In what can’t be a good sign for the progress of the TiVo software for Comcast, CNET’s Matthew Elliott has posted in their Crave blog that he’s finally given up in frustration and returned to using the standard non-TiVo Comcast DVR. He first starting using the TiVo software May, and while his initial impression was favorable overall, he had some issues with it as well – especially performance.

He followed up in July, and by then the bloom was already off the rose. His patience was low with the performance issues by then and he was experiencing frozen screens and missed recordings. He was already considering returning to the standard Comcast DVR.

Things apparently improved for a while starting last month. The number of glitches dropped and the performance seemed to improve. But then, last week, he was locked out of On Demand and lost the ability to record anything – and that was the last straw. As he sums it up:

My two biggest gripes with the Comcast + TiVo service were its speed and reliability. Setting a recording took anywhere from 20 seconds to over a minute. With Comcast DVR, a recording is set almost instantaneously. Service reliability was the bigger issue; TiVo would regularly freeze up and required to be reset–a process that required me to pull the cable box out, unplug it, plug it back in, and wait 10 to 15 minutes for the service to return–and then re-enter the 30-second skip code for the remote. Other than encouraging me to read more, the only advantages I found with TiVo were its suggested recordings, its ad-free channel guide, and a better organized list of recorded shows, which grouped multiple recordings of a show and all HD recordings into folders.

I’d really like to see TiVo succeed in bringing their software to cable DVRs, but the road so far has been long and rocky. At this point it seems that there is still a lot of work to be done, and some of the troubles may be due to the lack of power in the fielded hardware. The TiVo software is running on top of a middleware layer (currently a precursor to tru2way, and it should be tru2way in time) which runs on top of a base OS, and that means it will be hard to match the performance of a native OS. A solution for this could be newer generations of cable DVR hardware which are bring designed from the start to support tru2way applications, instead of existing hardware that has been updated with software.

There are so many variables involved it is hard to say if the troubles are with TiVo’s software, the middleware layers, the base OS, the hardware, the head-end servers, or something else. So the issues may be out of TiVo’s hands. But in the end it doesn’t matter to the end user, they just want the software to work and don’t care who’s problem it is. So I hope that TiVo and their partners can sort things out and make it ‘just work’, or it will continue to struggle to gain traction.

As with the Slingbox PRO-HD two weeks ago, since I work for Sling Media now it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to review it, but the SlingCatcher officially shipped yesterday. Instead of reviewing it, here’s a roundup of coverage I’ve seen:

Sling Community – Blog
Sling Community – Review
Sling Community – Review: SlingPlayer for TV
Sling Community – Review: MyMedia
Sling Community – Review: SlingProjector
ZatzNotFunny
Engadget
EngadgetHD
Gizmodo
CNET – Crave
CED Magazine
Obsessable
SlashGear
NewsFactor Network
HD Update
SFGate
Wired
Register Hardware
TG Daily
Stuff.tv
TechWhack
Electronista
Silicon Alley Insider
Electronic House
Pocket-lint
PC World
BLORGE
BroadcastNewsroom
Sci-Tech Today
Gearlog
TrustedReviews
Coolest Gadgets

Both the Slingbox PRO-HD and SlingCatcher MSRP at USD$299.99, but the best deals I’ve seen on both are from PROVANTAGE – currently Slingbox PRO-HD for $241.70 and SlingCatcher for $240.47.

Normally I’d review something like this myself. But I not only work for Sling Media, but I’m the Beta Manager on the Slingbox PRO-HD. So that really wouldn’t be appropriate. Instead here’s a roundup of coverage I’ve seen so far:
SlingCommunity – Blog
SlingCommunity – Review
Zatz Not Funny
EngadgetHD
Engadget
PC Magazine
CNET Crave
CNET – Review
Washington Post
Ecoustics

EDIT: And more coverage:
The Gadgetress
Engadget
EngadgetHD
jkOnTheRun
Gizmodo
Obsessable
TG Daily
TWICE
Silicon Alley Insider
TVPredictions
TechSpot
SlashGear
Multichannel News
ZDNet – The Mobile Gadgeteer
TheStreet.com
Electronista
Electronic House
Boy Genius Report
eHomeUpgrade
ZDNet – The Toybox
Obsessable – Product Page

The Sling Media SlingCatcher (and the Slingbox PRO-HD) went up for pre-order recently, so we know it is coming soon. Now it is starting to show up in the press, the San Jose Mercury News and CNET’s Crave blog have both posted stores on the new box. These aren’t full reviews, just first impressions of the unit from a recent press tour ahead of the launch. But if you’re interested in what they thought of the unit in their preview, check them out.

Disclaimer: I’m a beta manager for Sling Media.

There’s an interesting discussion in the comments on a recent PVRblog post. Matt of PVRBlog noticed a comment in a New York Times profile of Jon Stewart and posted it:

The day begins with a morning meeting where material harvested from 15 TiVos and even more newspapers, magazines and Web sites is reviewed.

That sparked discussion and speculation that Jon was using ‘TiVo’ as a generic reference to some other DVR setup, but no, a former researcher on the show posted a comment and confirmed their setup.

Nope, it’s literally 15 rack-mounted TiVos of various models, many from the pre-Series 2 era. Some Philips boxes, some Sonys. And because there’s a limited number of remote codes, when a staffer operates one, he has to hold the remote directly against that box’s IR receiver so that the beam doesn’t hit any of the other boxes (i.e., so he’s not inadvertently controlling multiple boxes at once). No joke! It’s pretty primitive.

There’s a lot more in the comment, an interesting look behind the scenes of The Daily Show. Since they’re using old Series1 units, how do they get the clips on air?

When TiVo footage is needed for TDS that day (i.e., every day), the clips are dubbed off to Beta tape and brought to an editing bay. Yup, sneakernet. Sounds like a lot of work, right? It is. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show upgrades to a networked PVR system — especially with an imminent move to HD — but I don’t know what their plans are.

So the rack of TiVos may not be in place for long. It sounds like an opportunity for TiVo to supply them with a new HD-capable setup, based on the TiVo HD. I wonder if there is enough business to make it worthwhile for them to develop a customized version of the software with features designed to make it easier for commercial users.

The Daily Show isn’t the only major program using TiVo. An intern for Late Night with Conan O’Brien posted a comment at Boing Boing stating that they use three TiVos content.

I intern at Late Night with Conan O’Brien and am privileged enough to realize how a set-up like The Daily Shows is so mind-boggling. At Late Night we have three TiVo’s that are set-up to record every other late night talk show, several morning to afternoon shows and a few special events that happen now and again. Every morning we burn DVD copies of the previous day’s shows, a process that takes less then 2 hours, depending on the temperament of the recorders.

I picked that one up from CNET’s Crave.

At the end of May I mentioned that CNET’s Matthew Elliott had started using the Comcast TiVo software, and at the time he was having some issues with it. Well, he’s posted again in CNET’s Crave blog and he hasn’t been having a good experience. Comcast and TiVo still haven’t released the promised update for the poor performance. On top of that, Matthew suffered from a major recording gaffe which seems to be a bug in the software. And he’s experiencing frozen screens and other glitches. He’s starting to think about just going back to the standard Comcast DVR software and I can’t blame him based on what he’s experiencing. (Though I think he’d be better of just getting a TiVo HD.) TiVo and Comcast really need to get a fix out soon, they’ve been promising it for a long time now.

Ever since the Apple iPhone hit the market, people have been asking for a version of SlingPlayer Mobile for the platform. To date Sling has only expressed their desire to support the platform when it is possible to do so. But with the Apple WWDC kicking off this week, they’ve been showing off a bit of what they’ve been up to, and a number of blogs have coverage:
Engadget (video)
Gizmodo (video)
Zatz Not Funny (video)
PVR Wire @ TV Squad
Ars Technica
Macworld
NewTeeVee
Electronista
jkOnTheRun
The Mobile Gadgeteer
Crave
CrunchGear
AppleInsider
Mobility Today
Gizmos for Geeks
9 to 5 Mac
I4U News
Gear Diary
Download Squad
Unwired View
GottaBeMobile
Nerd Beach
Brighthand
Geek.com
SlingCommunity

And I’m sure there others that I haven’t spotted.

Dave Zatz posted this video to YouTube:

Note that this is a proof of concept, a technology demonstrator, and not the SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone that will eventually be released. This was an engineering project written for jail-broken iPhones to characterize the performance of the platform and ensure that Sling could deliver a high quality customer experience on the iPhone & iPod Touch platforms. This allowed Sling to gain experience with the platform while waiting for the SDK to be released. The official SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will be written using the SDK and sold through the iTunes App store like other official iPhone/iPod Touch applications. At least that is currently the intent.

If you’re attending the Apple WWDC this week you can get a look at the proof of concept application first hand. Sling Media Product Manager Vicky Shum will be at the Starbucks at 120 4th Street, San Francisco (across from the Metreon) between 10:00 and 16:00 (10am and 4pm) on Monday, June 9th running demos.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media.