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TiVo Launches $50 Streaming Video Player to Take On Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV

139K views 2K replies 213 participants last post by  NashGuy 
#1 ·
#21 · (Edited)
"With TiVo Stream 4K, we have created a dramatically better experience for viewers who are tired of hunting through apps and interfaces to find the amazing content available through online content providers," Shull said in announcing the product.
That's cool, but my Apple TV already does that really well. Granted, this would be cheaper.

Over on Cord Cutters News, commenters are saying that this is a rebadged AirTV Mini (with different software).

According to CNET, no Tivo hardware compatibility at the start
Pathetic.
 
#68 ·
The OnePass concept TiVo had was a good idea. It allowed you to keep track of both streaming and recorded shows in one place and easily decide what to watch. Unfortunately it didn’t work well in practice. They weren’t good at keeping the data up to date and because of API limitations of each service they couldn’t keep track of what you had already watched and what you hadn’t.

These streaming services need to realize that providing data and a comprehensive API to 3rd parties, like TiVo, so they can aggregate their content with other streaming services is a good thing. It'll only make people more likely to actually subscribe to, and actually watch, their service.
 
#69 ·
The OnePass concept TiVo had was a good idea. It allowed you to keep track of both streaming and recorded shows in one place and easily decide what to watch. Unfortunately it didn't work well in practice. They weren't good at keeping the data up to date and because of API limitations of each service they couldn't keep track of what you had already watched and what you hadn't.
This, 100%. Even Apple TV does this better for most of my apps. Tivo needs to get out of the way and just develop an API, similar to what Apple did with the TV app, so that ANY provider can be integrated into the "one search" system. Without Hulu Live, Youtube, Fubo, etc. this is severely hindered. Sling TV, while one of the cheapest services, is also one of the worst with channel and feature selection.

JustWatch already does this, so even just partnering with them would help a ton.
 
#1,464 · (Edited)
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#848 ·
TiVo: “We promised our customers an April launch back in January.”

Mfg Partner in China: “Sorry, we’ve been shut down most of 2020 from the virus, but we are slowly coming back online. We can’t get this done in April.”

TiVo: “Are you sure?”

Partner: “What’s your forecasted demand like? How many units do you think you can sell at launch?”

TiVo: “Possibly dozens.”

Partner: “Ok, we can squeeze you in.”

(I’m poking some fun at TiVo’s (lack of) prominence in the home entertainment sector here, but I’ll likely buy one of these things. I’m anxious to try it out.)
 
#849 ·
TiVo: "We promised our customers an April launch back in January."

Mfg Partner in China: "Sorry, we've been shut down most of 2020 from the virus, but we are slowly coming back online. We can't get this done in April."

TiVo: "Are you sure?"

Partner: "What's your forecasted demand like? How many units do you think you can sell at launch?"

TiVo: "Possibly dozens."

Partner: "Ok, we can squeeze you in."

(I'm poking some fun at TiVo's (lack of) prominence in the home entertainment sector here, but I'll likely buy one of these things. I'm anxious to try it out.)
This is hysterical. Seriously though, maybe they have hundreds or in the low thousands of sales?
 
#1,209 ·
#665 ·
I think this kind of doom and gloom is fake news. The are most likely working on a new phase of development or similar upgrades and so on.

Firestick is a fair competitor but not near as user friendly. Apple is not right priced for the average household so it will never be the size of Roku.

I don't for one minute believe that Roku will supposedly end anytime soon.
 
#668 ·
I think this kind of doom and gloom is fake news. The are most likely working on a new phase of development or similar upgrades and so on.

Firestick is a fair competitor but not near as user friendly. Apple is not right priced for the average household so it will never be the size of Roku.

I don't for one minute believe that Roku will supposedly end anytime soon.
Unless they're transitioning to Android then they're going to have trouble. Developers are sick of having to make 5 different apps for all these devices. Almost everything that's not Apple is transitioning to Android TV these days, including most smart TVs. We're likely to end up where we are with phones very soon. Apple in one corner and everyone else using some variant of Android TV in the other. Having a special platform that developers have to support isn't going to fly for much longer.
 
#915 ·
I just don't understand the point of sending out these short videos. One all encompassing one would have been much more effective.
Literally every one of these 7 mini videos say the SAME things. They just mix up wording a bit to make it sound fresher.

Just produce a 5-10 minute how to video and show ALL features one by one and call it good.
 
#917 ·
I just don't understand the point of sending out these short videos. One all encompassing one would have been much more effective.
Literally every one of these 7 mini videos say the SAME things. They just mix up wording a bit to make it sound fresher.

Just produce a 5-10 minute how to video and show ALL features one by one and call it good.
Probably just a way to keep people interested for 7 weeks. Plus you're over estimating the attention span of the average person. A "good" watch time on YouTube is 5 minutes. And for something that's essentially a commercial you'd be lucky to get anywhere close to that.
 
#1,054 ·
I just posted that on Facebook on their page. A large majority of the replies there show they have no idea what this is. Half seem to think this is an app that goes on their Tivo DVR. 1/4th of them are clear that they believe this product offers zero advantage over a Roku or Fire stick. And the majority of the last 1/4th are so clueless about ANYTHING that it is hard to decipher what the heck they are talking about. I'm also surprised at the venom being spewed at Tivo. I know online forums and Facebook are the natural habitat of the troll, but a large percentage of the posters are Tivo customers who are clearly very angry at the company. I wish I worked at Tivo in a VP level position, as there is actually a lot in those posts that Tivo could use to see the perception of the company. To be blunt, Tivo the company has shown there is still talent in the building, but there has been NO rudder from upper management for so long that the company has gone nowhere fast for a very very long time.

Now....For Gods sake, can Tivo please release the damn stream 4k. At midnight on 4/30 if it has not been released, I am ordering the 5 new Rokus in my Amazon cart and not looking back.
 
#1,055 ·
Honestly JeffInDFW, I completely agree with you about the midnight 4/30 issue, especially in light of the fact that Tivo's recent posts state; "very soon", "just days", etc. about the launch. As much as I love Tivo, there are alternatives and I watch cable tv less and less and less these days to the point where I just use my Tivo now as a cable box. I have no problem letting my Tivo DVR's stay in my rack until something goes wrong. Then I will dump them and go with a standard cable box to watch what limited cable I do watch and keep using my Apple TVs and Rokus.
 
#1,062 ·
It is kind of lame to post stuff like *very* and ALMOST and really mean next week. If they knew all along it was actually going to be next week, and there wasn't some logistics holdup, then they are terrible at marketing.

Also if they actually knew long ago that it wasn't going to be released until the absolute last week, almost last day, in April then why tell everyone April. Say May and surprise everyone with an "early" release, don't say the technical month when you know everyone is going to assume the first week or two of that month.
 
#1,425 ·
#18737

It's supposed to be delivered on Saturday, but I'm a little concern it is going somewhere else...

Font Darkness Brand Circle Electric blue


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Thankfully, in the e-mail the Federated States of Micronesia turned back into RI, but so happy their front-end lookup table is set up so well! Gives me great confidence!

@Rikki_Rocket , you made me consider getting two of them, but figured let's see how one goes for now.
 
#1,427 ·
#18737
@Rikki_Rocket , you made me consider getting two of them, but figured let's see how one goes for now.
I was up early #17921 - us early guys are going to probably need a software update right away - since ours has been most likely sitting packaged in a box for awhile already .

I figured for $50 and free shipping why not get two. Usually with TiVO the remote alone is $50 LOL.
 
#1,629 ·
I just set mine up an hour ago, so here are a few first impressions/observations:

It is fast.

You can go to the Play Store and load YouTube TV, CBS All Access, etc. BUT, there is no integration that I've found with the Tivo Stream App.

Disney+ is integrated with the Tivo Stream App, but when I search for any Disney+ movies, the Tivo Stream App finds it, but shows it is available on Prime Video only. I tried 3 different Disney movies that I know are on Disney+, and none of them showed up as available on Disney+.

I use YouTube TV (not Sling), so I am disappointed in the "Tivo Stream App" itself. The guide has nothing but the crap channels from Tivo's channel (its a lot like Pluto TV). The only use I"ve found for the app so far is to search for tv shows I like and adding them to "My Shows" and then I can watch them on any service instead of having to search each app. I'm still playing with this, so opinions WILL change as I play with it.

On the main screen, I like that it lists all the apps across the top where I can go directly to Netflix, or YouTube TV or whatever. THEN, scrolling down, it has each of those same apps listed on the left side of the screen and content from that app/service listed out to the right. SO....I can move down to YouTube TV and look to the right of the logo and it shows me "ESPN", "CNN", "NBC5", etc. You click on CNN and it goes straight to CNN on YouTube TV! On Disney+, it has a ton of the movies (there is one line for recommendations and another line for watchlist) showing. You click on the movie, and it goes straight to that movie.

The remote feels really great.

The search function has been very sluggish a few times, and blazing fast other times.

Tivo Stream App crashed twice when going to it from main screen.

Picture quality for some reason is better on the Tivo Stream 4K than my Xbox One on the YouTube TV app.

So, there you go guys. Disappointed in the "Unified Guide" since I don't have SlingTV. I really wish they would have partnered with YouTube TV instead since they give unlimited cloud DVR. I'll add more if something big comes up. I am now on my way upstairs to install one of these on my wifes TV in the bedroom. BTW, setup is very easy. I hope everyone gets theirs soon!
 
#1,812 ·
Unless something changes in the next couple of weeks, I have decided to return both of my Stream 4K units. TiVo support has been anything but helpful. Everytime I send them a question about always on HDR, they respond with an answer that has absolutely nothing to do with HDR. One example was them saying to set the display for best output of something to that effect. Which has nothing to do with always on HDR.

I like the cost, size, and speed of the STream 4K units. As well as rock solid wifi, good picture etc. But I really don't want to deal with this stuff just hoping they will fix it. The past history of TiVo shows they move very slowly, if they move at all. The Stream 4K has great potential, but for me always on HDR is a deal breaker.
 
#2,010 ·
Figured it out. Shortly after I posted here, I got an email confirmation (to both Gmail and non-Gmail signup emails) which contained a Promo code to get free Premium access (upgraded on the Peacock website).

Email took around 10 minutes to arrive; and I hadn't expected to need that. But, now it works and the app on TiVo Stream 4k show me having Premium.
 
#2,078 ·
The average consumer would have given up long ago. The most important thing about the above conversation is that the average consumer can't or won't follow the above conversation. They want to plug a device in and have it work. Fire TV and friends do that for the most part, no Geek Squad required.
 
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