VERIZON WIRELESS, TIVO PARTNER TO TAKE TIVO TO MOBILE PHONES

Posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 by MegaZone

TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), and Verizon Wireless, owner of the nation’s most reliable network, announced today an agreement that will allow Verizon Wireless to debut TiVo Mobile, a new downloadable application that lets TiVo® service subscribers schedule recordings on their TiVo device directly from their Get It Now equipped Verizon Wireless handset.

From what I’ve gathered this is a downloadable Java Applet that gives you a TiVo-style interface on your phone to schedule recordings. I caught a glimpse of this at CES, but I figured it wasn’t public info, and I confirmed that, so I never mentioned it. It actually looked pretty good from what I saw. I’m a little disappointed that it is a Verizon exclusive, since I dumped them for Cingular a few years ago since Verizon took too long to get BlueTooth phones and the data service at the time was lame. They’re a bit better now, but I hope this service is spread to other carriers. And if it is an applet, just making it available for download could allow folks with other devices, like my Treo, to grab it directly.

I don’t think this is earth-shaking by itself, but it is part of TiVo’s broader push to enhance the service. Adding a number of nice features that set them apart from other DVRs and enhance the brand, and brand awareness. Similar to the online scheduling via Yahoo – it doesn’t really offer anything new, compared to TiVo Central Online, but it helps build awareness of TiVo for Yahoo users.

Posted in Press Release, TiVo | 9 Comments

Digital Product Placement

Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 by MegaZone

I spotted this here, Marathon Ventures. One of their offerings is “Digital Brand Integration” – aka digital product placement. Check out the slide show.

I knew it was just a matter of time until this kind of thing started to spread. Especially with the rise of the DVR and TiVo reducing the effectiveness of the 30-second spot. I’ve been saying for years that we’ll see a rise in product placement. The technology has been there for a while – think of sporting events where there are ads on the field, or court. These days those ads are often not really there, they’re digitally added to the image, often so seamlessly you don’t notice. Over the field, but under the players – and that’s in real-time. Working with pre-recorded content they can do a lot more to blend the inserted product into the image. The geek in me is impressed by the technology, but at a gut level this makes me profoundly uneasy. Seeing is believing – and you’ll believe what they want you to.

Posted in TiVo | 2 Comments

HD DVD bow bedevils retail

Posted on Saturday, March 4, 2006 by MegaZone

With only weeks to go before the first HD DVD players and movies are slated to hit stores, retailers are finding information about the launch sketchy and, when it is provided, often contradictory.

Spotted in animeondvdnews

Posted in Blu-ray/HD DVD | Leave a comment

TiVo struggles to broaden its horizons

Posted on Friday, March 3, 2006 by MegaZone

On Thursday, the company, well-known for its digital video recorder, unveiled at a press conference here a service called KidZone, which allows parents to look for shows appropriate for their children and separate that content from other shows recorded for adults.

CNet has a couple of photos of the new interface as well.

Posted in TiVo | 2 Comments

Play AAC and WMA music on your TiVo via TiVo Desktop

Posted on Friday, March 3, 2006 by MegaZone

Mac users have long been able to do this by installing the LAME encoder on the Mac. The Mac TiVo Desktop will use LAME to transcode AAC to MP3 for playback on the TiVo. But Windows users have been out in the cold.

Well, long time TiVo user and software developer Dan203 just released a plugin for TiVo Desktop on Windows that allows you to play unencrypted AAC files via the TiVo. It transcodes them to MP3 on the fly to stream to the TiVo’s standard music playback system.

Note: This cannot play FairPlay encrypted AAC files purchased from iTunes, only unencrypted AAC that you’ve ripped yourself. (Or iTunes files you’ve stripped the DRM off of with JHymn, or the like.)

And if you didn’t already know, another TiVo user, pzand, previously released a plugin for playing back WMA files.

I’m going to have to try out the AAC plugin, I ripped all my CDs into AAC a while back, and between that and iTunes I have over 12,000 tracks. (All legal.)

Posted in TiVo | 2 Comments