TiVo is (almost) Back!

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First of all this is great news! Direct Tv instantly has made me a customer! I agree with the above. They should especially keep their Rhapsody feature. Doesd anyone know if they will?

 

Where can I pre-order one??

 

I cant beleive it actually happened but I'm very happy.

happily been with cable for about 2 years now- but i had directivo's for years prior (2 s1 directivo's, then added an hdrv2, and topped off with an Hr10-250 from the preorder...).

I had all but written off directv. Now I will have options.

I dont think the timeframe is that crazy- I thought years back it was said tivo had benchtop prototypes- even if that was wishfull thinking as doug says the hardware is similar and tivo has dabbled with mpeg4 for a little bit on the standalone hd platforms.

then again tivo always seems to have missed announced time frames for hardware.....

I'll keep my fingers crossed for ASAP.

 

I doubt anyone not raised in S. Central Texas would get that.

That to which 20TIL6 alludes is big a sign on the main highway (Tx Highway 90) passing through downtown Hondo, Tx, which says, "This is God's country. Please don't drive through it like Hell." It's been there about 40 years. Hondo is a small town about 40 miles west of San Antonio, right on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. It's a beautiful area.

 

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One of my new HD DVRs won't play back recordings -- every one of them is broken up in colored blocks and lagging and smeary, even ones I've watched in the past ok. Directv is sending someone out tomorrow -- sure will be good to get my trusty Tivo's back

 

This is awesome news. I may have to cancel TWC and go with this when it comes back. My directivo has always been the best functioning system ive ever owned. Cable Cards are just too much of a hassle!

 

I kept my 10-250 connected when I got a free DirectvHD upgrade in January.
I still much prefer the Tivo interface and only switch to the DirectvDVR when there's an HD program I can't get on Tivo. I'm totally Ok with the new Tivo being an interface over the Directv Hardware since the one advantage I've seen to the DirectvDVR is a brighter and sharper picture quality.

 

Don;think it is going to be a interface on the HR2X series, if you read the press release it states they are continuing their line of equipment and that the new TIVO box will be an alternate available to end users as a choice, it goes on to state that the pricing structure has not been determined as of yet.

 

I asked a bunch of DirecTV and TiVo people (separately) about this today at CEDIA. None gave me a definitive answer. The DirecTV people, even the engineers there, were pretty clueless about it -- they all knew about it but clearly had no specific idea how it was going to be done. I got a couple people at TiVo who clearly did know more about it but were being pretty coy (this is all my interpretation of course).

The gist I got is

1) This definitely started as a business deal before any product development and that the engineers are only now inheriting it and starting to talk about how they will do it. The business idea is definitely to market it as a “premium” service option for customers for a monthly fee.

2) TiVo would like this to be its own hardware. Their Comcast/Cox experience only confirms this. Ideally they would like it to be based on their new TiVo HD XL (which would be sweet!). That said, my sense is this is still a subject to negotiation with D* and not at all set or even probable yet.

My take-away: I don’t think even D* or TiVo know for sure yet how this will be done and if someone in the org does they are keeping it close to the vest within their own org. Of course that does make the release window of next year pretty aggressive… Also, my total guess is that there is no way D* will subsidize the subscription fee for this with TiVo. So whatever the final cost will be it has to be enough to totally cover whatever TiVo expects to get per customer plus very likely some nut for D*. Now that doesn’t mean that TiVo will expect the same fee they get for the stand-alone boxes, but we’ll see…

 

Yeah, that's pretty much where I landed as well.

 

and the engineers will say if you want this next year then start with hardware we know works with our code and add in the known built in D* receivers from previous TiVo powered boxes and update the UI to what is wanted for this new box.

I very much doubt D* is interested in trying to push TiVo Upgrade software over the transmission or phone line so making it it own box is no big deal other than who actually manufactures it for the lowest cost.

 

I'm actually hoping it's TiVo hardware, never been unhappy with any of it I've had so far, but I'll take whatever I can get.

 

The ComcasTiVo isn't really a fair comparison - The HRx and S3 hardware are much more closely related and even on the software front both are run on Linux. There wouldn't be the need for a middleware and OCAP the way the Cable ports require.

 

Does anyone know how the tivo XL differ's from the tivo S3 or Tivo HD in hardware (outside of the larger hard drive of course). Does it have a faster network connection? I know the other tivo models can get a max of 25mb speed.

 

XL has some small variation in chips inside. No one has broken down yet what differences for the user that might make, if any.

If the network was faster hardware than that would have been noted in the specs and mentioned already.

 

On a side note, TiVo did say that the middleware had been outsourced previously and they have now taken it in-house because of the Comcast launch box problems...

Still and all, I'd feel better with TiVo hardware than a software port onto a DirecTV box. The question is would I, for example, feel $600 better? For example, if option A is TiVo converts their HD XL box and D* users who opt into TiVo have to pay the $599 rate for it versus Option B of being able to elect to have a free software port (not inclusive of the premium monthly fee) of their existing HR2x boxes, would that change things? Probably for a vast majority of potential users it would, though I'm sure there are some di hards for whom the cost is not an issue (or and the scars of their HR2X experience just trumps it). Again, I don't see DirecTV subsidizing these boxes the way they did for the 10-250 since it is now being positioned as a premium option for people who really want them. So if they do use TiVo hardware we will have to be paying for these boxes. Just my opinion, not based on any facts or insider knowledge...

 

AFIK, DirecTV has never released a receiver that is full cost for the hardware.

Yes, there is always an upfront fee, but the remainder of the cost is made up in the 2 year contract with substantial fees for early cancellation.

 

Your choice to go with cable. And although I'm glad to see that you are getting what you've asked for, I really don't care that much about Tivo coming back one way or the other.

I was wrong though, when I said that ship had sailed.

 

Paid close to 1k for my first HR10 (owned)