Another mystery referral – Thanks Timothy!

The release of 8.3.1 for the Series3 must be getting close, as Dave Zatz reports, 8.3.1 is starting to show up on Series3 boxes ‘in the wild’. One of the things TiVo tends to do, just before starting the ‘full release’ is to send the new code to randomly selected boxes in the field as the final test before opening the gates. It is kind of like sending a scout out ahead of the rest of the group, that way if any gotchas are there, anything missed in testing, it doesn’t catch everyone. It also serves as a test of the deployment servers before turning up the volume.

This is traditionally a sign that the full release is close.

Someone named Joy just gave the site a TiVo Rewards Referral – thank you! And thank you to the people who have done so in the past. I didn’t post at the time because I wasn’t sure if I should, but after debating it with myself I decided that I should. It is just polite to thank someone. So thank you to Joy, and to the others have have contributed their Rewards points toward the site. It is much appreciated!

The Fox Broadcasting Company is seeking to patent a way to replace “old” commercials with “new” ones when viewers replay Fox shows they have taped on digital video recorders.

Jon Nesvig, president for sales at Fox, part of the News Corporation, described the technology yesterday at a conference sponsored by the trade publication MediaPost. Fox hopes to test the process, developed by Andrew G. Setos, president for engineering at the Fox Group, with TiVo, Mr. Nesvig said.

Sounds fine to me, an ad for an ad, as it were.

Well, Gizmodo uncovered quite a deal. TiVo apparently has a promotion aimed at getting ex-TiVo users, who’ve presumably switched to a cable DVR or the like, to switch back to TiVo. Their ‘Welcome Back’ page has offers on the Series3 and S2DT. $70 for an 80-hour S2DT, $120 for a 180-hour S2DT, and $500 for an S3. You choose any of the TiVo service plans, and they all include a free TiVo Wireless adapter. While it is targeted at bringing back old users, there does not appear to be any check.