Chalk this one up in the ‘hot rumors’ column. There is a lot of buzz around the blogs about Amazon and TiVo possibly partnering to bring their Unbox movie download service to TiVo. Now, the blogosphere is incestuous and rumor prone (and here I am contributing to that), so take it with a grain of salt.

A number of blogs are posting about it: TiVoBlog, Zatz Not Funny, PVRBlog, Gizmodo, Engadget, AppleInsider, iLounge, TechCrunch, etc.

But it looks like it all stems back to an AP article which Yahoo has and which was also run in BusinessWeek online. There was also an article in the New York Post which seems to be based on the same info.

Sony’s forthcoming 20-gigabyte version of the PlayStation 3 video game console will feature an HDMI 1.3 output, the company announced on Friday at the Tokyo Game Show.

So it looks like the 20GB, $499 PS3 will be the cheapest way to get Blu-ray when it ships, putting it on par with the cheapest Toshiba HD-DVD players - but with a lot more capabilities.

A humorous look at the new S3 - David Pogue is in love with his new TiVo. And his review in today’s NY Times.

Spotted via PVRBlog

Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial said on Wednesday it would start selling two new Blu-ray DVD recorders in Japan on Nov. 15, heating up a format battle for next-generation optical disc technology.

The dream of many gadget kooks these days–a box that can play both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD movies–may come some day, but it doesn’t appear likely in the near future.

I just got off the phone with TiVoPony. It turns out that the S3 will not support Multi-Stream cards yet. Well, it will, but only in single-stream mode, so you still need two cards. Turns out there is no Cable Labs certification for CableCARD 1.0 Multi-Stream yet, just CC2.0 Multi-Stream. They’re working on it. This means page 102 of the Viewer’s Guide, which says you can use one M-Card, is incorrect. (I told Pony about that on the call.)

So, just correcting my earlier statements. Sorry for the misinformation. Not that M-Cards are really available yet anyway. I’ll be updating the S3 FAQ too.

PRNewswire…
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TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), today launched the IRI TiVo Consumer Insights Suite(TM), comprised of two new services, providing advertisers and brand marketers with the ability to fully understand the impact digital video recorder (DVR) technology has on consumer viewing patterns and subsequent product sales, as well as the ability to quantify the effectiveness of specific advertising campaigns and brand recognition programs in TiVo(R) DVR households.

User dt_dc posted about this at TiVoCommunity.com. TiVo has filed in opposition to two petitions, one from Charter and one from Verizon. There is a pending FCC requirement that would force all cable operators to use CableCARD on their own boxes, and Charter petitioned for a waiver on “low-cost, limited capability” boxes. Verizon petitioned for a waiver as a new entrant to the market. TiVo filed in opposition of Charter and in opposition of Verizon.

Interestingly, it also indicates that they spent $12 million on R&D for the Series3.