Now through January 31st, save 10% off a TiVo Series2DT or take $50 off a TiVo HD. It is a special offer from TiVo via the affiliate program.

Through December 29th Amazon is running a special promotion. Buy any one of seven approved Samsung HDTV models and a TiVo HD, and receive an instant $150 off on the TiVo HD when you checkout. That’s $150 off Amazon’s price of $233.18, making the TiVo HD just $83.18! The Samsung HDTVs range from 40″ to 52″ and $936.72 to $2,249.98, all 1080p LCDs. That’s not all, if you purchase a TiVo HD from Amazon through January 15, 2009 you also receive two free movie rentals from Amazon Video On Demand.

According to TiVo you can order a TiVo by noon PST today, 12/23, with 1-day Air shipping and have it for Xmas.

TiVo: Get 3 Months FREE – Limited Time Only! A TiVo HD is $299.99 and a Series2DT is $149.99. Or get a factory-renewed TiVo HD for $179.99 – a $120 savings.

Ever since the abortive first attempt was announced four years ago there have been on-again, off-again rumors of TiVo and Netflix working together again. They finally got it over with and released the tension in October by announcing a new deal. At the time they indicated the service would launch soon – and they were right, it is launching today!

But they have one more surprise up their sleeves – high-definition content! From the press release (below) it looks like they’ll be launching with some HD content available to stream to TiVo. As stated previously, the Netflix service is only available on broadband connected TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL units. The Series2 platform unfortunately is incapable of supporting the video codec Netflix uses. Only the newer units have the required hardware, sorry, that’s just how it is. It isn’t like Series2 units don’t have options – Amazon VOD, CinemaNow/Disney, and Jaman are all available.

This is likely why the HD units started getting the new software revision last week, to prep them for the launch of Netflix.

Press release below:

Read the rest of this entry »

Nigel Tufnel should be happy with TiVo’s latest software update for Series3 and TiVo HD models, as it is version 11. Zatz Not Funny mentioned that version 11 is hitting Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL units. Poking around the net it looks like this started trickling out back on November 20th. TiVo usually trickles out a release as the last test before launching the full download for everyone, and it looks like the floodgates opened within the past day or so. A number of people are now reporting receiving it, and my Series3 downloaded it today and I just restarted to install it.

The version number is 11.0-01-2-648 on my S3. This update includes the changes seen in the 9.3.2 update that hit Series2 systems recently. Aside from those changes I don’t see any other differences. I looked through all the menus but nothing seemed different to me. I’m sure there are under-the-covers changes to warrant a major revision number jump. I’m guessing WMV/VC-1 decoding is in there for Netflix streaming support. And maybe some other surprises.

Tracy Sestili, TiVo’s Director of Operations, is auctioning off another autographed TiVo HD unit on eBay for charity. 100% of the proceeds are going to Stand Up To Cancer and The Beverly Fund.

This time the TiVo HD is autographed by Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Garner, Jack Black, Josh Grobin, Kirsten Dunst, and Ellen DeGeneres. The TiVo HD also includes product lifetime service, a $399 value that combined with the $299.99 MSRP of the box makes this a $698.99 value before the autographs – and right now the high bid is $400.

Tracy got the units autographed after winning the grand prize to sit in the celebrity phone bank on the Stand Up To Cancer show on September 5th.

The Auction ends November 9, 2008.

Hmm, I wonder if I upset someone over at TiVo? I didn’t get any advance notice on this one. Well, anyway, on to the news. Correction, their PR firm did email me – a little after 20:00, less than four hours before the embargo lifted at midnight eastern. That’s a little late to be letting folks know about a major announcement, especially as I know others got the word around 15:00. Unfortunately, that was after the last time I’d checked email before midnight. I might’ve caught it, but I’m down with a bad cold and not hovering online as much as I normally do. I only caught it after seeing the news elsewhere.

Netflix streaming is coming to TiVo – very soon. It is great news, but it isn’t too surprising. TiVo and Netflix first talked about partnering over four years ago, though that initial deal seemed to fizzle when Netflix had trouble getting content rights.

In the meantime the market has completely changed. Netflix has rolled out their streaming service and TiVo has added streaming support to their platform for YouTube. And, of course, movie downloads from Amazon and Jaman, with CinemaNow/Disney expected any day now. Content providers are much more open to digital distribution than they were four years ago, and the technology has improved as well. A lot of us have been expecting TiVo and Netflix to bring streaming to TiVo. Especially after Netflix made deals with LG and Samsung to stream to some their Blu-ray players.

This now gives TiVo content from four major services – Amazon, Jaman, CinemaNow (soon), and Netflix. The only major service left that I can think of is Blockbuster/Movielink. And, honestly, they’re not exactly the market leader. I suppose TiVo could work with VUDU to build a VUDU client into TiVo, but with all the other content I don’t know that it would be worth it for TiVo. More benefit for VUDU I’d think. The only thing left to make TiVo *the* platform for movies is HD content, and I’m sure that’s coming.

As Amazon VOD also offers streaming, I expect TiVo to bring that to their platform in addition to the downloads available today. And we’re all just waiting for HD content. There have been repeated hints and mentions of work toward bringing HD content downloads from Amazon to TiVo, and more recently Jaman and Cinema now. And just today Netflix announced they’ll be streaming in HD to Xbox 360. So maybe we’ll see Netflix in HD on TiVo as well.

What’s next for TiVo and broadband content? I think we’ll see them making deals with more content portal sites and networks, like Hulu.com and CBS.com. It is just logical, and TiVo already has the infrastructure to support such streaming sites. I think TiVo is making the right moves.

The Netflix streaming, like YouTube, will be coming to the TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL. It isn’t clear if they’ll be using H.264, like YouTube, or if the streams will be using VC-1 – which Netflix uses for their PC and Mac streaming. The TiVo hardware is capable of supporting both codecs, but VC-1 hasn’t been used to date. Why no Series2 support? As with YouTube, the hardware doesn’t support the newer codecs.

Picked up from Zatz Not Funny.

The press release:
Read the rest of this entry »

Save $50 on the TiVo HD through October 30th. This is a limited time promotion from TiVo, shipping is also free.

Tracy Sestili, TiVo’s Director of Operations, is auctioning off two autographed TiVo HD units on eBay for charity. 100% of the proceeds are going to Stand Up To Cancer and The Beverly Fund.

Box 1 is autographed by Scarlett Johansson, Billy Crystal, Casey Affleck, Tony Hawk, Abigail Breslin, America Ferrera, John Krasinski, and Marg Helgenberger and has a current bid of $305.00.

Box 2 is autographed by Halle Berry, Forest Whitaker, Mandy Moore, Dana Delaney, Christina Ricci, Neil Patrick Harris, Mekhi Phifer, Jon Favereau, and Sharon Osborne and has a current bid of $500.00.

Both units also come with one year of TiVo service. Tracy got the units autographed after winning the grand prize to sit in the celebrity phone bank on the Stand Up To Cancer show on September 5th.

The auctions end on October 18th.

Reader David commented on a previous post that Time Warner Cable of San Antonio, TX has a link to order a free Tuning Adapter to enable SDV on TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, or TiVo HD XL units. The order form states: “The expected availability date is later this year.” That leaves two and a half months, though I personally suspect it will be sooner rather than later, especially as Comcast is already deploying Tuning Adapters.

Is anyone else seeing Time Warner offer Tuning Adapter pre-orders in their area?