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.

“We are excited to be the first TV maker to support Adobe AIR on our Smart TVs bringing rich, Flash-based applications to millions of customers today,” said Kyungsik Kevin Lee, vice president, Visual Display Business, Samsung Electronics. “With the dramatic advancements in AIR 3, Adobe continues to push the envelope with innovative new features that will enable powerful 3D gaming apps and other next generation app experiences on televisions soon.”

“LG is working closely with Adobe to bring Flash-based applications with AIR to LG Smart TVs in 2012,” said Youngjae Seo, vice president, Smart TV Team, LG. “We can’t wait to see what kind of application experiences three million Flash developers will bring to our customers with AIR 3.”

“The availability of AIR will give us the tools to deliver better functionality, more features and a rich, seamless experience that our users expect from TiVo products,” said Jim Denney, vice president and general manager, Product Marketing, TiVo. “We look forward to the development of a rich ecosystem of multi-platform applications to make the TV experience even better.”

See the full release for more. I am, of course, most interested in how this will apply to TiVo. The TiVo Premiere is already using Flash for the HD UI and newer apps, like Hulu Plus. (Some of the older, legacy apps are still using the Java-based HME framework.) But the TiVo Premiere hardware supports Flash Lite, a reduced version of flash for lower powered embedded systems. Will this new announcement apply to the existing TiVo Premiere? Or might the new TiVo Premiere Elite and forthcoming TiVo Preview be using newer SoCs that would support the fuller Flash/Air experience? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping this means we’ll see new versions of the apps, and all new apps, across the Premiere lineup. Ideally I’d love to see TiVo open an app store for third party apps, and open up the platform to developers to explore.

Oh, and if you’re ready to bash Flash – just stop. Flash as a platform is extremely rich and powerful. While it has had some issues, all platforms do. Most of the problems users experience with Flash apps on the web are due to the app developer, not the Flash platform. In recent releases Adobe has made great strides in improving the performance and stability of the Flash interpreter as well. In the long run I expect it will fade out and be replaced by a collection of technologies many refer to as ‘HTML5′ – HTML5 proper, JavaScript, SVG, CSS, etc. But it isn’t going away overnight. Remember Flash itself displaced Java Applets and Shockwave back in the day. That’s just how it goes.

And all of that aside, Flash on embedded platform is not the same beast. Devices like TiVo and the smart TVs use hardware with dedicated Flash support, not a software interpreter on a generic CPU like a PC. And the platforms are generally more limited in what they’ll support – only what the hardware can decode. So it is a much more focused environment. So Flash isn’t the root of all evil that I’ve seen many make it out to be. It is a logical choice as a platform with many advantages in an embedded environment. Embedded Flash support is much easier to come by these days than embedded ‘HTML5′ support, for example. Especially as HTML5 is still a moving target as the standards evolve.