TiVo has added some more content to TiVoCast. First up, they’ve partnered with truTV (formerly CourtTV) to launch a new channel. The first show to join the channel is truTV’s new program REHAB: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel. The TiVoCast channel brings short clips of REHAB content to your TiVo.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Free Videos -> All -> REHAB

More truTV content will be added in the coming weeks, and you’ll be able to see all the offerings for the channel online, or on your TiVo via Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Free Videos -> All -> truTV

TiVoCast is also adding StreetFire TV, the video blogs from StreetFire.net. StreetFire TV brings you the best of the videos from StreetFire.net. As they say:

Streetfire.net is the web’s premier automotive enthusiast community. With millions of streams of video, photos, profiles and more, Streetfire is built for those that love cars, trucks and motorcycles.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Free Videos -> All -> StreetFire TV

Foxtel is TiVo’s primary competitor in Australia. While TiVo is sold by Seven Network and is a ‘free to air’ DVR used with broadcast TV, with no subscription fees, Foxtel’s iQ/iQ2 DVRs are used with Foxtel’s pay TV service. It is akin to DirecTV or Dish Network in the US, and beyond the initial acquisition fees there are ongoing monthly fees, which can be quite steep if you want the full range of channels. According to the Herald Sun, Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams took an opportunity to throw some FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) in TiVo’s direction:

[F]or Seven Network, “the horse has bolted”.

“The iQ is the industry standard,” Mr Williams said.

“I see TiVo as a latecomer with little to recommend it.”

Sounds to me like someone is worried, you don’t need to take swipes like this at a competitor if they’re really no threat to your business.

Despite the recent announcement the Digeo Moxi 3012 HD DVR has been picked up by BendBroadband in Oregon, the overall signs have not been good. The 3012 missed it’s 3Q08 shipping target with Charter Communications, and now it sounds like it may never be deployed. Indeed, Charter may eventually phase out all Moxi systems entirely, according to this post in AVS Forum by a Charter employee:

1) Death of the Moxi
This one’s just as much a rumor as the Launch of the BMC 3012
However here we are, with systems announcing year end lock downs etc and still no official hint of the 3012. As such I’m pretty much guessing it’s never left internal beta in St. Louis. Furthermore comments made from management recently here (SC/NC/VA group) indicate Moxi *WILL* be eventually phased out.

However at the same time, apparently we are apparently getting BMC9012s THROWN at us as no other MSO appears to be taking them. So for now the BMC9012 is alive and strong… I don’t forsee them closing up shop in markets with Moxi for quite a while (given we can’t get enough 6416s in to meet demand).

That being said, my “insider’s guess” at what’s going to happen next -
I predict no NEW MSO based Moxi boxes, but I also predict that Moxi will remain availible for at least 2 more years.

Hopefully DIGEO will get on the ball with the CableCard enabled boxes for retail, because from what I’ve seen, it seems like Charter was the last major MSO to hang on…

Thanks to Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny for the tip off.

The good news is it sounds like TiVo is finally embracing HME and encouraging developers, the bad news is this is TiVo Australia. As regular readers are likely aware, I’ve repeatedly expressed frustration with the way TiVo has handled HME in the US. I’m happy to see TiVo Australia encouraging HME developers, and I wonder if that signals any change for the US as well, though I’m not getting my hopes up. I also wonder if this means there’ll be an update to the HME SDK, which has long languished.

The currently available SDK was last updated over a year ago, on 10/2/2007, and that’s an experimental release. The last official release was over three years ago, on 10/31/2005. The SDK is woefully out of date, even the experimental release has iffy HD support and there is no support for recently added features, like streaming video, which are possible as the hacker community has reverse engineered how to do it. I do hope the Australian developers will get an updated SDK so they can create some great applications, and they won’t be hobbled by the same lack of support as US developers. The good news is any application developed for Australia will probably work on US TiVos as well, so hopefully we’ll see some cool new applications.

Picked up from Gizmodo Australia.

Press release:
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While Toshiba officially pronounced HD DVD dead back in February, movies have still been available from Netflix for users to rent. But not anymore, well, not after December 15, 2008 anyway. Effective December 15, 2008 HD DVD will no longer be available from Netflix, any HD DVDs still in your queue will automatically be converted to DVD. Just one more reason to switch to Blu-ray.