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Tivo Mobile is Unnecessary

July 25th, 2007 No Comments

I was really excited when Tivo showed me an ad for a new feature called Tivo Mobile. What would it be? Would it be like Sling? Would I be able to watch my Tivo recordings on my mobile phone?

No. Tivo Mobile is just a way to schedule recordings from a mobile phone. Only Verizon customers can do it, too. Being a Sprint subscriber, I won’t be able to use it, but Tivo Mobile is exclusive to Verizon for only six months. After that, it will go to other carriers, but there’s no announcements on those deals.

To me Tivo Mobile is unnecessary. Why is Tivo building out features that no one really is asking for, yet is taking a long time to make basic changes to its UI or a lower priced HD box?

It’s not clear from reading Tivo’s website that shows you choose to record via Tivo Mobile will be programmed immediately, and not hours later. After all, if you’re going to program shows on your mobile phone, it probably means you want something recorded very soon. Hopefully, it can schedule shows immediately, or within an hour, at least.

Also, customers need to use phones that support the Tivo application, so if you have an older phone, you may be out of luck anyway. (Verizon has a list of phones that will work with Tivo Mobile.)

Word is that Tivo Mobile will cost Verizon customers $5 a month. That’s on top of the monthly Tivo fee of about $20. I’d love to know how many users actually sign up and download the Tivo phone application when it becomes available.

Tivo Mobile is a big bust. Do we really need to use a mobile phone to schedule a TV recording? Shouldn’t we be able to wait until we get home or are at a computer, where it’s far easier to search and use the newly re-designed online scheduler.

Oh and calling the new service “Tivo Mobile” when all it does is schedule recordings is rather deceptive.

[Via Tivo Website, Engadget]

Posted in Tivo

Tivo Unveils Lower Priced HD Tivo

July 24th, 2007 No Comments

In response to market and customer demand, Tivo announced a new lower-priced HD DVR TiVo that will sell for $299 rather than the Series 3 which retails for $799.

Along with the lower price, the new HD Tivo comes with a 160GB hard drive which is a lot smaller than the 250GB of the Series 3. The new Tivo HD can store just 20 hours of HD or 180 hours of standard definition TV. Even with 250GB, the Series 3 only can manage 32 hours of HD content. I need more storage!

Twenty hours of content isnâ€™t much. Frankly, thatâ€™s still not enough for me to switch to an HD Tivo. I currently own a 180 hour Series 2 dual tuner and donâ€™t own an HD TV set so Iâ€™m not in a hurry to switch. But once I switch to HD, I would probably still choose Comcastâ€™s HD DVR over the new HD Tivo. I canâ€™t imagine going from 180 hours to 20 and not affecting my TV viewing and recording experience. I may even decide to pay $799 for the Series 3.

Having just 20 hours of content isnâ€™t a bad trade off however, since you can install a larger hard drive that you buy separately. Sure it means opening and tinkering with your new Tivo, but itâ€™s not too difficult and just a little harder than installing a new hard drive on your PC.

Like the Series 3, the new HD Tivo also has dual tuners, and can do many of the same things as a regular Series 2 or 3 DVRs such as photos, music, TV and movie downloads via Amazon Unbox, TivoCast and more.

The HD Tivo comes with support for CableCARDs, as well as HDMI but it doesnâ€™t come with a nicely brushed metal box, front panel display or a back-lit remote control. It also doesnâ€™t support satellite programming at this time.

A major downside is that TiVoToGo and multi-room viewing are not available on the new TiVo HD although Tivo said that a version will be made available in the future.

Clearly, Tivo is going after the people who are currently opting to go with their cableâ€™s HD DVR and donâ€™t a small hard drive. A Series 3 Tivo is still the dream machine for those serious about HD and getting the full Tivo experience. In fact, Tivoâ€™s FAQ says that Tivo HD is â€œdesigned as a universal cable box replacement that works seamlessly with any cable providerâ€¦â€ Itâ€™s made for people that have HD and want their Tivo at a lower cost.

Tivo is accepting pre-orders today with boxes shipping in early August. After August, you can find Tivo HD at your local retailer as well.

Update: If 20 hours or even 32 hours of HD content isn’t enough for your Tivo, why not buy a Tivo from Weaknees? They do the hard work of adding a bigger hard drive, so you can choose from a 65 hour Series 3 Tivo for $699, or a 144 hour Tivo for $1,049.