[mattyro7878]

How hard would it be to combine the stream with an Edge? I would also accept a non streaming DVR. Either do it right or don't do it at all. Quality streamers are going for $20-$30 bucks. Or toss a Roku into a DVR. Can't be too hard TCL and many others add it to their tvs.

 

[tiv0 newbie]

I wish that we could have that.


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[Pokemon_Dad]

That would make way too much sense. This is TiVo we're talking about.

 

[cwoody222]

How hard would it be to combine the Stream and the Edge?

Well, seeing they run on completely different OSes, one which isn’t fully under TiVo’s control, not totally easy.

Toss a Roku into a DVR?

Again, two separate OSes and now you’re talking about licensing software with a brand new partner that honestly would have very little to gain to inserting their software into a DVR running proprietary hardware.

So, not that easy.

You want a box that run completely different UI’s, and presumably use a single remote?

Tivo users lose their minds when TiVo switches from the left arrow to the back button. The usability of a box you describe would be a nightmare for the vast majority of normal living room users.

 

[zalusky]

How many of the original Tivo people are still at Tivo? It's all about streamers, onDemand, and cloud DVRs now.

 

[kdmorse]

How hard would it be to combine the Stream and the Edge?

Well, seeing they run on completely different OSes, one which isn't fully under TiVo's control, not totally easy.

Toss a Roku into a DVR?

Again, two separate OSes and now you're talking about licensing software with a brand new partner that honestly would have very little to gain to inserting their software into a DVR running proprietary hardware.

So, not that easy.

You want a box that run completely different UI's, and presumably use a single remote?

Tivo users lose their minds when TiVo switches from the left arrow to the back button. The usability of a box you describe would be a nightmare for the vast majority of normal living room users.

Honestly, given the constraints they're under (can't do android on the main box, can't maintain 3rd party apps on the main box, can't do classic Tivo things on an android streamer) - they only have one bad option remaining. They need to do basically what they did when they included the Tivo Stream hardware into the Roamio Pro line, just put both in the box, literally. Hot glue a Stream 4K into a classic box, with a HDMI passthrough, (or HDMI switch) arrangement, and a small ethernet switch. Both are in there, both boot, the "Tivo" is the main interface. But there's a button on the remote to toggle to the "Streaming Interface". and back - and they hand the remote back and forth. To everyone who knows what they've done, we shake our heads about what a cheesy solution it is, but use it. I'm sure to people who don't know how cheesy the solution is, it might even come across as nifty. (Of course this assumes the internal Stream 4K doesn't suck)

(Hehe, now I'm envisioning a Tivo box with downstream HDMI inputs. You plug your streamers into it, and can use the Tivo interface to switch among them, sortof like what Caavo tried. Because if we can't get a sane straightforward solution, maybe we can have a hideously convoluted one!)

But, you ask - how is this any different than having a separate stream connected to your TV? And my only answer is, I don't know, but somehow it is.

 

[cwoody222]

Yea, that’d be a horrendous product and only solves the problem of having to change inputs (but still having to change “TiVo UIs”).

It doesn’t answer at all what people want it to answer which is a completely integrated solution.

 

[NashGuy]

Assuming TiVo wanted to do it, I think it would be possible for them to create an OTA DVR that runs on Android TV (like their TiVo Stream 4K dongle does). But instead of the existing TiVo Stream app that resides on the TS4K, it could have a different TiVo app that features the regular TiVo DVR (Hydra) UI inside it. It could combine live and recorded OTA TV and also allow for browsing and saving streaming content via the OnePass feature which would link to that content in other apps. It would probably use the same remote as the TS4K's, or one very similar. It would essentially be a TS4K in a box format with a hard drive and OTA tuners inside.

If the existing TS4K and its TiVo Stream app are kosher with Google's rules for Android TV retail products, and this UK-model OTA DVR running Android TV is kosher, then I don't see why the hypothetical product I describe above wouldn't be OK with Google too.

I doubt TiVo could roll out a CableCARD DVR running on Android TV, though, as I don't think such a device has ever been made and would therefore probably require that CableLabs bless it (copyright security, etc.). But given the end of the FCC's CableCARD mandate, I don't know if CableLabs is still even actively supporting/approving new CableCARD devices. Also doubtful that TiVo would even invest the resources in trying to create a new CableCARD DVR at this point. But OTA DVRs running on Android TV have been done and I see no reason why TiVo couldn't create their own.

 

[dianebrat]

How many of the original Tivo people are still at Tivo? It's all about streamers, onDemand, and cloud DVRs now.

Exactly why they pushed Mavrik so hard to make it a success! Tivo know how and a cloud DVR, what could go wrong?
umm except for killing the product right before it launched

 

[zalusky]

Exactly why they pushed Mavrik so hard to make it a success! Tivo know how and a cloud DVR, what could go wrong?
umm except for killing the product right before it launched

One of my former email signatures was:

I used to work for a company who was the performance leader in the trailing edge of technology.

I can't even say that about Tivo anymore.

 

[kdmorse]

I used to work for a company who was the performance leader in the trailing edge of technology.\

We implement yesterdays buzzwords, tomorrow!

 

[Larsenv]

How hard would it be to combine the stream with an Edge

Humax has a device called Aura in the UK which combines Freeview (live TV) DVR with Android TV, which is interesting.

Humax

Meanwhile, Humax in the US only sells one product - a router with an HGD310 model.

Humax also made some TiVo Series 2 models back in the day, most notably their TiVo DVD burner combos.

 

[jayplus101]

I'm not a techie by any means but wouldn't Tivo be able to create a hub unit using Tivo OS that functions as a recording and storage device with OTA tuner/cable card, and use an Android-based TV dongle that would function as the unit that connects to your TVs? Within the Android ecosystem, they could create an app similar to Tivo Stream but that actually pulls recordings from the Hub unit, and integrates streaming shows/movies as the Stream claims to do (but does poorly).

I'm not even sure I am using the correct tech wording to describe what I'd like to see, but I think it would be a great product and would help Tivo survive the cord-cutting trend.

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

^ Yes. I'd be happy with an Android Mini, with a streaming app that includes record scheduling and such. They can call it the Stream 4K Pro, or whatever, and market it as a SHIELD-like streamer. Win for both customer bases, imo.

 

[lhvetinari]

Humax has a device called Aura in the UK which combines Freeview (live TV) DVR with Android TV, which is interesting.

Humax

Meanwhile, Humax in the US only sells one product - a router with an HGD310 model.

Humax also made some TiVo Series 2 models back in the day, most notably their TiVo DVD burner combos.

Humax still makes stuff for the US market, it's just white label stuff for cablecos- off the top of my head, they're one of the sources for Worldbox 1 and 2 receivers (although not the DVRs) for Spectrum

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[Larsenv]

Humax still makes stuff for the US market, it's just white label stuff for cablecos- off the top of my head, they're one of the sources for Worldbox 1 and 2 receivers (although not the DVRs) for Spectrum

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Link or it didn't happen

 

[lhvetinari]

Link or it didn't happen

I was wrong, turns out they make some of the DVR models too. All the ones I had were Technicolor (for Cisco/SA headends), so I'm speaking based on other reports.

https://fccid.io/O6ZSPECTRUM201-H/User-Manual/User-Manual-3157972

Spectrum Equipment Guide (Worldbox, Modems, Routers) - Charter Spectrum | DSLReports Forums

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[lhvetinari]

I was wrong, turns out they make some of the DVR models too. All the ones I had were Technicolor (for Cisco/SA headends), so I'm speaking based on other reports.

https://fccid.io/O6ZSPECTRUM201-H/User-Manual/User-Manual-3157972

Spectrum Equipment Guide (Worldbox, Modems, Routers) - Charter Spectrum | DSLReports Forums

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Addendum: they also made some Genie servers and clients for DirecTV (box models ending in -500), and the one-off Google Fiber TV DVR

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[NashGuy]

Humax has a device called Aura in the UK which combines Freeview (live TV) DVR with Android TV, which is interesting.

Humax

Yeah, that's the same product I had linked to in post #8 above. As I said, if Humax could do an OTA DVR running on Android TV for the UK, I don't see why TiVo couldn't do one (using their own UI in the DVR app) for the US market.

But there's been so much tumult at TiVo over the past few years (mergers, spin-offs, etc.), with reports saying that they've considered completely dumping the retail market at times, that it's very questionable whether the company has the appetite for cooking up a new retail DVR for the sliver of US households that use an OTA antenna. Nielsen says only about 13% of US households use an antenna and my guess is that hardly any of those are interested in spending money on an OTA DVR. Meanwhile, TiVo is far more focused on providing solutions for pay TV operators.

My read of OTA households is that they don't want to spend a ton of money on TV and/or they're just not all that interested in TV. And to the extent that they DO spend money on TV, it's for streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. (Hulu, in particular, largely replaces the functions of an OTA DVR with its next-day access to current primetime shows from ABC, Fox and NBC. Throw in the free apps from CW and PBS and all that's really missing is CBS, which you can get from Paramount+.)

For OTA folks who are motivated to search out a first-class DVR experience running on Android TV, well, they can buy an Nvidia Shield and install the Channels DVR server software to run on it and record to the Shield's internal or attached storage. Also need an HDHomeRun tuner connected to the same router/network as the Shield. Given how mature and full-featured the Channels DVR UI/UX seems to be now, it's questionable how many potential buyers would opt for a competing TiVo solution versus that. For those who want a simpler headless OTA DVR solution that they can access via apps on pretty much any streaming device, there's Tablo.

So, yeah, I don't see any reason why TiVo couldn't bring something like that Humax Freeview DVR to market here in the US but I think there are plenty of reasons why they won't choose to. The market for OTA DVRs is a niche where TiVo has been losing ground to smaller, more nimble competitors for the past few years.

 

[tiv0 newbie]

There are some digital media player boxes like some of the newer ones from Dune that have a dual boot system consisting of both Linux and AndroidTv operating systems. After thinking about this situation, I did little bit of google searching, and I found something new to me. There is a program called Anbox that allows you to run AndroidTv within a Linux operating system. Maybe someone with the proper expertise can develop a Tivo app that can give us legacy dvr users access to AndroidTv apps that are sorely lacking.

I use Tivo Minis on TE3 for almost all of my TV time, but I use FireTvs, a Tivo Stream 4k, and native Samsung Tv apps for the few other apps like Disney plus, HBOMax and a few others that are not available on the legacy dvr platform. Personally, I would like to be able to view all of my TV from one device, but there are older family members that can really benefit from using a single device.


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