The THR22 initially launched back on 12/8, but only in limited markets and it was only available directly from DirecTV. Now it is available nationwide from resellers as well as DirecTV. Which also means the super-sized units are available through WeaKnees.

While the THR22 lacks many of the features of the current DirecTV DVRs, if you prefer the TiVo interface it is the only game in town for DirecTV. And that’s enough for some users.

This isn’t a guarantee, and it is subject to change, you know the drill. But they seem to feel it is a fairly solid date. It it holds true, it should make a lot of people happy.

Current Shipping Status of the THR22 TiVo for DIRECTV

When will these ship from WeaKnees?

DIRECTV has a limited number of these units currently available, and has not yet started shipping to distributors and retailers. We are currently being told that we should have our initial allocation towards the end of January or beginning of February, 2012.

Of course, we are doing everything we can to speed up the timeline, and also to make sure our initial allocation will allow us to fill all backorders that we’ve taken up until that point. For the best chance of getting a unit in the initial allocation, be sure to get your order in early.

Orders may be cancelled at any time up until the product actually ships. If an order is cancelled and then reinstated, the position in the shipping queue will be lost and the order will be moved to the back of the queue.

Last Updated: 12/16/2011

More information about the HD TiVo THR22 for DIRECTV:

• Works with TiVo’s KidZone for parental controls (requires a network connection)
• Has two 30 minute buffers that are always active
• Compatible with DIRECTV On Demand (requires a network connection)
• Traditional TiVo Season Passes with all the features – and an unlimited number!
• TiVo SwivelSearch and WishList Search options (requires a network connection)
• Up to 1080p HD resolution
• Fully SWM compatible
• Includes a new DIRECTV access card
• Includes two B-Band adapters for use in non-SWM systems
• Ships with HDMI, composite, component, phone, and power cables
• NOT compatible with other TiVo Peanut Remotes
• Add an AM21 to get over-the-air HD channels into your THR22
• The following DIRECTV features are not available with the TiVo HD DVR: Whole-Home DVR service, DIRECTV iPad App remote control and live TV streaming functionality, DIRECTV CINEMA (satellite downloads), YouTube on TV, 3D, and GameSearch
• Monthly fees: $10 HD fee, $7 DVR fee, and $5 TiVo fee, in addition to your monthly receiver/lease fee. The HD, DVR, and TiVo fees are once per account, no matter how many DVRs are on the account. The receiver/lease fee occurs per unit.

Chicago IL
Denver CO
Los Angeles CA
New York NY
Philadelphia PA
Phoenix AZ
Sacramento CA
San Francisco CA
Seattle WA
Washington DC

As DirecTV’s forum post states:“The national rollout for all remaining markets is still being evaluated.” This isn’t a surprised though, we were warned to expect this on TiVo’s last quarterly call.

As for pricing:

The TiVo® HD DVR will carry a $5 per month TiVo service fee, which is in addition to the $10 per month HD Access fee and the $7 per month DVR service fee.

The post includes a TiVo Overview v1.2 document PDF which I’ve uploaded.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the new DirecTiVo is going to fare well. DirecTV delayed it long enough to get their new, in-house HD UI out and the new five tuner HR34 is about to release as well. The THR22 is based on the old HR22 HW and the TiVo OS it is running looks like the old TiVo HD platform tweaked for DirecTV, and not the TiVo Premiere base – no HD UI. Now, we won’t know until people get the units and report on the version, so it could be similar to RCN’s initial deployment where it was the newer software but with the HD UI disabled. Still, no HD UI is a drawback when DirecTV’s own DVRs now have it. And, as you can see in the document, the THR22 lacks many features now standard in other DirecTV DVRs, such as multi-room viewing. And, adding insult to injury, even YouTube is not supported – something TiVo had long before DirecTV added it to their own units.

Still, it is a TiVo option for DirecTV users, and it is certainly better than the old DirecTiVo units still limping along after all these years. So for those who’ve been holding out for a new TiVo option for DirecTV, this will likely be a welcome release. But for customers who aren’t already in the TiVo fold, I don’t think this will win over many converts. Especially not with the additional $5/month fee.

Spotted via InvestorVillage.

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Via EngadgetHD.

And speaking of mobile devices, right now your options are very limited. You can use a Windows PC, an iPhone 3GS or better, or an iPod Touch. That’s it. The Mac, iPad, and Android devices are all listed as ‘Coming Soon’. Though you can run the iPhone app on the iPad for now. As I previously reported, the Nomad communicates with DirecTV DVRs via Ethernet. Using DirecTV’s existing multi-room system, shows are streamed from the DVR to the Nomad. There they are transcoded to H.264 and saved for syncing with your device. One thing to note, Nomad is a ‘one size fits all’ system. Unlike TiVoToGo, which will transcode to different resolutions and bitrates for different devices, or Slingbox which can stream in anything from 320×240 up to 1920×1080 depending on the device and bandwidth, Nomad has one setting. It transcodes to 720×480 (which is DVD resolution). The bit rate varies, but seems to be around 1.5Mbps.

Up to five mobile devices are supported per account. You can set it up to auto-convert series, etc. Again, it seems to work very much like TiVoToGo, only in a dedicated HW box instead of software on a PC. Transfers from the DVR to the Nomad happen in real time. So a two hour movie takes two hours to stream and transcode. Fortunately, once transcoded and stored, copying to a device happens much faster, with about an hour of content transferred in ten minutes according to reports.

The folks over at DBSTalk got their hands on one early and have written up a first look document. There’s also a running discussion thread in their forums with more info.

Oh, one thing to note, the player app will not work on any jail broken iOS devices.

Via EngadgetHD.

MoCA is a standard for networking over coaxial cables in the home, set by the Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance. The standard takes its name from the group, like ATSC. For purposes of this post, MoCA is a standard.

DECA is DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coaxial Adapter. It is a piece of hardware. Not a standard.

So what is it hardware for? Simple – MoCA. Yes, DirecTV uses MoCA. The DECA is just the adapter needed to connect an DirecTV receivers Cat5 Ethernet port to the MoCA coaxial network.

Great, so if DirecTV uses MoCA and cable uses MoCA, it’s all good, right? Not quite. The MoCA Blog explained things well a year ago:

MoCA has specified 2 frequency bands at which the network can be operated: High-RF MoCA for Cable MSOs and Verizon FiOS from 850-1500 MHz, and Mid-RF MoCA for DirecTV from 500-850 MHz. Our more advanced readers may recognize that cable TV broadcasts below 850 MHz on the coax and satellite TV broadcasts above 950 MHz, hence the need for MoCA to avoid interfering with current signals on the line and 2 separate RF bands. Both versions of MoCA are being deployed primarily to enable the Multi-Room DVR feature available from all the major Pay TV providers.

So yes, it is all MoCA, but it is MoCA using two different frequency bands. So a DirecTV MoCA network will not interoperate with a a cable MoCA network. And you can run them over the same coax – cable MoCA would conflict with DirecTV’s video signal, and DirecTV MoCA would conflict with cable’s video signal. So if you’re running DirecTV over your home coax and you want to connect other devices to your MoCA network, such as a gaming console, you’ll need a DECA for that as well as you need mid-range MoCA.

Clear? Good.

That could imply that they’re planning an Xfinity-style content streaming offering in the future, as has been rumored elsewhere. Taking another leap, if they were planning to offer a direct OTT content streaming from the mothership it could explain with the forthcoming Nomad product is rumored to not have a streaming option. Of course, that’s supposition, so take it for what it is.

Via FierceCable.

Some of the features, as listed by Solid Signal:

• The DIRECTV THR22 supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i picture resolution outputs and multiple screen formats.
• New DIRECTV Reciever with TiVo
• Pause live TV for up to 90 minutes and use rewind, instant replay and slow motion on live or recorded TV
• Does not have built in ATSC tuner
• HDMI cable included
• 500gb Hard Drive Allows up to 100 Hours of MPEG4 HD or 400 Hours of SD
• The DIRECTV THR22 includes two satellite tuners for access to SD and HD DIRECTV programming
• Access Card and Remote Control included
• Compatible with Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) Systems
• Record up to 400 hrs of SD, up to 100 hours of HD (MPEG-4) programming
• Watch whatever you want on your own schedule. Store your favorite programs, whether standard-definition or high-definition.

So it looks like the new DirecTiVo really is coming soon.

But I did find more, the July 2011 DirecTV training video (also streaming) includes a bit about Nomad starting at the 12:15 mark. The site requires a login, but if you’re reading this you’re probably clever enough to find it online.

The video content itself isn’t really worth posting, you don’t see much. But the information given is useful. To have the Nomad you must have an HR20 through HR24 or R22 and they must be connected to the Internet. Only one Nomad is allowed per account, you must have active DirecTV DVR service, and the account must have MRV capability. The customer’s broadband service must be active during installation. At launch, wireless capability will be available in iPhone and Android clients, as well as a PC client. You’ll need to add the Nomad Mobile DVR service to the account. Also, it appears that the Nomad box requires a physical Ethernet connection – but it doesn’t need to be collocated with the DirecTV box so you can stick it with your router, etc.

Based on the video the Nomad pulls content from your DirecTV DVR over the network via DECA/SWiM and transcodes it. That jibes with the need for MRV on the account and how the unit is connected. From the brief look at the back of the unit in the video it looks like it only has power, Ethernet, and maybe a USB port. Note that also means it will not work with the new DirecTiVo as that does not support MRV, according to the info available. (Maybe in a future update.)

Unfortunately, the video isn’t clear on if Nomad provides streaming support, ala Slingbox, or simply transcodes video and makes a copy for your mobile device, ala TiVoToGo. The graphics, to me, imply wireless streaming, but I can’t say they’re conclusive and the narration never states anything either way. There are numerous discussion threads about Nomad around the net, some of which mention being able to take videos on an airplane, which would mean copying. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t stream, they’re not mutually exclusive. A survey from last year (the Nomad was first expected in late 2010 – the DirecTiVo isn’t the only delayed release) implied copying and streaming as well.

The rumor is that DirecTV is working with Morega on the Nomad. Morega and DirecTV are both members of the RVU Alliance. In July Morega received a patent on their system for ‘TV Everywhere’, and the info in their press release does jibe with the rumors around Nomad:

Morega Systems, a developer of content portability solutions, revealed today that the company received patent approval for its breakthrough content portability technology. This unique content delivery solution gives satellite, cable and IPTV service providers, and equipment manufacturers a better way to extend premium, multimedia content beyond the television and the set-top box to support the Connected Home and TV Everywhere.
…
Today, the predominant way to “placeshift” content – in other words, to deliver content to any device such as a mobile phone, tablet, or a PC – to support TV Everywhere is by streaming content across a broadband network connection. But Morega’s technology takes TV Everywhere to a new level by allowing consumers to placeshift via two methods: adaptive bit rate streaming with quality-of-service or sideloading. With Morega’s unique sideloading solution, authorized users can securely download content either directly from the cloud or from a set-top box onto alternative viewing devices.

This solves two key challenges posed by cloud-based mobile video delivery solutions: First, streaming or sideloading from cable, satellite or IPTV networks at the edge is much more bandwidth-efficient to the operators and requires fewer network resources for transcoded content management and storage. Second, it preserves the original broadcast ads while providing the ability to track and report mobile viewing metrics. Also, with the sideloading option, users no longer need a broadband network connection to view the content.

In addition, Morega’s sideloading technology uses a sophisticated back-office, standards-based and proprietary authentication, encryption and digital rights management (DRM) system to protect copyrighted material and to assure the delivery of high-quality video entertainment content.
…
The new patent specifically covers the transcoding, streaming and downloading of premium content from a video source to a mobile platform such as a smartphone or a laptop or tablet computer. It also covers Morega’s unique approach to track, restrict and monetize premium content via digital rights management (DRM), which leverages both industry standards from the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) and Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), as well as proprietary methods to protect copyrighted material and assure high-quality video when customers securely download content from either a set-top box or directly from the cloud.

That sounds a lot like what’s expected from Nomad. Also, DirecTV is known to use DTCP-IP with the DirecTV2PC offering today.

There is a thread at DBSTalk with a lot of info sprinkled about. Keep in mind this is all leaked info from a discussion thread and not official information. Reportedly, it does use MRV and the transfers count as one available MRV stream. Transfers happen in real time. The unit has 16GB internal storage and supports up to 2TB of external storage via the USB port. Content is transcoded to H.264 and ‘down converted’ from the original, but no word on what the resolution of the mobile versions will be. (Given the growing number of HD displays on mobile devices, and HDMI output, hopefully not too low.) Content will obey the ‘maximum entitlement date’ – aka expiration date, as set when recorded. (So something that says you can keep it on your DVR only 7 days also stops working via Nomad in 7 days.) It definitely does copying, but the general sense from the thread is that it does not stream. (But no one seems to know for sure on the streaming.)

If it doesn’t do streaming that would be disappointing. DISH Network has their SlingLoaded 922 DVR and the Sling add-on for the 722 DVR which both stream in realtime. And, of course, anyone can connect a Slingbox to just about any video source and stream. Copying is a nice feature for use when streaming isn’t an option, such as on an airplane, but the clear trend is toward streaming services – not just traditional place shifting via Sling Media and Monsoon, but OTT providers such as Netflix and Hulu and MSO services like Comcast’s Xfinity. With the growth of 3G, and now 4G, services, and the ubiquity of WiFi, having to plan ahead and pre-load copies just seems archaic. And if you’re on an extended business trip you can’t access anything on your DVR at home that recorded after you left. So it is useless for keeping up with your shows on the road.

I really hope it does streaming, or they have concrete plans to add it shortly after launch, or I think the Slingbox will remain a better option. Especially if this thread is correct and Nomad costs $150. You can get a Slingbox SOLO for that, and a Slingbox PRO-HD for just over a hundred more.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

But, IMHO, the real big news came at the 08:01 mark when Tom said:“Our deal with DirecTV is moving toward launch with the DirecTV TiVo HD DVR now being manufactured. And we expect DirecTV to publicly share specific launch details in the relatively near future.” I know we’ve had numerous release date promises in the past, but DirecTV isn’t going to begin manufacturing hardware if they don’t have pretty damn solid plans to release it. Perhaps the new HD DVR DirecTV obliquely referred to on their recent financial call really was the new DirecTiVo after all.

Later in the call, during the Q&A session at the 42:26 mark Rogers talks a bit about the agreement with DirecTV including the“significant marketing obligations” DirecTV has once the new unit launches. He added that DirecTV will“have plenty of incentive to market based on those obligations.”

And finally, at the 46:42 mark he is asked about the 08:01 statement regarding the new DirecTiVo being in manufacturing, specifically if that means the code had been accepted. In response Rogers stated:“…the boxes are in the manufacturing process with our code having been delivered…” So it sounds like things really are, finally, moving forward to release and based on the statements on the call I think we’ll see the units released this year.

I’m not going to place a bet on it though. Not just yet.

As for the financial results in general, TiVo’s MSO business is starting to show positive results.

                                TIVO INC.
                               OTHER DATA

                                                      Three Months Ended
Subscriptions                                              July 31,
                                                     --------------------
            (Subscriptions in thousands)                2011       2010
                                                     ---------  ---------
TiVo-Owned Subscription Gross Additions:                    25         32        

        Subscription Net Additions/(Losses):
TiVo-Owned                                                 (43)       (48)
MSOs/Broadcasters                                           10        (77)
                                                     ---------  ---------
  Total Subscription Net Additions/(Losses)                (33)      (125)
Cumulative Subscriptions:
TiVo-Owned                                               1,165      1,366
MSOs/Broadcasters                                          763      1,018
                                                     ---------  ---------
  Total Cumulative Subscriptions                         1,928      2,384
% of TiVo-Owned Cumulative Subscriptions paying
 recurring fees                                             57%        56%

So while they continue to bleed TiVo-owned subs, losing a net 43,000 this quarter – which was down from a loss of 48,000 a year earlier, the MSO subs grew by a net 10,000. That’s an improvement of 87,000 from the loss of 77,000 subs a year earlier. I’m sure a lot of that reversal is due to Virgin Media alone adding over 50,000 subscribers, with the rest contributed by RCN, Suddenlink, & TiVo in ANZ and likely reduced losses from DirecTV. Also a positive, the average revenue per MSO subscriber increased from $1.20 a year ago to $1.94. Clearly the new subscribers are worth more to TiVo.

Update: While I was writing up this post, Dave Zatz also posted at Zatz Not Funny. The biggest piece of evidence is this new DirecTV training video which DBSTalk members noticed, and that Engadget obtained and posted:

Unfortunately the video confirms some of the earlier rumored information. It does look like the hardware is similar to the old HR-22 DirecTV DVR. The video confirms that the units do not support multi-room viewing. They do support networking and other DirecTV network-based features, so whole home support could theoretically be added via a software update. And the UI appears to be the old SD UI, as first reported a couple of years back. There had been some hope that all of the delays meant the unit had been updated. On the other hand, the new box appears to come with the same remote as the TiVo Premiere.

Furthermore, Zatz Not Funny received an anonymous comment claiming the new units will be delivered on 9/25/11. Though perhaps there is another model in the pipeliine, as rumored at DBSTalk.

This acquisition has spurred talk in some circles about TiVo’s fate. Why? Well, a number of people think TiVo is a candidate for a buyout. TiVo still has a poison pill to prevent a hostile takeover, but that is expiring in November. And even with the pill in place the BoD can accept a buyout offer at any time without triggering the pill. The pill just helps prevent hostile bids.

There has been speculation that Google could be a suitor. TiVo has a history with hardware, a successful DVR platform, and deals with MSOs. All things Google could use to beef up Google TV – but now all things they have in Motorola, only moreso.

On the other hand, TiVo is involved with patent lawsuits with Verizon (who uses Motorola HW) and AT&T (who also uses Motorola HW), having recently finally settled with Dish Network for $500 million. If Google feels that they may have a liability in these suits, it is possible that they would seek to have them settled as part of the acquisition. Possibly even buying TiVo in order to do so, along with acquiring their patents which could be useful for Google TV and Motorola’s own DVRs. Though I think that’d be a drastic step to take, they could likely settle with TiVo for less than the cost of a buyout. They’d really have to see value in owning the whole package to go that far.

Personally, while my dream marriage would be Google buying TiVo and integrating it into Google TV, I think that is much less likely to happen now that Google has MMI – on top of their recent SageTV acquisition. They’ll have everything they need to roll their own super STB in house once the Motorola deal closes.

On the other hand, if I’m Cisco, Motorola’s largest competitor in the STB market, I might be looking to beef up my product offering. Cisco and TiVo already work together – Cisco is providing the hardware for Virgin Media in the UK and ONO in Spain. So they have a solid track record. Cisco’s STB software has perhaps a worse reputation than Motorola’s, and offering a TiVo-based solution could be a real shot in the arm for them. Especially if Google does push Google TV onto Motorola DVRs.

Cisco also has a retail presence through Linksys, and increasingly under their own brand. They’re familiar with STB hardware, DVRs, retail, and TiVo’s software. They could conceivably add the TiVo Premiere, Premiere XL, Premiere Elite, and Preview to their STB lineup as is for both retail and MSOs. Motorola did something similar when they offered a couple of Moxi-based DVRs and the MoxiMate to MSOs. Those units were unlike any others in their lineup. That would be a rapid way for Cisco to offer a TiVo-based solution, and then they could incorporate the interface into their other STBs going forward.

Of course, that’s all pure speculation. Cisco seems to have little to lose in buying TiVo though. There’s nothing to upset the existing MSO deals in the US, or in most other countries. Most of the foreign TiVo deals are using TiVo developed or Cisco HW already. It could cause some friction with the DirecTV deal as that is using Technicolor HW, same for the Scandinavian deal with Canal Digital, but that could be addressed in contracts. And even if it killed the deals, I think Cisco could live with it. The DirecTV deal is approaching two years past due now and there’s reason to be skeptical about it ever coming to fruition at this point anyway.

I don’t think it would cause an issue for deals like the Best Buy Insignia TVs as there is no direct competition with any Cisco products. They’re complimentary, not competitive.

On the other hand it would give Cisco’s STB product line a boost when trying to land deals with MSOs against Motorola, especially if the latter gets Google TV.

In light of the Google-Motorola deal, as pure speculation, I think I’d consider Cisco the leading candidate to acquire TiVo at this point. I don’t necessarily think it will happen, just that if anyone did I’d put them in the lead.

As for other suitors that have been speculated on.

Apple – No way. They have a strong ‘Not Invented Here’ culture. TiVo is Linux based, Apple uses BSD, it’d be a major rewrite to bring TiVo over to iOS to merge it with Apple TV or the like. And Apple is all about providing content silos via iTunes, I’m not sure a DVR fits their plans.

Microsoft – Doubtful. MS is mildly allergic to Linux. They already have Media Center and successful IPTV STB software – AT&T runs on it. They also have the Xbox 360 for OTT content. Media center extenders are neglected, but still out there too. If MS wanted to get into the DVR business I think they’d roll their own based on their existing STB software before buying TiVo.

Rovi – Maybe. Rovi, formerly known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation, has several product lines, including software for set top boxes. If they had an inclination to get into DVRs and get onto more MSO boxes, they might do so via TiVo.

Dish Network or EchoStar – Doubtful. There was speculation that they may buy TiVo as a way to settle their long-running lawsuit. But now that they’ve settled the case I don’t see Dish or EchoStar having a good reason to buy TiVo. EchoStar already has one of the better DVR platforms out there, along with Slingbox, so they have little to gain in a buyout.

DirecTV – Doubtful. With the new DirecTiVo sliding further and further to the right, DirecTV hardly seems excited about TiVo. They already have a deal in place that covers TiVo’s patents, and they seem to be happy evolving their own DVRs. And they already acquired ReplayTV’s IP a few years back, so they have DVR patents of their own too.

I’ve seen other speculation – that NDS might buy them to kill the competition off or that Comcast (or another MSO) will buy them to monopolize the TiVo interface on their network, etc. But all of those seem even less likely to me.

Right now, I think Cisco would gain the most from acquiring TiVo.

Of course, then again, Cisco has been pulling back from consumer products, such as in shutting down Flip. So I might be completely off base.

But, like I said, this is all just speculation. It is fun to talk about, but I’m not going to put down money on any of these deals happening.

So, what do you think? What does the Google-Motorola deal mean for TiVo, if anything? Or who do you think might be a suitor for TiVo? Or do you think that’s backwards and TiVo is going to use part of their $500 million award from EchoStar/Dish to buy someone else? Or just grow organically?

Leave a comment with your thoughts!

No such luck. There was no mention of TiVo by name. So, time to try to read the tea leaves.

There were some oblique references to a new DVR rolling out in the fall – fortunately Morningstar has a transcript to make things easy.

Michael White – Chairman, President and CEO: I think the Nomad product which is the ability to port your content from your DVR onto you iPad, I expect you’ll see that in some geographies before the end of the year. We’re probably going to do it in a fewer geographies to make sure that its working flawlessly, before we’d roll it out fully, so roll out might be in 2012. But you’ll see that before the end of the year. The high-definition user interface comes in the fourth quarter. We’ll also I would expect to be streaming Pay Per View and premium channels on My DIRECTV.com probably in the fourth quarter, I think we’re expecting or going to launch the whole media center which will have a kind of high-end DVR or new subs in the fourth quarter as well. So, we’ve got a lot of things that I feel pretty good about that will roll into the fourth quarter, albeit and I think you’ll see more of the benefits of that probably in 2012 than in 2011 in terms of the acceleration of momentum.
…
We certainly know from history that advanced products in general, we do see a lower churn rate on our advanced products when we go on basic or standard (desk) customers. So, if history is any guide then, I’m pretty confident and I also think that the quality of the experience and I think that’s where we’ve got probably still some more work to do to fill in some more VOD content and really with the HD user interface really make that experience pop for the consumer. I think, we’re bringing Pandora into it. We’re doing a bunch of things to make it just an absolutely knock your socks off experience for customer. As I said, we’re already getting more than we had planned in ARPU lift out of those customers. So, I feel great about the connected box strategy, I think we’re just working through some of the operational things.

The Nomad product we’ve heard of before, though details seem to be sparse. It is apparently a unit that works with your DirecTV receiver/DVR to transcode content into a format usable on portable devices.

Now, the high definition UI and media center with high-end DVR, could that be an advanced TiVo box? We know Technicolor is providing the HW for the new DirecTiVo. And we know that TiVo and Technicolor last year entered into an agreement to produce an advanced DVR. Could the DirecTiVo project been taken in a new direction, accounting for some of the long delay? What about the mention of Pandora? TiVo supports Pandora, but they’re not the only TV/DVR platform that does – FiOS does as well. So it isn’t inconceivable that DirecTV could be adding Pandora to their own STBs, but it could also be TiVo.

OK, basically no one knows and there is nothing clear from this call. Could this be the long awaited DirecTiVo, bigger and badder than anything we expected? Yes, it could. Could this be a completely different box, continuing the evolution of their non-TiVo DVRs? Yes, it could. Anyone who knows for sure is probably under NDA and at this point I don’t have much faith in the leaks we’ve seen. Most of them are so old that too much could’ve changed, if they were accurate in the first place.

So it looks like something is coming out later this year, but we won’t know what it is until it releases – or there is a substantial leak in the meantime. Frankly, at this point, I don’t think I’d believe anything about the DirecTiVo until it was on shelves and in consumers’ hands. If the new high-end, HD UI DVR turns out not to be a DirecTiVo, I would take that as a bad sign in respect to the likelihood of the DirecTiVo ever being released.

So as we approached late 2010 DirecTV delayed the new DirecTiVo again, this time to ‘early 2011′. The explanation at the time was that they didn’t want to launch a new product into the channel just before the holidays. OK, I guess I can see that. A lot of retailers lock down holidays plans months in advance, and if DirecTV waited too long they wouldn’t have any shelf space allocated for the new units. You want to launch a new product in time for the holidays, not during the holiday shopping season – and product launches start months ahead of when consumers see the product.

Of course, ‘early 2011′ has come and gone, and clearly the new DirecTiVo has yet to arrive. At some point ‘early 2011′ morphed into ’2011′, and qualifiers like ‘hopeful’ started to show up. There was even some recent speculation that the new DirecTiVo might ship this month.

However, those hopes appear to be dashed. Now the DirecTV FAQ page for the new DirecTiVo says they are ‘optimistic’ that it will be available for purchase in 2011, but also that it has not yet been approved for production.

Will DIRECTV offer a new TiVo HD DVR?

We continue our partnership with TiVo to develop a new TiVo HD DVR from DIRECTV. The launch date is still to be determined, pending production approval. Product development is a complex exercise, and TiVo and DIRECTV are jointly committed to providing our customers with the high quality products we are both known for.

We apologize that the process has taken longer than anticipated. Once the product is approved for production, we will communicate a target launch date. We are optimistic that the new TiVo HD DVR from DIRECTV will be available for purchase in calendar year 2011.

For now we can tell you that the new TiVo HD DVR will have:

• Access to over 160 HD channels
• DIRECTV CINEMA™, with thousands of shows and movies to watch instantly
• TiVo Integrated Search across TV and Video on Demand
• TiVo WishList® Searches, Suggestions and KidZone
• DIRECTV DVR Scheduler

Personally that doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Now, I want to make an important point here – I don’t think this is TiVo’s fault. A lot of people have complained at/to TiVo about the delays, but they’re not in control. Remember this is a DirecTV product, not a TiVo product! TiVo is a supplier and contractor to DirecTV for this. Unlike the original DirecTiVo boxes, the new unit is not based on a TiVo-designed reference platform. It was previously announced that the hardware will be supplied by Technicolor (formerly known as Thomson), and TiVo is integrating their software with the platform under contract to DirecTV.

DirecTV controls the schedule, they control the product specifications, they decide on the features, they control the budget, etc. For a while now TiVo has been mentioning the new box on their quarterly calls and clearly stating that they hope DirecTV will decide to release it soon, but that the decision rests with DirecTV. On the most recent call TiVo’s CEO, Tom Rogers, stated that there was continuing work to implement new features for the product and he was hopeful it would ship in 2011.

There have been rumors and reports that the DirecTiVo is already out of date, that DirecTV’s specs for the unit were set in 2008 and in the meantime they’ve added a number of features to their non-TiVo DVRs (in-home sharing, etc.) which wouldn’t be on the DirecTiVo. A long time ago now it was reported that the new DirecTiVo would use the old, SD TiVo UI and not the new HD UI. Even that the hardware was based on the old HR22 DirecTV DVR. I have some hope that TiVo’s statements, and the continuing delays, mean they’ve taken steps to update the product specs to launch a truly competitive product when it comes to market. Who knows which of the old reports are still true given the time that has passed, of if the were even accurate to start with.

Of course, no one but the insiders knows the truth, and they’re not talking. But I think there is some pretty strong circumstantial evidence that TiVo isn’t the cause of the delay. Since the announcement in 2008 TiVo designed the TiVo Premiere and brought it to market. They integrated OnDemand support into the software, and launched the platform with MSOs RCN & Suddenlink. They announced their deal with Virgin Media and have very successfully launched with them in the UK – and I’ll note that’s also on non-TiVo-designed hardware, the box is from Cisco. They have similar deals with other MSOs, like ONO in Spain, using the same HW as the UK.

They’ve also designed the TiVo Premiere Elite and TiVo Preview, and those appear to be headed to market later this year. At least through MSOs, if not also via retail.

So TiVo has repeatedly shown that they can successfully execute new products in the time since the new DirecTiVo deal was announced. It doesn’t seem logical that they’d be able to execute all of these other projects, and yet would be unable to complete the new DirecTiVo. And, if the reports are true, the Technicolor HW isn’t a radical change from STBs they already produce. So I don’t think the problem is the HW. Or even the integration of the SW & HW.

My feeling, based on what I know and my experience in the tech industry, is that the delays are due to the project coordinator – DirecTV. The best case scenario is that it is a case of creeping featurism; they keep extending the product specifications and have to add more development time to meet the new goals. The worst case is that it is just management decisions and they’re delaying the product without using the time to continuously improve it. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

In any case, it isn’t what those waiting for the new DirecTiVo want to hear. At this point they just want a shipping box. Hopefully one that avoids the Duke Nuke’m Forever syndrome – waiting forever and getting a product that makes you wonder why you bothered waiting

For all of you waiting for the box, this is exactly why you want the FCC to push AllVid on the satellite companies. If they had to open up to third parties, as cable had to do with CableCARD, vendors like TiVo could produce compatible products on their own schedule, not the satellite company’s.

This would allow consumer electronics vendors, such as Sony or TiVo, to build devices that would be able to plug into any programming source – cable, satellite, or fiber – and to access the full range of content. Not just linear channels, but also SDV, PayPerView, and OnDemand content. You may be aware that TiVo has deals in place with a handful of cable MSOs to access OnDemand content. RCN & Suddenlink already provide TiVo hardware to their customers which can access OnDemand, and Charter will begin doing so this year. And Cox & Comcast have agreements with TiVo to allow access to OnDemand via retail TiVo units in the coming months.

But this is piecemeal. TiVo has to pursue individual deals with each MSO, and then customize their software to work that that MSO’s OnDemand head end. There isn’t a standardized interface, and TiVo remains locked out of other MSOs. Not to mention they’re still locked out of satellite and IPTV fiber services like U-Verse because CableCARD is only mandated for cable MSOs. (FiOS uses cable standards for linear content, but IPTV for OnDemand.) And that’s just TiVo, if Sony wanted to provide the same kind of access on their products they’d have to make the same kind of individual deals with the MSOs. And then Samsung. Etc. It just isn’t the same as having open, defined standards that every vendor can implement.

AllVid is the vision for that new standard, and it would supplant CableCARD, hopefully eliminating the many shortcomings that have restricted its popularity with consumers. (Like the lack of access to OnDemand content.)

Of course, the industry, primarily in the form of the NCTA, is resisting any effort to mandate the AllVid vision. They want to be left alone, claiming that industry innovation makes AllVid unnecessary. They point to things like the TiVo-MSO deals, and a growing number of new services like Comcast’s Xfinity mobile apps. But that’s apples & oranges, saying you can stream content on your iPad isn’t the same as being able to access it on your TV with a set top box you purchased because it has the features you want. And the AllVid Alliance argues just that, in a new filing with the FCC. Just a sample:

Section 629 of the Communications Act is not satisfied by consumers being able to download an MVPD’s app on a particular brand of television set or “cable systems…developing new ways to use the Internet.” While MVPDs point to the latest
“shiny thing over there,” they ignore the Section 629 mandate of the Communications Act. The Commission must not lose sight of the fact that Congress directed the Commission to foster a competitive retail market for navigation devices used by consumers to access the full range of services offered by MVPDs, and to access that programming and those services through manufacturers, retailers and other vendors not affiliated with any MVPD

And:

An AllVid gateway would empower a consumer to use any consumer electronics (“CE”) product to receive any programming offered by an MVPD on a subscriber basis, and would allow any CE product to work securely with respect to multichannel content. Consumers would no longer need to be concerned about how to port content to or store content on TV, computer, game, tablet, or mobile platforms, and whether programs would be lost if the consumer switches to a different MVPD or even to a different device. Consumers would have the option of choosing multichannel programming interactively without worrying about a potential cap on their use of Internet bandwidth. Multiple CE manufacturers–not just those that have negotiated deals with MVPDs–would be able to respond to consumers with innovations that directly address their needs and desires.

They go on to cite the historic Carterfone decision of 1968, which allowed consumers to stop renting their phones from AT&T and to connect non-AT&T telephones, and other telephony devices, to the phone system. Significantly ‘other telephony devices’ includes computer modems. Without Carterfone the early growth of online services may have been stifled. At least acoustic couplers would’ve had a longer run I suppose. I was born in 1970, and I’m just old enough to remember a lot of remaining ‘AT&T’ industrial looking phones and the first wave of all the new, then-radical designs which broke the mold from the standard, archetypal ‘telephone’. The AllVid Alliance is looking to open up television services in the same way.

Ironically, the cable industry themselves have shown that the AllVid vision isn’t so hard to fulfill, despite their claims that it would bring hardship and exorbitant costs. A recent demonstration at a CableLabs interop event showed cable STBs running tru2way middleware were able to stream content over an IP interface to DLNA enabled media devices, using DTCP-IP content protection. This is based on a home networking spec from CableLabs themselves, and could serve as the core for an AllVid implementation. So why the objections to the FCC mandating some baseline standard to ensure a level playing field to start?

Personally, I hope the FCC does mandate AllVid, and that it has some teeth. I think they were too soft with CableCARD, especially in allowing tru2way, which was so unloved it seems everyone, cable and CE industry alike, are mostly trying to forget about it.

Via Multichannel News.

Going into this CES I’m not sure what the big deal is going to be this year, if there is one. The economy is down and I haven’t really felt any particular buzz about any given area of the market. HDTVs get bigger while getting thinner and faster (refresh rates). We may see some interesting 3D technologies which will start to enter homes in the next few years. Palm is expected to announce Nova and new hardware, but I’m not excited. I was a die-hard Palm OS user for many years, since 1998, and still carry a Treo 680. But after five or more years of waiting for Palm OS 6 Cobalt Nova I just don’t feel that inspired. I’m already focused on Android as my next likely platform, and it would take a lot for Palm to sway me. Even if they produce an incredible OS, they have an uphill battle ahead to win over developers. I don’t think they have a real chance at this point to gain significant market share. And without that the developers won’t come – and the apps really make the platform.

Going forward I think the mobile market will effectively be, in no particular order, Windows Mobile Professional, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, iPhone, and Android. The original Palm OS is the walking dead, and I don’t see Nova/Palm OS II carving out enough market share to be viable. Symbian UIQ is effectively dead as SonyEricsson and Motorola have pulled out and the Symbian world is focused on the S60-based open source effort. Windows Mobile Standard (aka Smartphone) is rapidly dying as Professional-based touch screen devices move into the lower end of the market where Standard used to focus. I expect Android, which is basically just coming into the market, to post the biggest gains as more devices land. I think the LiMo/LIPS effort will falter and expect to see some of the vendors who have been working on it switch to Android. I think those five platforms will provide the bulk of the smartphone market, anything else will be a small niche.

We’ll probably see more tru2way devices on display from a number of vendors this year, but I don’t know that we’ll see anything revolutionary in that market. I’m hoping TiVo may be showing off their ‘Series4′ tru2way-enabled model, which they’re believed to have been working on for a while. And they may be showing their new DirecTV software, which I expect will be running on the HR20/21/22 DirecTV DVR Plus hardware. I’m not expecting anything else major, maybe some new content partnership announcements and perhaps plans to bring TiVo to more countries. (I’m surprised they haven’t re-launched in the UK yet with the DVB-T model actually.)

The past couple of years the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD fight provided some interest. But that was effectively over with CES2008, and officially ended when Toshiba threw in the towel in February. There aren’t likely to be any big announcements in the Blu-ray world, aside from more content partnerships like LG adding CinemaNow and YouTube to Netflix on their players. Maybe someone will be showing off higher density disc or 3D content concepts.

I’m hoping to be surprised by something at the show, something just unexpected. If you know of something I should be on the look out for, do let me know. And if you’re going to CES drop by the Sling Media booth and say hello. I believe I’m on the afternoons of Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Friday morning. I’m also scheduled to present for Sling Media at CntrStg on Saturday. Frankly I’m nervous as hell about that. It has been years since I’ve done a presentation or talk at a tradeshow and never at anything as big as CES.

OK, off to finish packing.

The way WeaKnees does this is by using an external RAID1 drive enclosure. This replaces the internal drive in your system.. Basically things are re-cabled to use the external enclosure as the primary storage system instead of an internally mounted drive. They’re offering the external storage configured in 2x320GB, 2x500GB, 2x750GB, or 2x1TB capacities. Note that since the drives are mirrors and store the same data, two 1TB drives gives you 1TB of storage, not 2TB. You have the same 1TB stored redundantly on two drives.

WeaKnees is selling pre-upgraded TiVo HD DVRs and pre-upgraded DirecTV DVR Plus models. As well as upgrade kits for the TiVo HD, TiVo HD XL, and DirecTV DVR Plus models.

The system requirements call for a fairly modern PC. The software only runs on Windows Vista or XP SP2. A dual-core or quad-core processor is recommended. A minimum of 512MB of RAM is required, and 1GB is recommended. But what may be the sticking point for many users are the video card requirements, you need a minimum of 512MB of video RAM, and 1GB is recommended. Sounds like this is a fairly GPU-intensive application.

The download page is for the DirecTV PC Playback Advisor. The application will test your PC to see if it meets the minimum hardware requirements. If so, then you can get the full DIRECTV2PC application for free.

Once the software is available, users will be able to stream content, in full HD resolution, from their DVRs to a Windows PC – either recordings or live TV. The PC software provides the same UI as available on the DVR. The software is, or will be, free, so keep an eye on the page if you’re interested. Hopefully they’ll fix the download link soon.

Picked up via EngadgetHD.

Via TiVo Blog.

I just became aware of another solution. Paterson Technologies offers a serial to USB adapter which allows users of TiVo, ReplayTV, ShowStopper, BeyondTV, SageTV, MythTV, and Windows Media Center to control the DirecTV model D11, D12, H20, H21, H32, HR20, and HR21 receivers. It is more than just a simple serial to USB cable, there is some intelligence built in such as the ability to map channels so you can have your DVR, say, tuning channel ’4′ and the satellite receiver actually being tuned to channel 4-1 for OTA ATSC. You can configure it by connecting the adapter to a PC.

It isn’t a cheap option at $42, but for those using 3rd party DVRs with newer DirecTV receivers it may be worth it for the reliability of serial over IR, and the channel mapping abilities. You can check it out for yourself.

Just over a year ago TiVo and DirecTV announced that they’d be bringing additional software updates to the existing DirecTiVo units. That arrived earlier this year as 6.4a, showing that the relationship was still alive. The one cloud of doubt was in December when DirecTV acquired the remains of ReplayTV.

But then Liberty Media completed their acquisition of News Corp’s share of DirecTV in March, raising hopes. With News Corp out of the picture, NDS was no longer ‘in the family’. And Liberty Media is an investor in TiVo, giving them some incentive to have DirecTV work with TiVo again.

And today TiVo announced that a new TiVo-based HD DVR is being developed for DirecTV. Actually, from the language of the press release, I suspect it is a software load for DirecTV’s existing HR20 & HR21 HD DVRs, and not a new hardware platform.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive arrangement, DIRECTV and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo® service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.

The phrasing “a version of the TiVo service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform” makes me think that it will be similar to the platform developed for Comcast and Cox, software that can be loaded on the existing units. Since DirecTV doesn’t have an OCAP/tru2way-style platform, it would probably be a new software load which would replace the default system software. Alternatively it could be a new box developed from the TiVo HD platform, we know the DVB-T reference box could also form the basis of a DVB-S satellite unit, and a DBS unit would be similar.

And it also seems to make more sense in context:

DIRECTV will continue to develop and offer its own portfolio of industry leading set top boxes as primary offerings to both new and existing customers. This new TiVo box will be offered as an alternative choice to those DIRECTV customers who would like to add TiVo to a full line up of DIRECTV services.

This also sounds like Comcast, with TiVo being a premium alternative to the standard DVR. But it would be very expensive for DirecTV to maintain two hardware DVR platforms – manufacturing, maintaining inventory, support, etc. So it makes more sense for them to have one platform that they can load different environments on. It could still be a hardware platform, I just don’t think it is as likely.

In any case, the new platform will be available in the second half of 2009, and“The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone.” The release doesn’t go into detail over which features will or will not be supported, but since DirecTV has their own video on demand service I’d bet that services such as Amazon Unbox, Jaman, and CinemaNow will not be making appearances on the new DirecTV platform. Pricing will be announced with the product launch next year.

What isn’t addresses is the current DirecTiVo platform. Does the announcement of a new platform which embraces the TiVo network features mean that the existing platform’s USB ports will finally be enabled for network support? Both the hardware and the software are capable of supporting network features on par with the standalone Series2 TiVo, and the only thing preventing it to date has been DirecTV’s business decision. Since they’re clearly ready to support network features, I do hope that their existing loyal (and long suffering) customers get some support as well.

Also, in an SEC filing, TiVo revealed that their general partnership with DirecTV has been extended five more years, from February 15, 2010 until February 15, 2015, with DirecTV having the right to extend it another three years, to February 15, 2018. While the specific financial terms of the new agreement have not been revealed, the filing has this to say:

As part of this new agreement, DIRECTV will pay a substantially higher monthly fee for households using the new high definition DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo than the fees for previously deployed DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo service. DIRECTV will continue to pay the current monthly fee for all households using only the previously deployed DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo service. The fees paid by DIRECTV are subject to monthly minimum payments that escalate during the term of the agreement starting in 2010 and those minimum payments are substantially higher than in the prior agreement.

So subscribers using the new platform will be worth more to TiVo, and they have a guaranteed minimum level of revenue, which gives DirecTV some incentive to sign up subscribers fro the new platform. If they’re going to have to pay the fees anyway they may as well have clients using it. And if that isn’t enough:

DIRECTV is also obligated to annual marketing commitments, including significant cross-channel promotion of the high definition DIRECTV DVR with TiVo service to be developed by TiVo.

It sounds like a good deal for TiVo and DirecTV both. They also agreed to extend their covenant not to assert their patent rights against each other. Which could be why DirecTV picked up ReplayTV, as I speculated at the time. Holding ReplayTV’s DVR patents gives DirecTV a stronger hand when dealing with TiVo and their patents. The agreement extension also covers TiVo’s ability to sell advertising and perform audience measurement activities on DirecTV’s DVRs with TiVo service.

Today is a good day for fans of TiVo and DirecTV – but it will be an even better day when it ships next year.

These claims have clearly struck a sensitive nerve within the Blu-ray community, which, given their strategy as outlined above, is perhaps not surprising. Today the BDA has given me the following statement:

“A number of companies have recently launched advertising campaigns claiming their products deliver high definition picture and sound “equal” to that delivered by Blu-ray Disc. These comparisons are irresponsible and are misleading to consumers. Up conversion and satellite broadcast cannot provide a true Blu-ray high definition experience, as neither is technically capable of producing the quality delivered by Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs. To that end, the Blu-ray Disc Association is exploring these claims further and will take appropriate action, as necessary, to prevent consumers seeking the ultimate in high-definition home entertainment from being misled.”

I’m happy to see this. Blu-ray has struggled to educate consumers about higher quality home cinema, and now that it is started to gain recognition and traction in the market other vendors are trying to ride their coattails by tricking consumers into thinking they offer the same quality experience just because they’re also ’1080p’.

Picked up from EngadgetHD.