There are other tidbits, such as the statement that side-loading is up to 4x speed, so an hour-long program and be loaded in as little as 15 minutes. But I don’t really agree with the comments about side-loading vs. out-of-home streaming (ala Slingbox). While I acknowledge side-loading is useful for environments where streaming isn’t viable, such as on an aircraft, I really have no interest in side-loading. I prefer to stream my content real-time from my TiVo when I’m on the road. The comments about broadband speeds just don’t ring true anymore. Back in the day I used to stream from my Slingbox to my Palm Treo over a 200kbps EDGE connection, and it was perfectly usable.

These days almost every phone has a 3G connection many times faster, if not a 4G LTE connection. WiFi is nigh-ubiquitous, and upload speeds from the home are more than capable of streaming content at a solid quality. My Slingbox PRO-HD can stream 720p video starting at around 1.5Mbps, which is not at all uncommon these days. So the excuse that out-of-the-home streaming isn’t supported due to available broadband capacity just doesn’t hold water. I hope TiVo gets it together and adds it to the TiVo Stream quickly. Especially for those of us with providers who copy-protect nearly everything, making side-loading impossible in the first place.

Watch the video for yourself, of course.

If you spotted EPIX and Aol HD, congratulations. Neither of those have been previously announced – even at this show. After I spotted those I asked Jim Denney about them and he seemed a little surprised that they were on the wall too, but said that since they’re clearly visible they were fair game. He couldn’t tell me much, but did say that the EPIX deal would probably be tied to MSO-provided units as EPIX is similar to HBO Go in that your cable provider has to have a deal with EPIX to enable access. You can see the currently supported providers & devices on their site. I’ll note that Charter & Suddenlink, two MSOs distributing TiVo HW, are on the list. So I think we can guess those are the likely MSOs to receive EPIX on TiVo.

Aol HD on the other hand will be a retail play, joining Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, et al. Aol HD is currently available on select Sony and Samsung devices, Roku, Google TV, Boxee, DivX TV, and Yahoo! Connected TV devices – and apparently coming soon to TiVo. As one of their recent press releases put it:

AOL HD features high-definition technology, lifestyle, celebrity and entertainment content updated daily from properties across the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, including Engadget, TechCrunch, Translogic, Moviefone and Huffington Post Celebrity.

Expect both of these to be on the TiVo Premiere family, and likely not on earlier models.

I also noticed that Cox is missing from the Operator Partners list, but I don’t read too much into that. TiVo said they’re still working on their VOD support, but since they haven’t launched anything yet I can understand why TiVo wouldn’t be touting them on their booth.

Though I did confirm with TiVo that the deal with Canal Digital in Europe has basically fizzled out, as I previously covered. Nothing official has been announced, and I don’t expect anything to be said – companies generally don’t announce when deals wither on the vine. Like I said before, it is a setback, but nothing earth shaking.

Here’s a gallery of a few photos I shot in and around TiVo’s booth today:

Again, if you have questions you want me to ask TiVo, or any other exhibitor at the show, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

And that was before the Collections service bundle promotions were offered, which kicked off with the current quarter. Virgin Media really seems to be the ideal TiVo would hope all of their MSO deals could be.

Here’s the new ad:

They also put out a shorter version of the previously released ‘Jellyfish’ ad, so I may as well share that while I’m at it:

I’d love to see this integrated into the US units. As in the UK, keep the back-dated guide data going back a week or so. While we don’t have the dedicated catch up services like they have in the UK, we do have Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and MSO On Demand services where supported. So the guide could link directly to the available service(s).

Virgin Media is offering three different Collections featuring TiVo:

Essential Collection:

• 500GB TiVo
• TV: M+ 75 channels including six HD
• 30Mbps broadband
• 3000 hours of TV on demand
• NO additional HD box included
• Talk Weekends unlimited phone calls (Unlimited weekend calls to landlines starting 01, 02 03, plus 0870 numbers and Virgin Mobile phones.)
• £25 per month

Premiere Collection:

• 500GB TiVo
• TV: XL 175 channels including 23 HD
• 60Mbps broadband
• 7000 hours of TV on demand
• Free additional V HD box included for another room
• Talk Weekends unlimited phone calls (Unlimited weekend calls to landlines starting 01, 02 03, plus 0870 numbers and Virgin Mobile phones.)
• Included Extras: 3 months of Spotify, access to ESPN/ESPN HD
• £45 per month

VIP Collection:

• 1TB TiVo
• TV: XL 175 channels including 36 HD (counting 13 HD channels for Sky Premiums) as well as Sky Sports 1-4, Sky Sports F1 and Sky Movies
• 100Mbps broadband (increasing to 120Mbps soon)
• 7000 hours of TV on demand
• Free additional V HD box included for another room
• Talk Anytime unlimited phone calls (unlimited evening and weekend calls. Cheaper mobile and international calls)
• Included Extras: 3 months of Spotify, access to ESPN/ESPN HD, Sky Sports & Movies collection, HD fee for Sky Premiums, Talk Plan extras (Mobile/ International/08)
• £90 per month

Of course, there is fine print:

All prices are when taken with a Virgin Home Phone line at £13.90 per month, e-billing and with payment via Direct Debit. All Virgin Home Phone services include unlimited calls to UK voice landlines, 0870 numbers and Virgin Mobiles during inclusive talk periods. All Virgin Broadband services come complete with SuperHub dual-band wireless ‘n’ router and a free security suite featuring Parental Controls for the lifetime of a customer’s broadband subscription. All Virgin TV services come with access to Catch Up TV (featuring BBC iPlayer, ITV Net Player, 4OD, Demand Five and Sky Anytime on Virgin Media), Virgin TV on Demand, and basic HD at no extra cost (£7 fee payable for Sky Premiums in HD). Installation fee of £49.95 applies. Standard contract terms 12m for new or existing customers. 6m Half Price offer only available to new customers taking a Collection on an 18m contract. Subject to change.

To promote these new Collections Virgin Media is creating new ads featuring VM CEO, and Bond-villain-in-waiting, Richard Branson and star of stage and screen David Tennant. David is best known as the Tenth Doctor, the 10th regeneration of the titular character in the BBC’s Doctor Who. That actually caused a bit of a spat in the UK between the BBC and Virgin Media. See, the BBC has some strict rules about any of their properties, such as Doctor Who, being used in marketing from any outside vendors. And the first ad created for Virgin Media featuring David Tennant had a time travel joke and a direct reference to David’s star turn in Doctor Who. That video was posted, then yanked, re-posted in an edited form, and has now apparently been yanked from Virgin’s YouTube Channels again. However, the Internet being the Internet, there are numerous copies of the original version of the video posted by other users – such as this one:

Two additional ads have since been released:

There is also a behind the scenes ‘making of’ video:

There is a video embedding in the Virgin Media Collections page, but for some reason they’ve decided to region restrict it so it isn’t playing for me here in the US. I don’t get that, it is a promotional video for their own products, why lock it down? But, of course, it has been ripped and uploaded to YouTube multiple times:

There are no real revelations here, but I find it interesting how TiVo positions the products for the MSO market.

It is interesting that the Premiere and Q mention Amazon On Demand as one of the features. That would seem to indicate it is something MSOs could provide, yet they generally do not. I think they need someone to review these though, as the Premiere’s one-sheet states “Record four shows at once”, which is a Q feature only. So who knows, maybe the Amazon mention isn’t so meaningful?

The TiVo Preview sheet mentions YouTube only once, in the overview at the top. But I note that Charter’s recently published feature matrix for their Preview deployment indicates that YouTube is not supported on the Preview. A goof on TiVo’s document? I wouldn’t expect Charter to disable YouTube on the Preview if it is supported, since they enable it on the Premiere.

Between this one-sheet and Charter’s document it seems the Preview doesn’t support any OTT video streaming services – no YouTube or Hulu Plus. I wouldn’t expect Amazon or Blockbuster, since those are download services and the Preview doesn’t have any storage. And Netflix we know isn’t available for contractual reasons. I wonder if the Preview has an issue with Internet video streaming services, not enough memory for buffering? It just seems curious. I need to remember to ask about that at The Cable Show in May.

The Premiere and Q sheets also say “connected to the home network through Broadband”, which doesn’t make any sense, even in context. What they really meant, from context, seems to be “connected to the home network through Ethernet”. But that’s a minor, geeky nit to pick, I admit.

Oh, while I’m at it, another area of interest is the Partner & Affiliates resources page. There’s some really interesting stuff there, like the TiVo Sales & Install Guide, Brochures and Spec Sheets, screenshots, messaging for retailers to use in pitching TiVo’s products, etc. TiVo has a lot of interesting stuff squirreled away on their site, including documentation on their Network Remote Control Protocol.

If you don’t already have an Amazon Prime membership you can try it free for a month, then it is $79 a year. And you get more than free streaming video, you get free two-day shipping on all of your orders and free book each month to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Now if only TiVo would get around to the promised support for Prime Instant Video.

The full announcement is below:

Clearleap’s Stream On Demand solution enables operators to tap into Clearleap’s robust search, intuitive browse, and improved discovery of advanced video services through a white label application branded with operator’s own look and feel. Clearleap’s end?to?end, cloud?based platform allows operators to deliver a complete video service over existing broadband networks without dependencies on legacy video infrastructure.

Now Clearleap has announced four small MSOs have adopted their ClearPlay Streaming Services for VOD.

enTouch Systems, Inc. and its cable group, ETS Cablevision, serve a growing number of communities throughout the Greater Houston Area with fiber-to-the-home services. The company has offered on demand services to its subscribers for some time and recently decided to offer TiVo boxes to its subscribers. The ClearPlay streaming option complements the TiVo set top deployment with easily scalable, economical on-demand content.

Greenlight is Wilson, North Carolina’s community network. Like enTouch Systems, the organization was interested in offering its subscribers TiVo boxes for their cable and on demand services. ClearPlay answered the need for a turnkey IP-based streaming service that can scale as more subscribers sign on.

ImOn Communications, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, plans to offer new on demand services using ClearPlay streaming services to its subscribers on Roku boxes.

Jackson Energy Authority, based in Jackson, Tenn. is launching new on demand services with the ClearPlay streaming service to its subscribers.

I believe this is the first we’ve learned of ETS Cablevision and Greenlight adopting TiVo. I don’t see it on their sites yet, but since this deal was just announced I’m not surprised. They probably haven’t implemented it yet, let alone launched it to consumers. But we may be seeing these MSOs on TiVo’s page soon.

It is interesting to see an MSO offering services through Roku boxes. Until I saw the Clearleap news last year, and checked out their site, I hadn’t heard of Roku being used by MSOs.

Clearleap will be at The Cable Show in Boston in May, as will I, so I’ll make sure to track them down and check out their solution.

It isn’t the biggest, baddest router on the market, that’s for sure, but for $30 it is a solid product.

We knew the issue was a contractual one, between Netflix and content owners. They did not have the rights to stream to MSO hardware. But it seems the issue was specifically with Starz, and now that Netflix and Starz have parted ways that obstacle is gone. Well, maybe. No one is sure if the Starz deal was the only obstacle, or if there are similar clauses in contracts with other rights owners, and Netflix isn’t commenting. But there is some hope:

The Starz deal was why RCN Corp. was unable to offer Netflix on TiVo boxes when the cable operator launched its TiVo offering in May 2010, RCN Senior Director of Video Product and Video Network Operations Jason Nealis tells Light Reading Cable. He says he’s eager to reopen the dialogue with Netflix now that that Starz deal has expired.

I suppose if anyone would have inside information it’d be Jason, since he’s the point man for RCN’s TiVo implementation.

Of course, TiVo could always implement DLNA, which would open the door to work arounds. Which is how ARRIS gets Netflix on their MSO Moxi units, via PlayOn running on a user’s computer, as stated in this video:

Or, when TiVo publishes their SDK, perhaps PlayOn could create an app for TiVo.

Given TiVo’s working relationship with Comcast, and their integration of Comcast’s XFINITY On Demand into retail units, I have to wonder if we might see support for Comcast’s Streampix streaming service land on TiVo as well. That’s something I certainly would not expect to see supported on units provided by other MSOs, but it would be a welcome addition to retail units. And it would make sense, seeing as Comcast’s deal is for support or retail units and I’d expect them to be happy to have their streaming service on those boxes.

Via Light Reading Cable.

Starting with the next software update, 21.x, which is expected in the spring (late-April or early-May), there are a few things TiVo is willing to confirm. (I’ve touched on this release before.) Aside from general polish, more screens being moved into the HD UI, bug fixes – aka the usual – the biggest news is probably the long awaited update to two streaming clients: Netflix and YouTube.

The TiVo Netflix app is getting a complete overhaul – or, rather, a replacement. The new app is actually written by Netflix and integrated by TiVo, using TiVo’s Adobe Air-based SDK. It will provide a completely modern Netflix experience, on par with other devices. TiVo says it will be similar to the Netflix client found on the Insignia Connected TV with TiVo Design, but not exactly the same.

YouTube is also getting a new client, which will be radically different. The new client will implement the YouTube ‘lean back’ style interface, and is probably most similar to the version found on Google TV. YouTube created the ‘lean back’ UI especially for home entertainment implementations, where you ‘lean back’ as opposed to ‘leaning forward’ over your computer keyboard, so this should be a nice improvement.

I did ask about an update for the Amazon app, but it will not be part of the next update. TiVo recognizes there is demand for support of the free Amazon Prime streaming in Amazon Instant Video, but to implement it they need to work with Amazon. Currently they’re in “active discussions” with Amazon about the implementation, but they can’t yet say when it might happen. But know that it is on their radar. They did want to stress that the TiVo app does have access to the complete Amazon Instant Video library via downloads, it is only the streaming that is currently missing.

I also asked about Spotify support for the US. TiVo queried US customers about interest in Spotify last July, and the Virgin Media TiVo units in the UK got Spotify in November, but there is still no sign of it in the US. TiVo doesn’t have an official comment on this at this time, aside from acknowledging the interest. Personally I think it is on the road map but they’re not ready to talk about it yet.

Something else that is coming in the next release is parental controls in the HD UI. Until now customers who wanted to enable parental controls needed to switch to the SD UI, so this is likely a welcome change for parents. This did, unsurprisingly, spark a discussion on TiVo KidZone and the future thereof. At this time there are no plans to bring TiVo KidZone to the HD UI. There are ongoing discussions within TiVo about the future of KidZone in general, and what form it might take, if it remains at all.

I got the impression that KidZone was never a high demand item and the justification for devoting the engineering resources needed to bring it to the HD UI is difficult to make. We may see fancier parental controls instead of a special KidZone implementation. Or perhaps it is something that might be addressed via user-based folders (which we’ve seen teased in screen grabs in the past), by tying access to folders to the parental controls and only allowing the kids access to their own folder. But that’s just speculation on my part.

Looking further out I tried to get some info on the new SDK, but they’re not ready to discuss that just yet. They did confirm that it is Adobe Air with ActionScript 3.0 (at least for the initial release, it seems like other environments may be added in the future), and they are very serious about supporting developers. They’ve hired someone for a new position tied to the SDK, so it will have dedicated attention. I’m hoping it fares better than the old public HME SDK. This time around I think TiVo has more appreciation for the importance of third party apps.

We also discussed Jason Wong’s interview at last September’s IBC show. I’ve already covered the transcoder box and IP STB in previous posts. The other big item, to me at least, that Jason mentioned was DLNA support:“Yes, using DLNA and DLNA approved DRM like DTCP, but yes.” This sparked an interesting discussion. First of all, TiVo clarified that Jason’s comments were within the context of the European audience of the IBC show. European units support DTCP but not the entire DLNA standard.

The discussion was over whether it makes sense for TiVo to support DLNA on the US units. My stance is that yes, it does – especially as a DLNA client. While it would be nice to have TiVo as a DLNA server, I actually don’t see it being as useful for most users. There aren’t currently a lot of devices that would act as a DLNA client for a DTCP-IP protected stream. Down the road a bit I think this will be more useful, as more cable MSOs implement this tech, thereby driving more consumer devices (like smart TVs) to implement the client side.

But going back to my original point, I think it would be useful for TiVo to implement DLNA client capabilities. Right now getting media onto a TiVo from local sources is a bit of a pain in the ass. You have to install TiVo Desktop, or one of the third party tools like kmttg, Streambaby, or pyTiVo, just to get your music, photos, and/or video onto the TiVo for display. But many devices already have built in DLNA server support and it would be plug-and-play if TiVo would only connect to these existing servers.

To me a huge issue is that so many modern smartphones have built in DLNA support. Any of the content you have on your DLNA-enabled smartphone could be streamed wirelessly over the local network to a DLNA-enabled TiVo. No need for HDMI or MHL cables, or docks, etc. Just connect to the local LAN and away you go. This is possible with most connected TVs, but that’s still a small market. TiVo could be the gateway for this content for many consumers; I think that would be very useful. Not to mention making it easier to display content from your PC, NAS, etc.

I think we had a good discussion about DLNA support and I’m hopeful TiVo will give some serious thought toward implementing it, at least as a client to start. But they are interested in gauging the demand from the market in general, so how about it? Is DLNA support, client and/or server, something you’d like to see TiVo add? And why?

But this really wasn’t a surprise; it was mentioned before – by TiVo’s Director Product Marketing, Jason Wong. Quoting my earlier post:

He mentions “a couple of thin-client zapper boxes, with or without a tuner”, which is interesting, since the existing TiVo Preview does have a tuner and CableCARD slot. Perhaps TiVo is working on a more Roku-like streaming-only device? He does mention it again later, referring to it as a ‘thin-client’.

Later in the financial call, during the Q&A, Roger’s expanded upon the IP-based STB, saying:

It is a way for multiple sets in a household to be served. It works with a core unit, called a gateway unit, that allows for multiple streams to multiple television sets as part of a whole-home solution. It is something that we will be delivering to a number of operators who are looking for it in the middle of the year, so I’m not going to be precise with respect to which quarter we deliver it in. But it is an important part of our whole-home, multi-device set of solutions. We have a non-DVR set top today that we are deploying for operators who want to make sure that they have a cheaper multi-set solution so that they can have a non-DVR set top working out there, but this is a way to bring down cap-ex expense even further. And ultimately is a complement to the core TiVo unit.

The “current non-DVR set top” would be the TiVo Preview, so this unit is clearly a new box. And the lower cost reflects the removal of the tuner hardware. But note the bit about “deploying for operators”. Like the TiVo Preview, this unit is, initially at least, targeted at TiVo’s MSO customers – not retail.

This is also a product I discussed last Friday with TiVo’s Public Relations Manager, Jessica Loebig, and VP and GM of Product Marketing, Jim Denney, along with the transcoder box. They couldn’t provide too many details on the IP STB, but the gist is that this will be an IP-only, tuner-less streaming box. It is not a retail version of the TiVo Preview, as that unit has a CableCARD tuner. Rather, this would be an even ‘thinner’ thin client, which relies entirely on the network for content. My understanding is that, like the Preview, it would access OTT content directly from the Internet, as well as streaming content from a TiVo Premiere DVR within the home.

Live TV would also utilize a tuner from the central TiVo Premiere, there being no local tuner and all. That’s what I was hinting at in my transcoder box post when I said “As well as for another application that’s coming, but I’ll leave that for another post.”.

If TiVo could deliver this at a low enough price point, I think it could be an interesting entrant into the streaming STB market. TiVo would clearly need to beef up their third party content offerings to compete with the likes of Roku, Google TV, and Boxee, but that’s not out of reach if they promote their new SDK effectively. And TiVo’s MSO market offers a unique attraction for developers looking to address that market. If they offered this unit at retail it could leverage apps developed for the MSO market, and vice-versa.

But first TiVo would have to offer this at retail. I discussed this with Jessica & Jim, and they recognize that there is demand for such a product, and acknowledged that it’d certainly be a perfect companion for the Premiere Elite. But for now TiVo doesn’t have any plans to bring the TiVo Preview to retail. Currently they seem focused on polishing the products in the MSO market, which may not be a bad approach – as frustrating as it may be as a consumer who desperately wants one.

In the MSO market they have the MSO to support the customer and work out any issues. If they can improve the product in the MSO market, when they do finally bring it to retail it should be much more polished. The major concern seems to be the user experience, and potential network issues. MSOs deploying the TiVo Preview are insisting on MoCA or wired Ethernet with minimum performance for the installation. In the retail market you’d be much more likely to have people using iffy network connections – weak wireless or powerline connections, etc. And they’re more likely to blame TiVo if the product doesn’t work well than to recognize a network issue.

Personally I think TiVo could take an approach similar to what they planned for the Premiere Elite. Such as“vigorous customer and retailer education efforts designed to ensure that consumers recognize the capabilities” of the new box, and marketing the streaming box“primarily through its custom install, high-end retail, and TiVo.com channels” where they can better educate the customer on the requirements for successful utilization.

My impression is that TiVo is certainly aware of the retail demand for such a unit, and they’re constantly evaluating it, but they’re not yet ready to launch. But they probably will a little further down the road.

Oh, and going back to the SDK, I asked about that on our call last Friday as well. Right now TiVo doesn’t have much to say other than “stay tuned”, and to confirm that the new SDK environment is Adobe AIR with ActionScript 3.0, but they hint at other environments in the future.

Dear William,

We have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that, as of 3/31/12, the Blockbuster app will no longer be available on your TiVo DVR. We are updating our technology platform and will not be able to continue supporting your device.

You won’t be able to watch movies from Blockbuster On Demand on your device, but you can still watch on any of our other devices or stream via PC or Mac. See a list of supported devices.

Your friends at Blockbuster

I spoke to TiVo on Friday, and they basically found out about this along with the rest of the world – the day before. Neither Blockbuster, nor parent Dish Network, had notified TiVo that this was coming. TiVo had just started discussions with Blockbuster after hearing the news, and those are still ongoing. TiVo says they’ll make a statement on this once they have something concrete to say.

The reason for this really has nothing to do with TiVo, or any of the other similarly impacted platforms that are losing Blockbuster. This all started back in 2007 when Blockbuster attempted to enter the digital movie market by acquiring Movielink. This attempt failed, so in 2009 they decided to try again by partnering with CinemaNow, which had just been acquired by Sonic. Ever since then Blockbuster’s download service has been powered by Sonic, which has since been acquired by Rovi.

Blockbuster’s deal with Sonic expires on 3/31/12, and they aren’t extending it. Since all of the current platforms that support Blockbuster’s download service use the Sonic implementation, they’re all going to stop working – and that includes TiVo.

While most Blockbuster On Demand products have been using the download service, for a while now Blockbuster has also had a streaming service. It is used primarily to support mobile devices and computers, although Samsung has been supporting it on some of their recent home entertainment products as well. It looks like Blockbuster is phasing out the download service completely, in favor of going streaming only.

This streaming service also provides hope for Blockbuster On Demand’s return to TiVo and other platforms. Samsung has already shown that home entertainment devices can support the service, and I suspect there is no technical barrier to bringing it to devices such as TiVo. However, presuming the business side of things is addressed, it will still require all new development to implement the streaming client for each platform. Given the time needed for development, and then testing, I wouldn’t expect to see anything in the near future.

Also, the streaming service isn’t going to support older hardware that can’t handle new codecs. That means, just like Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, etc., it will never hit the older TiVo Series2 platforms. And while technical reasons will keep it off of the Series2, I expect business reasons will keep it off of the Series3 as well. Any new client development will almost certainly be done in Adobe Air in the new SDK, just as with Hulu Plus. This will only run on the new Series 4/Premiere hardware. Since the Series3 line is no longer produced and sold, there is really no justification for investing resources in developing an HME-based client just for that platform.

So Blockbuster On Demand is going away, but it may be back at some point – as a streaming app on the Premiere.

• LG – We’re thrilled to welcome global consumer electronics leader LG to the Google TV family. LG will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their own L9 chipset at CES.
• Marvell – Also new to the Google TV family this year is Marvell, an innovative worldwide leader in chipsets. Marvell will be showcasing a new generation of Google TV solutions which will help bring more products across more price points to consumers.
• MediaTek – We’re also excited to partner with MediaTek, the leading Taiwanese chipset designer. MediaTek chipsets will power yet another wave of Google TV devices.
• Samsung – We’re excited to work closely with Samsung to bring Google-TV powered Samsung devices to market in 2012.
• Sony – We’re happy to build on our partnership with Sony. At CES, Sony will unveil new devices for the US and plans to offer Google TV powered products in several countries around the world in 2012.
• Vizio – Last year we announced our partnership with Vizio at CES. This year we’re excited to join Vizio as they hold private demos at CES showcasing their new line of Google TV-powered products.

The shift to ARM based processors has been widely anticipated, though the specific partnerships with Marvell and MediaTek is new info. It is a little surprising as you might expect well known chip vendors from the mobile industry, such as NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung, to be involved but perhaps Google feels the requirements for Google TV are different enough from mobile Android systems that alternate chip designs are better.

Sony is the only vendor who brought first generation products to market to return to this list. Samsung and Vizio both talked about Google TV at the last CES, but held off on shipping products. Which was probably for the best, given the multitude of issues with Google TV 1.0. Now that Google TV 2.0 is out, and is vastly improved over its predecessor, it is much more viable as a connected TV platform. With the addition of LG, if all four vendors really execute on Google TV in their new models, we may well see Google make good on their bold claims of Google TV being in the majority of new TVs this year.

Via the Google TV Blog.

Edit: I see in my YouTube feeds that they’ve also posted a video preview of what’s to come:

For your money you get 1080p output via HDMI or component video, as well as composite video, optical digital audio, and RCA stereo connections. Network connectivity is via a wired Ethernet port or dual-band 802.11n WiFi, and there is a USB port for external media. That’s more hardware features than most of the Roku 2 units, and in the software about the only thing you won’t get is gaming support. If you’ve been thinking about picking up a Roku LT, or even a Roku 2 HD, I’d seriously consider this deal instead.

It is a nice little unit, and the price is hard to beat.

No official word on Spotify coming to US TiVos, yet, but it seems likely. Now that the work has been done to create a UK app it can be leveraged to create a US version. And back in July TiVo probed the user base for interest in Spotify in the US. It seems like it would be a no-brainer to bring it to the US as well. It would be Premiere units only, of course.

Via The Virgin Media TiVo Blog.

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Amazon certainly has your entertainment electronics needs covered.

So I contacted Gabe and he informed me that he’d emailed TiVo about the Netflix client and that’s what he was told. So I decided to reach out to my own contacts at TiVo before posting the news, and they confirmed it. TiVo is indeed working on a new Netflix client and it will support 1080p streaming. But TiVo is not giving out any release date, or even a rough time frame, nor are they providing details about any other changes.

I pretty much agree with that Gabe postulated in his post. The new client will most likely be written in Flash and only run on the Premiere platform. S3/HD users are probably SOL and won’t see any updates. The client will probably be on par with the current Netflix clients for Roku, PS3, etc. You’ll be able to control your queue, search the entire library, etc. Surround sound is uncertain given the encoding Netflix uses and the HW capabilities of the TiVo box. But there is hope. Closed captions will very likely be supported.

Again, TiVo will neither confirm nor deny any of this aside from the fact that a) there is an update coming and b) it is using the new Netflix SDK and will support 1080p. The rest is conjecture based on the TiVo platform, their recent development activities, the SDK’s features, and the competitive market. TiVo’s Netflix client was leading edge when it launched – in 2008. It hasn’t aged well though, and calls for an update have been increasingly loud. I’m sure S3/HD users will be less than pleased if they don’t get one, but the fact is the Premiere is TiVo’s main revenue stream these days.

I have to wonder if Netflix being excluded from MSO-provided units by contractual issues has lowered the importance of Netflix development for TiVo. Since retail looks to have a decreasing significance for TiVo as MSO deals ramp up distribution, it seems natural that features that are usable by their MSO partners would take priority over retail-only features. In any case, an update is overdue and welcome. I might even subscribe to Netflix since they’re bringing back Arrested Development.

As I’ve said before, TiVo is a better value for cord cutters. A TiVo Premiere with lifetime is $600, which is what the Channel Master TV will cost for four years of use – and TiVo has way more features. Or you can go monthly for just $10/month if you use TiVo with antenna only. Break it down; let’s call the $50/year fee $4.17/month. So $400 + $4.17x = $100 + $10x, or $300 = $5.83x or x = 51.45. That’s 51.45 months, or 4.29 years, before TiVo catches up to the cost of Channel Master TV and starts to cost more with the monthly option. Edit: Oops, Dave Zatz pointed out in a comment that the $10/month deal ended last week.

But if you just want an inexpensive way to access Roku’s streaming services, you can’t do better than the Roku LT. You can get it directly from Roku, or from Amazon.

You can use it as a digital photo frame capable of so much more than the typical models. Or as a high-end alarm clock that you can roll over and check the morning news, weather, and traffic on. Or go to sleep while streaming Netflix. It has a 7″ 800×480 LCD touch screen display and 802.11b/g WiFi for connectivity. It is no iPad or Android tablet, but it also costs a fraction of what those do. It is inexpensive enough to leave as a dedicated Internet terminal around the house. Or give one to a less tech savvy relation for access to specific services made even simpler than a tablet, without a major investment.

This is 60% off the MSRP of $199.99, and Amazon sells these new for $92.95. And these are new, not refurbished.

As Light Reading reports:

In addition to giving Entropic an undisclosed stake in privately held Zenverge, the money will go toward the development of products aimed at MSOs and other service providers that convert incoming video signals into formats that can be displayed on PCs, tablets and smartphones that are within reach of a home’s Wi-Fi network — akin to what a Slingbox does today, but without the out-of-home access element.

The companies initially will focus on a video-transcoding “sidecar” product that will connect to set-top boxes. Future implementations will be baked into network-attached storage (NAS) devices and set-tops or video gateways, says Vinay Gokhale, Entropic’s SVP of marketing and business development.

Place shifting is perhaps the key feature still missing in TiVo’s products. I think it is becoming increasingly important as MVPDs introduce direct streaming services that bypass the STB, delivering their content directly to PCs, tablets, and smartphones. There is also competitive pressure from Echostar’s SlingLoaded efforts and other products like DirecTV’s upcoming Nomad and Comcast’s Televation box, both of which use Entropic’s silicon for MoCA, but ViXS chips for the transcoding. I think TiVo needs to provide a way to stream content to remain competitive, both in retail and for their MSO partners.

The inability to stream video from a TiVo to a portable device is most painfully evident in TiVo’s iPad and iPhone apps. You can fling content from the app to view on your TiVo, and you can setup recordings, see what is on the TiVo, and manage them – pretty much everything except watch them. The real issue is that TiVo recordings are high-bandwidth MPEG-2, that’s what digital cable and ATSC OTA broadcasts both use. But the high bandwidth makes it less than ideal for streaming to mobile devices. And, even if that weren’t an issue, most mobile devices aren’t designed to handle MPEG-2. The standard for mobile devices is MPEG-4/H.264, and maybe support for other modern codecs like VC-1, DivX, and/or WebM. To stream content to an iPad, for example, TiVo really needs hardware to transcode it to H.264 first, just like a Slingbox.

One possibility is a solution along the lines of the Sling Adapter for the Dish Network ViP 722 DVR. It is a simple USB hardware dongle which handles the transcoding. The video signal is fed to the box via USB, transcoded to the proper codec, resolution, framerate, etc., for the destination device, and then fed back over the USB to the DVR. All of the network communication is handled by the DVR, as is the real intelligence. TiVo could create a transcoding dongle like this for their hardware. Now that EchoStar, Sling’s parent company, and TiVo are no longer beating on each other in court, perhaps they could even license the Sling Adapter wholesale and simply implement the required support in the TiVo software. The advantage is that Sling is the place shifting market leader and they have clients for a number of platforms. It wouldn’t be hard for TiVo to build support into their apps either.

The Nomad and Televation boxes take a different approach, the same one Entropic is apparently pursuing with Zenverge. Instead of a USB sidecar dedicated to one DVR, these are network sidecars, kind of like network attached storage. They live on the MoCA network and thus can theoretically be shared by multiple DVRs in the home. Just like the Sling Adapter does via USB, these units take a data stream of the encoded video in over MoCA, do the necessary transcoding, and feed the data back to the DVR via MoCA. The DVR then handles the intelligence for routing the transcoded video to the client device over whichever network connection is appropriate. Since the new TiVo Premiere Q and Premiere Elite will have MoCA, this would also be a viable solution for them. Older TiVo units, like the Premiere, could use the devices via Ethernet as long as there was an ECB (Ethernet Coaxial Bridge) into the MoCA network.

Given the existing supplier relationship between Entropic and TiVo, and the competitive pressure on TiVo to add place shifting, this could possibly be how TiVo gets there. This is all speculation, of course.

As for the statement that it is for streaming within the home only, that may be true for the initial plans. However, once you have the transcoding working and a solid client, extending it to streaming outside of the home is the easy part. That’s all basic network routing. If you can ever everything else working, adding that is a snap.

Via Light Reading.

I took a screencap of the notice, but the meat is this:

Dear Customer,

I have big news for Amazon Prime members – we’ve just signed a deal with FOX to add a broad selection of movies and TV shows to our unlimited instant streaming service later this fall. The new additions from the FOX library include 24, Arrested Development, The X-Files, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and – available on digital video for the first time – The Wonder Years. We now have deals with CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Warner Bros, and adding FOX will bring the total to more than 11,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited instant streaming.

Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come. Prime membership remains $79 a year, and of course features our unlimited free two-day shipping on millions of products. Prime is one of the best values anywhere.

Prime instant videos can be played on more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes.

Right now there are 2,940 entries available for Amazon Prime streaming, but a lot of those are actually complete seasons of TV series, so the number of individual items is much higher. The Tech of the Hub Blog did a comparison of streaming services in August, looking at Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Netflix, and Vudu. Netflix still has the content edge in numbers, but all content is not created equal and adding popular content gives a service more draw.

I do have a minor disappointment with this announcement, though it isn’t a new issue. The link in the announcement to“more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes” in the announcement takes you to the Amazon Instant Video TVs and Devices page. On that page one of the entries is Compatible Digital Video Recorders – which are all TiVos, of course. But TiVo does not support Amazon streaming, only Amazon Instant Video downloads. So you cannot take advantage of the free Prime streams on TiVo, at least not yet. TiVo has said they’re working on an updated client to add streaming support, but we don’t have any word on when we might get that, and if it will be Premiere-only or if it will update older units as well. I hope no one is misled into thinking they’ll be able to access the stream from their TiVo today.

The screen capture of the announcement is below: