility? It killed it for me.

We used the Motorola boxes with TiVo the day they came out, we had no complaints. They were a TiVo that gave us video on-demand, and a much better online scheduler than TiVo had at the time. The space became an issue and we had to move to a stand alone box, but we never had an issue with reboots, service, missed recordings, sluggish performance, etc. It was a completely painless process to install.

I wrote up my experience with it when I switched from DIRECTV to Comcast:

http://www.servicesolution.com/blog/...-comcast-tivo/

I also posted a youtube video showing the online scheduler and comparing to the TiVo provided online scheduler (at the time)

Comcast TiVo Online Scheduling Review - Comcast TiVo HD DVR by Motorola

Close

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

(fun starts at 1:40)

I'm hoping they put the 'xfinity' ondemand app on the TiVo Premiere soon, which will probably be the same thing on the computer or the iPad, which is NOT a replica of their OnDemand service, a lot of stuff missing. I can say on a recent cablecard self install, Comcast provided detailed instructions for the TiVo premiere install.

[hummingbird_206]

Originally Posted by jfalkingham

I think the failure was with the hardware, 16 hours of HD recording with no upgrade possibility? It killed it for me.

What hardware are you referring to with this comment?

[jfalkingham]

Originally Posted by hummingbird_206

What hardware are you referring to with this comment?

The motorola dcx boxes. Their limited recording capacity and no upgrade potential really crippled use, that was the only 'fail' we could find with it.

[jayfest]

I have Comcast in South Jersey. Until recently, on the OD channels, I would get a "Channel not available" notice from my Premiere. But in the past few weeks, I have started to see on those channels a half-screen-size box with the verbal blurb I used to see in that corner on the OD channels, but no actual listings. So it looks like they could be getting ready to start offering me Comcast OD.

[hybucket]

Originally Posted by jayfest

I have Comcast in South Jersey. Until recently, on the OD channels, I would get a "Channel not available" notice from my Premiere. But in the past few weeks, I have started to see on those channels a half-screen-size box with the verbal blurb I used to see in that corner on the OD channels, but no actual listings. So it looks like they could be getting ready to start offering me Comcast OD.

Don't bet the ranch (Negative? Me? Don't be silly).

[morac]

Originally Posted by jayfest

I have Comcast in South Jersey. Until recently, on the OD channels, I would get a "Channel not available" notice from my Premiere. But in the past few weeks, I have started to see on those channels a half-screen-size box with the verbal blurb I used to see in that corner on the OD channels, but no actual listings. So it looks like they could be getting ready to start offering me Comcast OD.

There are no On Demand "channels". Those channels are simply links into the On Demand menus so they aren't channels in the sense of the word. The Comcast Central channels (the ones that display multiple channels) are channels with the audio for the different channels on different audio sub-channels. Maybe that's what you are seeing.

In any case, South Jersey isn't the initial test market for Comcast On Demand for TiVo. That would be the San Francisco Bay Area and that's not supposed to be working until next year according to the press release.

All that said, the Cherry Hill system has been used to test things in the past, the most recent being SDV (which Comcast abandoned).

[jayfest]

I know they are not regular channels that have their own programming. I just mentioned that in Voorhees, NJ, I used to get "Channel not available" on my Premiere on channels 199 and 315, for example, but now I get a guy talking in one corner of the screen about all the stuff Comcast has On Demand, and that on my other TVs which still use a Comcast cable box, 199 and 315 are channels where I get the same guy talking in one corner, but I also get the On Demand listings. In Atlantic City, NJ on my Premiere, 199 and 315 still give me "Channel not available". I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for OD to appear on my Premieres, but maybe somebody in San Francisco got these screens beforehand and can report on how long afterward the actual OD appeared.

[Endymion_]

Originally Posted by aadam101

Those are not the Premiere screens. Those pages have nothing to do with the Premiere.

Well, they do have something to do with the Premiere.

In selected areas of New England, TV fans can now choose between a stand-alone TiVo® Premiere or Premiere XL with a cableCARD™ and a Comcast DVR with TiVo® Service.

So as you can see, with this wording, they are referring to both the Premiere and the older motorola boxes which were updated with TiVo's software. One certainly came long before the other. However with the mention of the Premiere and the Premiere XL, it has been updated since then to include just that. How this relates to the May press release remains to be seen.

As for why anybody is excited about it, well it would be nice to have access to the VOD obviously, and the May press release did specifically state that TiVo Premiere boxes would support this, not any other, unnamed, unannounced or unreleased box. The TiVo Premiere is with us right now, after all. My only sinking feeling is that it may be exclusive to TiVo Premiere boxes that comcast provides, but that will obviously only come to light after it happens.

[Peter Miller]

Has there been any new news on this topic?

[nrc]

Originally Posted by Peter Miller

Has there been any new news on this topic?

It was mentioned as being in field trials and launching early next year in the last investor conference call in November.

[muerte33]

If this is going to happen, I would not mind upgrading my TIVO HD units to TIVO Elites or Premiers.
This is the one thing I miss with Tivo is access to OnDemand.
Having to use a PC (or their box), is very inconvient.
I saw this recently:
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2012-02/...on-weeks-away/

[Joe01880]

Originally Posted by muerte33

If this is going to happen, I would not mind upgrading my TIVO HD units to TIVO Elites or Premiers.
This is the one thing I miss with Tivo is access to OnDemand.
Having to use a PC (or their box), is very inconvient.
I saw this recently:
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2012-02/...on-weeks-away/

From a competitive look maybe that will kick Verizon in the pants and encourage integration of TiVo to FiOS On Demand as well.

[davezatz]

TiVo's Xfinity promo page is live:
http://www3.tivo.com/products/source...oducts_comcast

[Corran Horn]

This'd push me over the edge on buying a Premiere. To me, it represents enough of a differentiation from my current Series3 for my use-case.

[dswallow]

Originally Posted by Corran Horn

This'd push me over the edge on buying a Premiere. To me, it represents enough of a differentiation from my current Series3 for my use-case.

Ditto. Once that becomes available, I contemplate I'd buy a Premiere Elite, get lifetime on it, and decommission one or two of my Series 3 units.

[mxhonda]

"TiVo's Xfinity promo page is live:"



That's GREAT!

[ghuido]

Let's be clear this has been my missing link with TIVO And Comcast ... can't wait for it. Already signed up to be notified.

[rv65]

If it is like RCN's implementation, then you are required to have comcast internet, in order for this to work.

[rainwater]

Originally Posted by rv65

If it is like RCN's implementation, then you are required to have comcast internet, in order for this to work.

Yes, I would think that would be a given as far as a requirement.

[mazman]

Pardon my stupidity, but why can't this work on a Series 3?

[MichaelK]

Originally Posted by rv65

If it is like RCN's implementation, then you are required to have comcast internet, in order for this to work.

how many people have a premiere (which almost can't function without a broadband connection) and comcast cable without comcast broadband?