Well, apparently TiVo took exception to this app, because it is gone from the Android Market. And, according to the creator in a post dated 11/29, this is due to a takedown request from TiVo on trademark grounds:

Late last night, TiVo sent a takedown request for this app to the Android Market, on trademark infringement claims. It was honored, and thus this app was removed.

Time will tell what happens to rectify this. If you have graphic design skills you could probably help me hasten that.

My reaction is simple – this sucks. TiVo has been promising an Android app for a long time now without delivering and it is really cool to have independent developers stepping up. This app is one of the best, which is why it has been so popular. It only works with the TiVo Premiere family and TiVo gives their apps away for free, so it isn’t like it is taking any revenue away from TiVo. If anything I’d think it might get more people to buy a TiVo since they can use their Android devices to control them.

As the author implies, the suspicion is that TiVo took issue with the use of their graphics. The application includes a very nice visual representation of the TiVo Remote, for example. But what does that mean for other apps, like VM TiVo Net Remote, which also use TiVo graphics? It is a shame that TiVo would go this route, but if this is the root of the issue then at least the solution should be simple – replace the graphics. An alternative is to use an original interface as TiVoNetRemote for Windows Phone has. Did EchoStar/Sling Media license the TiVo graphics for SlingPlayer? How about Monsoon Multimedia for HAVA/Vulkano?

I’ve reached out to TiVo to see if they have an official statement on the takedown – why it was done, and if they might be going after other apps as well. I’ll post their response if & when I receive it.

In the meantime there is a bit of good news, the app is still available for direct download. So you can sideload it on your Android device even though you can’t get it through the market. And I’m sure that even if this avenue goes away the .apk file will find new homes on the net, especially now that this has happened. But I recommend downloading it right now, just in case. You can always keep the .apk file around to install it later, if & when you need it.

I’ve posted about software available for US units before, here and here, and on TiVo’s blog, and these apps work with the VM TiVo; but now there is a 3rd party remote control app for Windows .Net specifically for the VM TiVo: VM TiVo Net Remote. It is much more feature-rich than the Python-based TiVoRemote that’s been out for US machines for a while.

I can confirm that it does work with US units, I connected to the Premiere Elite I have for review and it worked as expected. Except for the TV guide, nothing displayed when I selected ‘Show TV Guide’. The window expanded, but it was blank. This is probably hard coded for the UK devices. There is also a default channel list, but that’s stored as a text file that you can edit to match your lineup.

What’s really nice is that anything you type while in the remote window is sent to the TiVo. It makes text entry a breeze. There are also shortcut keys to navigate with:
Following Shortcut keys provide the following functions
CTRL+H - Home
CTRL+T - TV
CTRL+G - TV Guide
CTRL+P - Play
CTRL+S - Stop
CTRL+M - My Shows
CTRL+V - Pause
CTRL+R - Record
CTRL+L - Last Channel
CTRL+I - Info
CTRL+U - Thumbs Up
CTRL+D - Thumbs Down
CTRL+F - Skip
CTRL+B - Skip Back
CTRL+X - Slow
CTRL+LEFT - Rewind
CTRL+RIGHT - Fast Forward
ARROW KEYS - Left/Right/Up/Down
ENTER - OK
DELETE - Clear
+ - Channel Up
- - Channel Down
1 to 9 - Send corresponding Number
A to Z - Send corresponding Key when in a text search (Search TV, YouTube search etc.)

You can click on the image of the TiVo remote in the app to send commands as well, very much like using a Slingbox. The image of the remote is the UK version, but it is close enough that US users shouldn’t have any trouble.

Perhaps some US-based developer could contact the creator, Andy Wheeler, and work with him to create a localized version for the US. What’d really be nice is to see some of the features from the Android TiVo Commander app brought to other platforms. But that’s not to denigrate the work Andy has done. This is a brand new app – version 0.3 was just released on Sunday – and he’s been improving it quickly. He has a thread at TiVoCommunity.com for feedback.

Via the Virgin Media High Definition & TiVo Services blog.

And, as the community members love to do, they’ve starting poking at it and documenting the features, changes, specs, etc.:

Software Level:
- shipping software is 14.9b-01-7-758 out of the box.
- current software is 14.9.AB4-01-2-758

Flash Player Version: mainline3/2011.07.06.0601
HD Menu Software Version:1-9/2011.08.31-1134

New functions/features:
- MoCA support (Ethernet to Coax bridge)
- Caller ID support if phone line attached (not verified)
- Premiere to Premiere streaming enabled

Hardware differences from base Premiere:
- (details of system board here)
- Base memory doubled. Single IC providing 1GB DDR2 SDRAM.
- Disk drive is 2TB (make?). Default recording capacity shows up to 318 HD hours or 2774 SD.

Observations and/or “obvious” functions missing:
- Installing new software level seems to be faster than Premiere.
- Recording conflict screen only shows one conflict.
- Network screens updated to show MoCA info and additional screens added.

Upgrade info:
- eSata port available. No reports of anyone trying an external drive yet. Ditto Comer tool.

The Caller ID is especially interesting since none of the Premiere units have a modem built-in. And the Series3 & TiVo HD, which do have a modem, don’t currently run the 14.x software. Yet the on-box message is:

Do you want the Tivo Box to identify a caller’s name and number when the phone rings while you are watching a program?

Note: Caller ID messages can only be displayed when a phone line that supports Caller ID is attached to your DVR.

So are the older units getting an upgrade with this feature, or is it only for the Premiere family with the USB Phone Line Adapter to provide the data? The TiVo Premiere offered through Suddenlink offers Caller ID, but only if you’re using their VOIP phone service. So this seems to be different.

They’ve even started opening up their brand new boxes and taking photos of the guts. And a couple of new screens. The Premiere-to-Premiere streaming is working, and it even works for copy protected content that doesn’t work with Multi-Room Viewing. I think we need to agree on a term for streaming – I’m going with MRS, as RCN calls this Multi-Room Streaming. MRV is the old copy-based system, MRS is the new streaming system.

The Premiere Elite is also more energy efficient, drawing only 19-20 watts.

And a nice surprise, it seems the Premiere Elite has enabled the second core. Compare these lines from the kernel on a Premiere running 14.8 to a Premiere Elite running 14.9:
14.8: Linux version 2.6.18-5.1 (build@buildmaster64) (gcc version 3.3.4) #1 Wed Mar 16 02:53:03 PDT 2011
14.9: Linux version 2.6.18-5.1 (build@buildmaster93) (gcc version 4.2.0) #1 SMP Wed Sep 21 18:32:42 PDT 2011
SMP is Symmetric Multi-Processing, which means multiple cores are enabled.

I am planning to get a Premiere Elite myself. But I’m leaving town Thursday for WDW for a combo mini-vacation and a planning meeting for my wedding there in February, so I’ll probably order when I return since it wouldn’t be here in time to setup before I go anyway. On top of that my Slingbox PRO-HD seems to have died recently. I’m hoping it is just the power supply, that happened once before, but I haven’t had time to deal with it. Anyway, once I do have it I’ll give my own run down as well.

So why the post? Well, a couple of weeks ago I posted about the folks at TiVo Community spotting the new 16.x software. User brentil was doing more digging, and he found something very interesting. First up, it looks like TiVo is working toward enabling SMP – symmetric multi-processing, aka dual-core support.

For the geeks, in \arch\mips\tivo\Gen07C\setup.c, which appears to be used for the Premiere Elite/Q, believed to be code named ‘Gimbal’:
#ifdef CONFIG_SMP
if (!strstr(arcs_cmdline, "maxcpus="))
{
/* forcing to 1 CPU until SMP is fully debugged */
strncat(arcs_cmdline, " maxcpus=1", CL_SIZE - 1 - strlen(arcs_cmdline));
}
#endif

brentil determined that, as the BCM7413 is derived from the BCM7405D uses the same settings, which set CONFIG_SMP=Y. However, it seems the Gen07 (Premiere) and Gen07P(Preview, believed to be code named Picasso) do not have this code. Could they be further along in debugging SMP on those units? Curious, but not the real find.

The real find is this, in the Gen7C/P Makefile is:
# Makefile for BCM97125A0 board (includes 7019 family)

In the Gen7 Makefile is a copy & paste of the Gen06 Makefile, which mentions the BCM97401C0 – the TiVo HD’s chipset.

Why is this interesting? The BCM7125 is one of Broadcom’s loaded chips, and quite a chip it is.

The Broadcom BCM7125 is a single-chip, multi-format HD cable STB solution featuring high levels of integration including an integrated Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA®) 1.1 core, HD AVC, dual 1GHz cable tuners and HD DOCSIS 2.0 compatible modems with 3.0 channel bonding over 4 downstream channels. This level of integration and performance enables worldwide service providers to offer the latest in connectivity, HDTV programming and advanced 3D user interfaces to their subscribers while significantly reducing power requirements, complexity and overall bill of materials (BOM) cost.

Integrated MoCA technology enables service providers to deploy whole-home digital media distribution and connected TV services such as multi-room DVR. The BCM7125 allows multiple users to store, time shift or access content from media servers or residential gateways for playback on STBs anywhere in the home, driving the transition to a more connected and interactive home network environment.

Now, it might seem like this means the TiVo Premiere Elite and TiVo Preview are using this chip – after all, they have MoCA. But I don’t think so, because we know that Entropic is providing the MoCA hardware for these units. And it wouldn’t make sense for TiVo to be using an external MoCA chipset if the SoC supported MoCA. It’d be a wasted expense.

Now, there is also a BCM7119 which is basically the BCM7125 without MoCA. It could be they’re using it and the reference board is the same. But why use that and an Entropic MoCA chip instead of just using the 7125? That’s added complexity and cost. Both Broadcom chips also include built-in cable modems and DLNA support. And there’s also no indication that either unit has a built-in cable modem or DLNA. We won’t know for sure until someone gets the Elite and does some hands-on investigation work to find out what chip it is using.

Could the Elite and Preview be using one of these chips? It is possible. TiVo could be hiding a few tricks up their sleeve with a dormant cable modem and DLNA support that they can turn on later. DOCSIS support could allow for DSG – DOCSIS Set-top Gateway – support, which is used for communication with the head end for things like OnDemand and SDV. And DLNA could be how they’ll support whole-home applications. Anything is possible, but if so they’ve managed to keep a pretty tight lid on the info.

But it could also be that these chips are the foundation for another generation. With built in DOCSIS support and MoCA it could be especially appealing to MSO partners. It would give a unit capabilities similar to the Virgin Media TiVo in the UK, with a dedicated channel for apps and IP delivered content.

So this is certainly tantalizing info. Who knows, it could be a red herring, some artifact of an earlier development branch that was abandoned. Perhaps TiVo was thinking of using the BCM7125 but opted for a different solution, and the comment in the code never got updated. But that’s the pessimistic view, and I prefer to be optimistic. If it isn’t the Elite, perhaps it’ll be the next generation.

How do we know it will be 16 when nothing has been announced or released? Well, actually, something has been released. TiVo is based on Linux, and to comply with the GPL 2.0 license for the Linux kernel TiVo needs to post the source for any modifications they make to the GPL’d code. While they don’t need to post the source until they’re actually shipping the code, they’ve already posted the source for the files they’ve modified for 16.x.

And the geeks have pounced and started reviewing the code to see what tidbits they can eek out about the next major revision. Remember, this is just the GPL’d files from the Linux kernel and not the TiVo ‘application’ itself – the UI and functions most people think of as TiVo.

The most obvious change is that 16.x uses Linux kernel 2.6.31 while 14.x is using 2.6.18. User brentil has done the work of compiling a list of the key changes in each kernel from .19 to .31. It looks like 16.x will no longer include support for the Series3 family as code for the Broadcom BCM740x CPU has been removed along with other S3 specific info. There’s some interesting info/speculation in the first post:

Digging into the TiVo specific stuff there’s some references to GraphicsSurfacePoolSize for all the existing Gen07 devices I see across multiple other code sections. Seems to be a 60MB region of the 512mb now being set aside for specific graphics reasons.

Then in those TiVo config files is more references to the Gen07C & Gen07P which their real names are Gen07C-Gimbal & Gen07P-Picasso which deeper in their info shows they have “/* Second bmem region: Cable Modem */” so I’m betting these are the TiVo Premiere Q & it’s streaming box. I’m betting the Gimbal is the Q because it has more memory allocated to the Cable portion than the Picasso. The Gimbal name for the Q makes sense too as a gimbal is “a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis (WikiPedia)” in essence it’s the point everything else is based on where Picasso, duh, is a painter showing what he sees (non-tuner TiVo).

It’s nice to see some good movement forward on the kernel level at least. Of note the line in the kernel denoting the 2nd CPU is disabled on boot is gone now too. I had stumbled on it in the old code but now I can’t find it again, but I’ll keep hunting.

Interestingly, William McBrine, who runs an online HME-based Reversi game and therefore sees TiVo version numbers in his server logs, reports seeing 14.8.5, 14.9, and even 20. So it sounds like TiVo has a few versions in play. It think 14.8.5 and/or 14.9 are likely updates for the Premiere and perhaps the launch software for the Premiere Elite, while 16 is the next major update for the whole Premiere family.

I love things like this, but then I’m a big geek too.

- those that were on three year prepaid plans with a THD and reactivating the box.
OR
- Those on the $6.95 plan that are cancelling that plan AND adding a new Premiere. (e.g. move a THD from a $6.95 plan to lifetime for $99 AND buy a new Premiere with a new, current plan).

He reports that he confirmed these with a customer support supervisor. However, another user reported that they were offered the $99 retention rate despite not meeting these criteria.

But don’t rush out and expect to get this rate, not everyone is getting the offer. Keep in mind that this is meant as customer retention. Many companies do this, make a special offer when a customer calls to cancel their service, to retain the customer. In the past TiVo has done this in other ways, such as offering the $6.95/month MSD rate even though a customer had just one unit. (This was before the last rate hike, of course.) Acquiring new customers costs a fair bit of money, which justifies spending some money to retain existing customers. But the offers are generally based on the customer’s unique history, and sometimes the discretion of the customer service rep. If you call and say you want to cancel service just to get the discounted rate, they may well call your bluff.

We are sorry to announce that we are in the process of phasing out our “Share to Tivo” feature.* We are including instructions on how to access your current shares.* We realize that not everyone is set up to receive internet video on their televisions, but you can continue to share your One True Media creations via our “Share to YouTube” and Facebook shares.

TiVo URL for direct type in (when user is logged in)
To manage their channel:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_channel

To add a Video to their channel:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site…_id=**********

Directions to share:
1. Go to share online for the Video you want to add to your TiVo channel
2. In the URL replace /auth_share? with *channel_publish_work?
3. Make sure to keep the work_id
4. This take you to the TiVo share pages

Customer Care
One True Media, Inc.

I’ve never gotten the impression that One True Media is a very popular service among TiVo users, so I doubt there will be too many people up in arms over this. YouTube just dominates video sharing.

The other service TiVo is dropping may impact more users. TiVo models earlier than the Premiere lost Rhapsody, as reported by Zatz Not Funny. Rhapsody recently changed their API, which broke all of the existing third party apps, like TiVo. TiVo has created a new Flash-based app for the Premiere, but will not be updating the app for the earlier TiVo models. Given the popularity of other services, such as Pandora, the loss of Rhapsody probably won’t bring too many tears.

As Rhapsody explained it:

Here is some background: we contacted all our device partners several months before this necessary change to our service, providing them all the info necessary to make a successful change. The vast majority of these partners made the change on time and successfully tested their devices (as did Rhapsody) and signed-off. However, after roll-out, some partners found bugs in their systems not apparent in previous testing that they needed to address. These partners are working to correct the issues they discovered as quickly as they can. They realize you’re their customers too and want to get things working properly.

Rhapsody first revealed that TiVo had decided to drop support on the Series2 and Series3 platforms, updating only the Premiere:

Tivo has started pushing out their firmware update to their series 4 DVR systems. They say it should be out to everyone by the end of August.

As far as the series 2 and 3 devices, Tivo has chosen not to update the firmware for those devices, meaning Rhapsody will no longer be accessible on them. This was a call that Tivo made, not us, and yeah, it sucks. Wish it was better news, but that’s the news we have.

And this was later confirmed by TiVo on TiVo Community:

I can confirm that an update is rolling out to Series4 boxes which will get Rhapsody up and running again. Unfortunately, due to recent technical limitations with the Rhapsody application Series3 and Series2 users will no longer have access to Rhapsody from their TiVo DVR. We apologize for the inconvenience.

It sounds like One True Media didn’t give TiVo any choice, they’re pulling support. But with Rhapsody it sounds like they made a necessary update to their service to update an expiring cert and TiVo decided not to invest resources in updating the client on older platforms. Or perhaps they couldn’t, given the “recent technical limitations” statement, though I’d like to know what those limitations are.

So what about you? Are you upset by the loss of either of these services? Leave a comment.

Description

TiVo Commander is an open source clone of the TiVo for iPad and iPhone app for Android.
It is capable of connecting to and controlling a TiVo Premiere device.

Features:
* A full remote control, with keyboard input.
* Browse all recorded shows. Watch and delete them.
* Search for shows/movies/actors.
* See credits for shows/movies, and suggestions for similar shows/movies.
* Record individual shows and add/modify/remove season passes.

TiVo Commander is open source software. It is NOT affiliated with TiVo Inc.

Screenshots:

Note that he’s serious when he says TiVo Premiere. I tried it on my TiVo Series3 and it won’t connect. And if it can’t connect you can’t even get past the settings screen in the app. I checked my Series3 and it doesn’t respond on the port the app is using, so that’s Premiere-only for sure. If you have feedback there is a discussion thread at TiVoCommunity.

If you have a TiVo Series3 or Tivo HD and you’re looking for an Android app, Tim Hoeck’s TiVoRemote is still in the market for $0.99. I’ve had this on my Droid pretty much since it was released.

I also just stumbled over another free TiVo remote app for Andorid, RCX for TiVo. The app is listed as ‘free – beta’, but seems to work based on user reviews.

Both of these apps are just remote control apps, they don’t have all the fancy features for the Premiere like TiVo’s official iOS apps or TiVo Commander, but they will work with the Series3 and up. Of course, if you’re a Virgin Media TiVo customer in the UK you can use their official TV Guide.

TiVo has stated they are working on an official Android app, but no word on when we might see it.

While looking in the Android Market I noticed a couple of other interesting, TiVo-related apps.
TiVo Music Server by Earl Magnus does pretty much what the name implies. It streams MP3 files from your Android device to your TiVo, just like TiVo Desktop does on your PC. It is a fairly new app and has some limitations (MP3s must be on the SD card/external storage, not internal, etc.) but it is free and seems to do what it promises. And Earl has a support thread on TiVoCommunity for feedback.

The other app is the $1.99 Zamar by JCIDSoftware.

Description

Your Media Library Wherever You Are
Take your media library with you, where you go!
•Stream your music
•View and download photos, display them through your TiVo on you TV
•Download your movies
•Remote control your TiVo

Use TiVo Desktop media server, or pyTiVo to stream your music, photos, and music. Remote control your TiVo, and auto-scan favorite channels

While it also claims to work as a TiVo remote, the really interesting thing is that it implements TiVo’s API for streaming media – but not as a server, as a TiVo does! So you can stream/copy content from TiVo Desktop or third party servers like pyTiVo/PyTiVoX (and I’m guessing Streambaby might work), which are normally used to send content to a TiVo. That’s pretty unusual, but if you have things setup for your TiVo you can take advantage of it with Zamar too.

TiVo Commander spotted via Engadget.

Well, play time is over. A new TiVo OS update, 14.8b, is rolling out and it appears to kill the unofficial streaming support, pulling it back behind the development/beta curtain. Since it was never officially released it isn’t really removing functionality, but that’s cold comfort for users who have been using it. They’ll just have to wait for TiVo to complete development and make the official launch, which is expected later this year as it is required for the ‘whole home’ DVR functionality of the TiVo Premiere Elite and TiVo Preview.

Try to be patient and don’t reach for the pitchforks and torches just yet. TiVo was damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. The feature was plainly rough and incomplete, and not intended for public consumption. If they left it out there they would have to deal with the users complaining about the problems, even though it wasn’t an official feature. If they pulled it back to complete work out of the public eye they’d upset those users who have been using it. Since the feature was only of use to those with multiple Premiere units in the home, it is likely not a large number of users impacted by the removal.

Reported in the forums at TiVoCommunity, via EngadgetHD.

This appears to be linked to a changed in the format of the guide data, according to a post by TiVoPony over at TiVoCommunity. Apparently the data format ran out of room for new program IDs and TMS had to expand the format. The suggestions feature in the old 2.5 software is tied to the native TMS data format, and the change in the DB format has broken the feature. It would take a software update to fix, and according to TiVoPony“an update for those boxes is not in the cards.” So it sounds like this is a permanent loss.

Hopefully the rumors of TiVo re-launching in the UL with DVB-T hardware are true and the TiVo faithful will have another option soon. (It would be nice of TiVo to offer some kind of upgrade incentive discount for those who’ve stuck with the Series1 unit all this time.) And with Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC launching in Europe in 2009, that may be another option for the TiVo faithful in the UK.

Picked up from BLORGE.

kmttg is a Perl/Tk program I wrote to facilitate TivoToGo (TTG) transfers that can download, create metadata, decrypt, run comskip & comcut (commercial detection and removal) and re-encode multiple shows you select from your Tivos all in 1 step. The program also has the capability to transfer and process shows automatically from your Tivos based on titles and keywords you setup.

In slightly less geeky speak that means kmttg can download content from your TiVo via TiVoToGo. Parse out the program information and description, the metadata, and save it. Decrypt the TiVoToGo .tivo file into a standard MPEG-2 file. Run an application called ‘comskip’ which analyzes the video and marks where it believes the commercial breaks are. Then call ‘comcut’ which takes the information comskip provided and removes the commercial breaks from the video. And finally it can then take that video and transcode it into other formats, such as H.264 for your portable device.

Now, it doesn’t do all of this itself. In fact kmttg is really a wrapper of scripts written in Perl with a user interface written in Tk which automates and abstracts several other applications such as curl, TiVoDecode, mencoder, ffmpeg, comskip, etc. So you could do all of these steps manually and individually, but kmttg makes it much simpler and easier.

Installing and using kmttg is probably not for the technophobe. You need to have Perl and Tk installed on your system, and neither is standard on Windows. You’ll need to install a Perl distribution, such as ActiveState ActivePerl, and possible manually install Tk as well. kmttg is available for Windows and Linux, though since it is Perl and the prerequisites, or their equivalents, exist for Mac I bet a technically savvy Mac user could produce a working Mac version as well. Going by the kmttg discussion thread at TiVoCommunity, it looks like it has been tried.

kmttg looks like a nice tool for those who want to extract video from their TiVo and use it elsewhere. It is a free alternative to TiVo Desktop Plus on Windows, and it has features like commercial removal which TDP lacks.

If you have, or know of, a TiVo-related application I’ve missed, let me know.

TiVo users, including myself, were surprised to find a recording in their Now Playing List called ‘Teleworld Paid Program’, with four color icon that hasn’t been seen before. See the screen capture above, and click on it for a larger version. (Yes, that’s my TiVo captured via SlingPlayer.) Some people were upset by this, wondering why their TiVo was recording paid programming. Others were just baffled by it.

So, first of all, what is the Teleworld Paid Program? You know the videos used in Showcases, promotions, interactive ads, etc, on the TiVo? Teleworld Paid Program is how TiVo gets those video clips on the box. TiVo buys several broadcast slots a week on various cable channels and broadcasts this special program. If you watch one of these you’ll see it is made up of short segments one after another. The broadcast contains flags to mark the segments, and the TiVo slices and dices the signal recording into the multiple bits and links them to the proper item on the TiVo.

As for the name, TiVo was originally named Teleworld when the company was founded. They changed the name to TiVo later. I guess using it for this is a little nod to the early days. Teleworld Paid Program has been around for many years, but most users never become aware of it.

So why is it showing up in the Now Playing List now? Well, clearly something went wrong. The broadcast was recorded as it normally is, but it wasn’t hidden from the user as it is supposed to be. The new icon must be something TiVo had in the system for their special broadcasts, probably to help engineers recognize them. (There used to be a back door whereby you could make the hidden recordings show up in the NPL, I bet it is still in there for developers.)

So, in short, this looks like a glitch. I’m sure TiVo will work to correct this. It isn’t some bizarre new way to push advertising on the users, and users shouldn’t waste their time trying to figure out why it recorded or try to prevent it. Just delete them and give TiVo a little time to fix the issue.

UPDATE: TiVoPony has confirmed that it was a glitch:

Hey guys, we’re very much aware of this and it was just a one time glitch. Very sorry about it, you may delete that recording!

The team is off now to tweak the processes in place so that this doesn’t happen again.

And the developer community did not disappoint, they’ve figured out how to support video playback in HME applications. It is early days and people are still sorting it out, but it is possible to stream MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264 video to a TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD with the 9.4 software. That means it is possible to implement a generic video playback application via HME to stream any MPEG-2 or H.264 video to the S3/HD – or any video as long as the application can transcode them. That’s fantastic news!

And the fact that MPEG-2 works for streaming implies that it may be possible for TiVo to add the streaming support to the Series2 for just MPEG-2, since the hardware can’t decode H.264. That hasn’t been any indication that TiVo will do so, but it would certainly be nice if they did as it would then be possible to produce a generic player application that transcoded to MPEG-2 for the S2 and MPEG-2 or H.264 for the S3/HD.

Of course, this is all reverse engineered by the developer community and it is possible TiVo could change something to disable this, but I would certainly hope that they don’t. In fact, I still feel quite strongly that TiVo should embrace HME and support 3rd party developers, and I would love to see TiVo issue an update to the public HME SDK which included official video support (and official HD support, as it is only in the beta SDK today – still).

But even without official support this has great potential. The ability to stream video from an HME application means that 3rd parties could bring video to the S3/HD directly. Sites like Revision3, Veoh, Break.com, Heavy,com, etc could host their own HME front end to allow streaming of any of their videos directly to TiVo. Of course, the elephant in the room is adult content, which TiVo seems loathe to officially acknowledge. But with the ability to stream right to the TiVo via HME, and bypass TiVo (the corporation), it is certainly possible. In general the ability to stream video is something that has been requested since the first days of HME, so now that it is here it may generate some new interest from developers who had moved away from HME. It would be especially useful if TiVo would bring the streaming support to Series2 units as it would create a much larger potential market, but even just the Series3 and TiVo HD are significant as it is a growing market with the HD being TiVo’s primary platform now.

I’m looking forward to seeing what people come up with, and when and if any video streaming sites embrace this.

Thanks to reader Kevin Moye for the tip.

Dave Zatz over at Zatz Not Funny posted a few screen shots of the interface, which confirm what I suspected – there is a PIN to control access to purchase power. It uses the same PIN required for Amazon Unbox purchases, which certainly makes sense. The product screen looks much like a program description screen, and there is Swivel Search-like functionality with ‘View related products’. Shipping and taxes are calculated (I’m presuming it takes into account things like Amazon Prime) and you have the ability to confirm the order with the total to be charged. Or you can change your shipping options, or even save the item to your Amazon web-based shopping cart.

EDIT: I’d requested images of the interface as well, and TiVo got back to me with them today:

Wired’s Epicenter blog’s coverage helps clarify a few things about the implementation. The current implementation will display the product purchase option on the delete screen at the end of a program, similar to the ads that can display there today. While programs can be flagged for specific products, TiVo can also use a Suggestions-style system where it presents products it feels are related, based on the program’s guide data. So the name of a talk show guest may cause books by that person to be offered, etc.

Product Purchase will also be available through Universal Swivel Search, where products related to the search results may be presented for purchase. So if you’re searching for David Hasselhoff you may be offered DVDs of Knight Rider, for example. And there’s more:

It’s not an exclusive arrangement, though, and it’s fair to expect both Amazon.com and TiVo will hop in bed with other players. “We’re always looking at ways to expand shopping options for customers,” says Heather Huntoon, a spokeswoman from Amazon.com.

TiVo’s [Evan Young, Director of Broadband Services] says the company may introduce other commerce partners, but at the moment the focus is on Amazon. “We’re looking to create some initial success with Amazon. They’re already a partner of ours, and they have excellent customer service.”

And although TiVo hasn’t tested the shopping service yet, Young is already hopeful that the initiative can be expanded to include in-program product placements and other ad arrangements.

“We’re interested in talking to programmers as well as advertisers to enable more impulse buys when it make sense,” says Young.

So TiVo could partner with QVC to offer remote-based ordering without the need to call in. Or perhaps partner with a national pizza chain to allow ordering from the TiVo, with prompts to do so in their ads. (Actually, thinking about it, there are websites out there that offer menus for local delivery joints, and sometimes online ordering. TiVo should link up with one (or more) of them and get an HME based ordering system up. It would make compiling an order for all your friends so much easier.) Channels that sell DVDs of their own programs, like Discovery and History, could sell them right at the end of the program, direct to viewers via TiVo. MTV could offer CD sales, or perhaps downloads, linked from videos (Well, whenever they deign to show videos these says.) I can think of many possible uses for this feature.

The hard part would be that, with the current system, you need to have a relationship with the vendor so that they have your payment information on file. If TiVo were to act as a payment broker, or partner with the likes of PayPal to be a broker, they could sign up just about any merchant without the user having to establish those payment relationships. That would really reduce the friction in the system.

TiVo’s Stephen Mack also posted some details on the new feature over at TiVoCommunity:

With that out of the way, here’s what you’ll see with the new feature launching today.

* For Burn Notice, Oprah’s Book Club, and a few other shows, at the conclusion of the show you’ll see a message in the delete dialog box allowing you to purchase related products. (These are similar to existing messages in the delete dialog box.) More shows will come in the future.
* In the future, we’ll create a showcase for upcoming talk shows allowing you to purchase related products.
* In the future, we’ll create a showcase about newly released books, DVDs and CDs.

The second and third items you’ll see next week, and if they’re well received we’ll evaluating continuing with them.

I’m very excited about this new feature — it’s long been high on my wishlist of things that I want when I watch TV, and I’m glad we’ve released this new feature for our customers.

Furthermore, he added:

One other point: Think of this an add-on to the existing advertising delivery methods that we’ve had for a while. Product purchase further enhances things like Showcases, program placement (that’s what we call the related menu items in the delete dialog box), and the Thumbs Up tags on advertisements.

This will be no more invasive than the existing advertising products that you’ve seen already. We don’t intend to put this new feature in any new locations.

In case it isn’t clear, that mean no ‘Buy Now’ pop-ups during actual program content. But they may appear over ads, just as the ‘Press Thumbs Up For More Information’ prompts can do so today. So those who have been worried about big pop-ups in the middle of their favorite show needed be concerned. (Though, personally, as I said in my early post, I think some kind of small, unobtrusive indicator to be able to order in-content items would be cool. But I know some would dislike that, so it should probably be something the user can disable.)

And, finally, TiVo did issue an official press release today announcing the feature.

Anyway, nothing major in this release, it is basically a bug fix and performance release. I’ll have to see if it helps with the issues I’ve been having with 2.6.1. According to a post at TiVoCommunity:

This version has the following improvements in TiVo Desktop:

*Improved Reliability of transfers of large recordings to the DVR.
*Reduced memory usage when transferring recordings from the DVR.

For Plus:
*Improved communications with TiVo when linking to TiVo account and handling web video content.
*Improved handling of web video content when pausing or shutting down TiVo server.

Picked up from TiVo Blog.

Unfortunately, that seems to be it. While some were hoping the update would activate the USB ports and networking, that doesn’t seem to be the case. So the DirecTiVo units still lack many of the features of standalone TiVos.

This is pretty cool. But it’d be even better if TiVo would publish the protocol for this IP interface so that other vendors, and 3rd party developers, could also code applications to use it. (I won’t be surprised if the hacking community reverse engineers it if they don’t.)

Well, neither TiVo nor Crestron published the protocol, and of course I’m not surprised that the community has now reverse engineered it. And it works on all TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD units running software 9.1 or higher (sorry Series2 folks).

Open a terminal or command window and telnet to the IP of your TiVo on port 31339. Then you can start issuing commands. The timeout is very short, so you might use cut & paste if you’re not a fast typist.

It is a little scary actually – there is no authentication. So anything that can talk to your TiVo on your LAN can control it. Hey TiVo, how about the tivo/MAK authentication like on the web interface? (Cue the Black Hats to write a PC worm that issues random TiVo commands over the LAN.) Still, I’m really happy to see this, and I’m sure this will spur development of a number of clever applications. Dave Zatz has already tried it by controlling his TiVo from his iPhone, and he shot a demo video of it:

I did some quick tests using telnet from a command window on my PC and it works great on my Series3. I also tried it to my Series2 just to confirm it doesn’t work – and, alas, it is confirmed.

I foresee this functionality finding it’s way into a number of TiVo apps and widgets to control your TiVo(s) from your PC, Mac, or other device. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it would be nice if TiVo would officially publish the specifications – and add some authentication. I am kind of shocked that it is wide open like that. And I’m serious, I expect someone to write some kind of TiVo-attack worm now that this news is out. There are plenty of jerks out there who get their jollies that way.

I hope TiVo keeps expanding this interface, a nice additional would be the addition of more feedback as to the current screen on the TiVo. That would make it usable remotely with positive feedback to the application that the command worked and went to the right place in the menus. This could be a more reliable (than IR blasters) way for 3rd party devices (like a Slingbox) to control a TiVo.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media, but my Slingbox comment is strictly speculation on my part on what I think would be cool and not meant to imply anything about what may or may not happen.

TiVo is now pushing 9.3c out to Series2 users, with a priority for those who have antenna as one of their sources, with a bug fix for this problem.

Thanks to Dave Zatz for the tip via email.

It has improved recovery from interrupted transfers between the PC and DVR, but it also provides an updated Windows Certificate for TiVo Desktop. The certificate used in prior versions of TiVo Desktop is about to expire, so you’ll want to get 2.6.1. Without this certificate update it will not be possible to manually transfer programs from your PC to your TiVo DVR (all other Desktop functionality should continue to work fine however).

I’m glad to hear about the improved recovery, because this has been a major issue for me with TiVo Desktop 2.6 and it was one of the major issues I had with 2.6 while writing my review (which I will finish and post soon, I promise!). Hopefully 2.6.1 will eliminate at least this one issue.

You can download TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 here.

Now, if you’re running an older version of TiVo Desktop and you can’t, or won’t, upgrade to 2.6.1, you still need to update the certificate. There is a certificate updater under the first step on this page.

This time it looks like the complaints paid off, not only is Bright House restoring the HD channels they took away, but they’re also giving CableCARD customers access to the new HD channels added on February 1st, as well as the digital SD History and Biography channels. Bright House has started emailing those who complained:

Dear [Customer],

Thank you for getting in touch with us regarding our cable programming services. This letter is to advise you that Bright House Networks will activate for your cable service the following channels on an interim basis at no additional charge:

TBS HD Discovery HD
History HD Animal Planet HD
Food HD National Geographic HD
HGTV HD History International (SD)
Biography (SD)

When interactive Switched Digital Video (SDV), or other interactive advanced delivery technologies are deployed, Bright House Networks may need to reclaim these and other channels to create those platforms We expect the first of these new technologies, interactive Switched Digital Video to be available in our service area later this year. You will be notified thirty days in advance of this change.

If you have TiVo equipment, Bright House Networks fully supports the cable industry and TiVo initiative to design an external adapter to support Interactive Switched Digital Video. This external adapter will enable TiVo digital video recorders that use CableCards to access digital cable channels without using a set top box. Based on our understanding, the external adapter will be designed to attach to TiVo Series 3 HD DVRs. Once the external adapter is designed and made available, customers with this equipment will be able to directly access digital channels offered by Bright House Networks.

Thank you for being a Bright House Networks customer; we appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Sherrie Wrenchey
Customer Care Quality Manager
Bright House Networks Central Florida

I give Bright House credit for listening to their customers and reversing their decision to benefit their CableCARD customers until they really need the bandwidth and need to deploy SDV, by which time the Tuning Resolver should offer a more permanent solution for users.

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

For the past year and a half I have received many referrals from readers, for which I am very grateful. I don’t recommend TiVo for the rewards, but I’d be lying to say it isn’t nice to get something by way of thanks. I’ve been recommending TiVo since early 2002, when I got my first box, long before there was a TiVo Rewards program. And the termination of the program won’t change that either. I recommend TiVo because I genuinely feel it is a good product and worthy of my recommendation. TiVo Rewards was nice while it lasted, but I always viewed it as a fringe benefit. I’ll miss it, but I’m grateful for the time it was available and there are no hard feelings on my part.

But, since the announcement, I’ve seen posts from upset people at TiVoCommunity, like this winner:

Is TiVo offering us anything in compensation for removing this program? I assume not and hope to find a lawyer who would like a class action suit. It is very disgusting how a place offers something, gets you hooked, and then says you’re loosing that feature with nothing in return.

Words fail me. Other than to say this kind of attitude exemplifies the things wrong with our society. I’d say it lowers my opinion of humanity, but I’ve been online since 1989, so that’s no longer so easy to do. I’d almost be disappointed if some dimwit didn’t whip out the ‘class action’ call over this. I’m waiting for someone to compare TiVo to the Nazis. Still, it gets a deep sigh and a shake of the head.

And there there are articles such as “TiVo shuttering Rewards program, screwing its best customers” at Engadget. It contains the following:

This won’t matter to the vast majority of TiVo customers, no no, this decision only screws the company’s staunchest word-of-mouth advocates. You know the kind, the alpha geeks obsessed enough with the company’s products to others spend their time zealously recommending it to friends and family in the hopes of spreading the premium DVR experience (and earning some points while they’re at it).

You know, I kind of vaguely resemble that remark. OK, not so vaguely, I pretty much define“alpha geeks obsessed enough with the company’s products to others spend their time zealously recommending it to friends and family in the hopes of spreading the premium DVR experience”. Yet I feel distinctly unscrewed. Why should I feel screwed? I got points for something I was doing anyway, recommending TiVo. And I should feel screwed because now I can’t earn points, just like it was before they introduced TiVo Rewards? Why? Oh noes, TiVo isn’t giving me free stuff anymore! Those bastards! I bet they killed Kenny too!

There is a word for someone who recommends products only for a reward – shill. And while I have been accused of being a shill, more than once, I kindly disagree. I’ve gotten TiVo a bit upset with me more than once due to things I’ve posted. If I think TiVo got something wrong, I say so. When I disagree with TiVo’s approach or implementation, I say so. TiVo is definitely not perfect, I just think they’re the best DVR on the market today. And I’d even qualify that to say TiVo is not the best choice for everyone, and for some users one of the alternatives will be the best choice. I speak my mind, whether or not what I say is what TiVo would like to hear. I think that’s important – no one ever improves if they’re only surrounded by yes-men.

Bluntly, I question the sincerity of anyone who would say they’d stop recommending TiVo because TiVo Rewards is terminating. That sounds like the only reason they were recommending TiVo was to earn rewards, and that’s the wrong reason to recommend anything. If it isn’t worth of your recommendation without compensation, then recommending it for compensation shows a lack of integrity. It also means you’ve recommended something to others that you don’t actually believe in, which is dishonest. You’ve lied to those you recommended the product to by making them believe you support the product when you were in it for the rewards. In short, you’re a shill. If you genuinely believed in the product you wouldn’t stop recommending it just because you stopped earning rewards.

The fact is, the termination of TiVo Rewards doesn’t change the product. If it was worth recommending before, then it is still worth recommending. And if it wasn’t, then it isn’t now. Whether or not you recommend something should depend on your opinion of the product, not on how many rewards you can earn by pitching it. (I treat affiliate programs for the site the same way. I get pitches for a number of programs, but I only use those for sites, software, etc, I personally use or would recommend. If I wouldn’t shop there I’m not going to send others there just because they give me a cut.)

This is all just business. I talked to TiVoPony by phone on Friday and confirmed that TiVo is developing a new loyalty program, which will launch later this year. As part of the switch they are terminating their relationship with their current rewards program administrator. That requires closing out the program, which is why everyone needs to redeem their points before the program officially closes out. There isn’t any malicious intent or conspiracy, just changes in the business. There has been some crazy speculation on why TiVo is doing this, a lot of it giving TiVo far too little credit for intelligence. TiVo certainly knows how the program has performed, and what their return has been. As they’re switching to a new loyalty program (and no, I still haven’t been able to pry details out of TiVo), they must feel the new program will provide them with better results. They’re not throwing out the entire concept of a loyalty program, they’re going to try something different.

Remember the point of the program is not really to reward loyal users, but to drive business growth by rewarding loyal users. Don’t confuse the ends and the means. Maybe they weren’t getting a good return on the current program. Or maybe they feel the new program will simply provide a better return. Either way it would make sense to terminate the current program. There is no reason to be angry, or feel ‘screwed’, unless you were using the program for the wrong reasons.

So I’m fine with it, and I’m hopeful that the new loyalty program will be interesting. I look forward to seeing what form the new program takes. I’m going to get my parents a TiVo, as I promised, only now I’ll get them one of the new lifetime TiVo HD bundles. instead of a Series3. I might pick up a TiVo HD for myself, I’m sure I’ll get an HDTV for the bedroom eventually. And I’ll be doing some giveaways on the site for those who leave real comments on the blog. (Hint.)

In the video he mentions how this is risky because someone could accidentally click on it. Or maybe a roommate or a visiting friend could click on it as a joke. Or someone else in the household, like a child, could click on it. The thing is, this is not hypothetical!

Last month I posted about TiVoCast content getting sponsorships, and reader Jenny left a comment on that post about this very issue.

Beware the Gold Star ads! I am still steaming about this… My son had just finished watching a recorded episode of Little House on the Prairie when a gold star advertisement for Cosmopolitan magazine appeared asking to click here to find out Men’s top 10 sexy secrets. Of course, being curious, he clicked on it and was given two options: No, I’m sexy enough, and Yes, I want to know the secrets (or something like that). He clicked Yes and a screen came up saying thank you for subscribing to the magazine!

When I called TiVo, they were kind enough to turn off the gold stars on my system, but could not do anything about the purchase. I am currently dealing with Cosmopolitan about this.

This is just going way too far. I had no idea that TiVo would abuse my credit card information in this way. Let alone the fact that my nine year old was subjected to this adult-themed advertising after a children’s show!

Now, it seems that Jenny may have been in error about the credit card issue, since Dave’s video indicates that you’re invoiced via snail mail. (Or perhaps that has changed in the past month.) But that doesn’t make this any less of an issue. As I said at the time, and have said repeatedly in the past, TiVo needs to put some kind of PIN/Password security on all such features. Period.

Anything that causes you to purchase or subscribe to any goods or services should require a PIN entry for confirmation by default. And it should be set to something by default, even 00000. Personally, I think this should also be included on anything that causes any personal information to be released to any third parties, even without a purchase. Allow owners to disable the PIN entry if they wish to do so, via the configuration menus. But then it is a personal choice to do so, and the user is given the option.

I am all for commerce in the TiVo interface. I’d love to see more of it. You know those History Channel shows with “Now you can buy the DVD of this program” ads? Give me the option to buy it right there from the TiVo UI. Commercials for products? Let me order them online right from the couch. Give the QVC addicts the ability to purchase right from the remote. Go for it, I’m game. But offer some security to the process. Personally I’m not too concerned – I’m single, I live alone, and my friends aren’t jerks who think it is funny to order things in my name. So I’d probably turn the PIN entry off. But I still think it should be there as an option because I know this is an issue for a number of people. I have many TiVo-owning friends with small children. And children love to play with remotes, etc. My mother likes to tell the story of how I managed to dial a local telephone operator when I was quite young. No big deal – except I managed to dial an operator in Hawaii, and we lived in New York. Kids push buttons. That’s some kind of law of nature. And even if they’re old enough to know what they’re doing parents might want to control what the kids, or babysitter, etc, can do from the TiVo – without resorting to KidZone.

As for the targeting, I agree with Jenny. I’m far, far from being any kind of prude, but an ad for Cosmo on Little House? Swing and a miss! The ads should probably be ‘rated’ and paired with TV shows of the same, or higher, rating. There is another discussion at TiVoCommunity about the content of TiVo’s ads. In that case one user was upset by the TiVo Central advertisement for the free Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Show download from Amazon Unbox. The objection is to TiVo advertising ‘prurient’ content. Personally I think that’s way over-stated, but to each his own. The ad itself doesn’t contain prurient content, and at least with Unbox you can’t order without the PIN. (And yes, for the record I have downloaded it. Though I only watched the first bit to see just what it was. I haven’t had time to watch the rest yet.)

TiVo needs to improve their ad targeting, but even more important is giving TiVo owners the ability to restrict the ability to order things from the TiVo interface.

Thank you for your interest in a Juniper Bank account.
Unfortunately, this offer has expired.
We apologize for this inconvenience.

Dave called to clarify and was told that April 28th, 2008 will be the last day to earn TiVo Referral Points, and May 28th, 2008 will be the last day to redeem existing points for rewards. Dave pinged his PR contact, and I’ve pinged my contact at TiVo as well. I held off posting all afternoon, but I haven’t heard back from my email or been able to reach my contact via phone as of yet, so I decided to post what we know right now. When I hear back from TiVo, or when Dave posts what he hears, I’ll be sure to post the information. The rumor is that TiVo is killing the program due to ‘abuse’, but it could be as simple as they’re moving to a new program or a new service provider and they can’t, or won’t, ‘port’ the current points to the new system, etc. We’ll just have to wait and see what TiVo says.

EDIT: Confirmed – see my new post.