According to this post on the WeaKnees Blog, TiVo is still transferring lifetime subscriptions for new Series3 buyers, despite the offer officially having ended. WeaKnees is offering a deal wherein they will email you the TSN of the S3 when you purchase, so you can call TiVo and do the transfer. If TiVo won’t do it, they cancel the order and the charge to you, so there is no risk.

Through Jan. 31, Comcast has footed $16.2 million in development costs on a version of TiVo’s digital-video-recorder software for its set-tops and systems, according to a TiVo regulatory filing.

The article is about TiVo’s annual 10-K SEC filing, which they filed Monday. It has a few details on TiVo’s progress with Comcast. The current plan is for initial market trials this spring, and a commercial roll-out by June 30th.Pursuant to our agreement with Comcast, development and deployment of the TiVo service software solution is targeted to occur by June 30, 2007 or such later date as the parties may agree. Development and deployment of the TiVo advertising management system is targeted to begin after the second anniversary of this agreement, by February 15, 2008, unless the parties agree to a later date.

There are some other interesting tidbits in the 10-K filing:We expect to consider additional international partnerships and distribution agreements over the next year. I’d still like to see TiVo re-enter the UK market. Or this bit about the cable software:We are currently extending the TiVo service client software to enable future deployment on certain commonly used integrated DVR set-top boxes. Under the terms of our agreement with Comcast, for example, Comcast intends to make the TiVo service available as a software upgrade to the already installed base of certain Motorola DVRs deployed by Comcast. We also intend to extend the TiVo service to run on other DVR set-top boxes capable of supporting Comcast-deployed middleware and forthcoming Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) solutions. So that’s an official statement that they’ll be porting the software to more than just the Motorola DCT3400/6400 family of boxes.

In a section on TGC (page 9):In fiscal year 2007, TGC performed design and development activities related to a potential TiVo product for the U.S. market. Since it says ‘potential TiVo product’, I presume this isn’t the S2DT. Could this be the lower-cost HD platform that was mentioned on their last conference call? Something else? There is some good information in there on TGC in general, including:In December 2005 TGC launched a DVR product that includes TiVo technology and branding in Taiwan. In mid-2006, TGC launched a DVR product that includes TiVo technology and branding in China. We expect that TGC will pursue additional opportunities to market TiVo technology in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau.

It looks like TiVo’s hiring has been going well: Although our total company employee headcount increased by approximately 7% in fiscal year 2007, we increased the number of our regular, temporary, and part-time employees engaged in research and development by 9% from a total of 264 to 288 as of January 31, 2007 compared to January 31, 2006. Also:At April 3, 2007, we employed approximately 451 employees, including 48 in service operations, 246 in research and development, 44 in sales and marketing, and 113 in general and administration.

it is interesting that TiVo has filed a trademark application on “DirecTiVo” (page 14) – which, as far as I know, was a contraction created by the user community (DirecTV + TiVo) that has been in common use for years.

We’ve known that TiVo owns between 40% and 50% of TGC. I probably missed it in the past, but it is detailed in this 10-K (page 97): As of January 31, 2007, TiVo’s preferred share investment accounted for approximately 49.2% of TGC’s equity (approximately 40.4% on a fully-diluted basis assuming the issuance of options to executives of TGC).

There is an issue unique to the Series3 that some users may have noticed – the Emergency Alert System. One of the requirements of CableCARD is that any CC device MUST obey EAS messages and switch to any channel broadcasting an EAS alert. So if your S3 is recording two programs, using both tuners, and an EAS message comes out (even a test message) it must stop recording and switch a tuner to the channel with the EAS message. TiVo has no choice in the matter, it is a requirement. Of course, this takes over a tuner and you get a truncated recording. The, fairly good IMHO, reason behind this rule is to make sure more people see emergency alerts. In many cases a few seconds can mean the difference between life and death, so taking over the tuner and switching to the message is designed to save lives.

This is great – if you’re sitting in front of the TV. But, in most households, most of the time no one is actively watching, so this interruption of the recording is pointless. However, there is a solution! When the unit is in Stand By, it does not do this. It will ignore EAS messages, and continue recording normally. Why? Because if the unit is in Stand By, it is not sending out any A/V output. Therefore it is impossible that someone is watching, so there is nothing to be gained by switching to the EAS message. On a more technical level J-STD-042-2002: Emergency Alert Message for Cable, section 5 (p12):No requirements are specified for processing the cable_emergency_alert() message when a device is in the “off” state, even though the device may be internally powered up and able to monitor an SI data stream. Stand By is an ‘off’ state.

So, there’s a reason for Series3 users to put the unit into Stand By when you’re not actually watching something. (I do – I’ve been doing it out of habit since I got my first unit over 5 years ago.)