How would you change TiVo?

It's time for another Friday of imagineering here at Engadget. We've already solicited your input on changing Windows Media Center, so we thought we'd look at the set-top side of the home entertainment world. Up on today's re-engineering block: How would you change TiVo? We'll start off with just a few and we hope you'll add your ideas to the mix:

• Ability to extract files as MPEGs, not as .tivo files

• The ability to directly connect/sync a PVP or PSP over USB 2.0.

• TiVoToGo Mac support

• And our longtime wish: a TiVo-branded application for the PC

[nicklinus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

i wish they had the thing like replay tv where you can download the video that you missed from a nother replaytv.

[M_F @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Add gigabit ethernet instead of a USB kludge so that shows can be more quickly transferred.

I mean... how expensive would it have been to add fast ethernet in the first place? I've seen ethernet cards go for $5.

[brasten @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Easy:

1) A good interface to your iTunes library to play music on your TV. (Not iSee iTunes).

2) A good on-board Java API (not this external HME stuff.) The ability to develop and use little applets on the TiVo directly. "Tivlets"??

3) The ability to purchase and download movies. Much like what everyone wants on iTunes... except people don't want to watch movies on their laptops (for the most part), they want to watch them on their TV. Should be totally doable with H.264 now.

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I'm waiting for someone to say "make it not suck" -- there's always at least one.

But I agree, Mac support is the #1 for me.

Fishes,
narco.

[Tyler @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

- an open plugin api so 3rd party and 'community' developers can add additional functionality; all with out having do use telnet/bash and all that geeky (although cool) unix commands.

- keep the directivo up-to-date with the series 2 feature set.

- transfer recorded shows from one tivo in the house to another for viewing

- folders to organize recorded shows

oh the list can go on and on....

[Lord of the Free @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Yep, #1, your idea is awesome. It would be great if I could use my TiVO to download things that I missed or forgot to record.

[Dona @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Standalones transfer from unit to unit now.

For me, it's increase transfer speeds.

[Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I would love, love, love the "Record Once A Day" option. Hey, TiVo, I don't need to see every frickin' episode of "The Daily Show"! Jebus.

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Add support for HDTV to non-dish users.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I've had both Tivo and D*Tv Tivo.

Tivo need to have some type of tuner or something were we can record two programs at once without using two cable boxes or D*TV receivers. Using an antenna to view another station (limited) while recording another blows. Put a cablecard slot or something in there.

As mentioned a third party app (legal) pull files to your computer easily.

Record in MP4 format.

With D*TV tivo or the remaining few years Tivo will be with D*TV. Enable the network options for all the reasons above.

[Engadgeter @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Um, how about a native ethernet port (or gigabit)?? That would be a good start for not making it take 2 hours to download a 1 hour show!

-Hard drive expandibility via USB2 or FireWire
-Native web support (I know you can get around to it though why should you have to? Make it offical!)
-Have optional dual tuners in non-DirecTivo units
-A faster proc only because I've noticed some interface slowdown with the new software
-How about wireless keyboard/mouse support? (Might be an interesting alternative to the remote)

That's just the beginning but I'd be happy with these to start.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Tivo Server support for AAC files.

[freevo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Ummmm, how about get rid of the ridiculous $14 a month subscription? There are soooo many free alternatives why bother with tivo?

[Nrage @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

This is for narco...

MAKE IT NOT SUCK....there you go buddy

[Kevin Lepard @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

1) Two Tuners that can work independently. I'm tired of missing shows because of weird start/end times, or because 2 episodes are back to back and one conflicts with the other because you've set the TiVo to run a minute early/long so you don't miss the shows ends.

2) TiVoToGo on the Mac.

3) Ability to extract video directly.

4) Gigabit (or at least 10/100) ethernet. Not just the USB kludge.

[The Jeremy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

1. FireWire or USB 2.0 support for external hard drives.

2. CableCard internal slot. Offer some type of upgrade scheme via FireWire to use CableCard 2.0 if the card's dimensions do not match up with 1.0.

3. Built in Ethernet port. No dongles.

4. Built-in antenna and internal slot for an optional Apple Airport WiFi card.

5. TiVo licensing their units to work with the Apple iTunes Music Store to not only purchase tracks on a whim from your couch to streaming AAC files to-and-fro your PC/Mac.

6. MPEG2/4, Divx, and Xvid capable streaming from your PC/Mac and opening files located on the net through Yahoo/Google video searches from the unit.

7. MPEG4 compression for more storage space.

8. Component Video In/Out, Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS In/Out, and DVI/HDMI in/out on HD models.

9. Dual "tuners".

10. TiVo-to-Go compatibility with Macs, capable PalmOne units, and the Sony PSP.

11. iPod dock on the top of the unit.

12. Debuting the fruits of the NetFlix partnership.

13. Viewer voting options. Actually voting on the quality of the show you just watched, and the ability to give feedback to "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" actual networks. I detest UPN and G4, so I'd like to actually have my TiVo upload my vote to TiVo to share with interested advertisers.

14. Compatibility with the upcoming (rumored) Sony and Apple online HD stores.

15. Ending the stupid .tivo encryption on extracted video content. If MCE machines aren't encrypting, why does TiVo have to?

16. Better processor. Dump MIPS and slap a Cell processor into the unit to increase the processing power. My Series2 stumbles on the first 10 seconds of playback on any recorded show since the OS upgrade to accommodate TiVo-to-Go. Increase the physical memory to 128 megs or so.

17. License the design so people can buy a TiVo approved mobo and chassis and build their own units to steal the thunder from MythTV and other projects.

18. Offer an option to get "free" service by agreeing to watch a certain amount of downloaded commercials tailored to your aggregate viewing habits.

19. Use some sound dampening materials to reduce system noise. The Series2 units are much louder than Series1 units.

20. Getting DirecTV to offer TiVo-to-Go and the other HMO features.

21. Partnership with Apple. Licensing the software for inclusion with iLife 06.

22. Don't trust Microsoft. Threaten to sue over outstanding patent claims from the UltimateTV fiasco for more investments.

[Eric @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Swappable hard drives, or the ability to plug in a USB hard drive.

[The Jeremy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Forgot one. The ability to stop recording a show early since many shows like NBC's "Scrubs" end a good 3 minutes before the time block ends. I'd rather have that option up front than have to set up a manual recording of a time block.

[Haggis! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

- Dual tuners on SA units.

- Screw all the DRM hoops they're making us jump through.

- Speed the silly thing up in general. Speed up the file transfers. Speed up the UI. Speed up the sorting- right now if you change the priority on a wish list, you might as well go out and make a sandwich while you wait for it to whir and grind and give you control back.

- Exclusions in the wish lists so you could automatically record anything about say, Scotland, but not anything about golf that was played in Scotland.

- Better handling of shows that repeat in the course of the day on stations that provide little in the way of program descriptions. Right now, if you make a wishlist for say BBC news, and it's repeated six times over the course of the day, the box isn't bright enough to realize that all the subsequent showings are the same. So you end up either limiting the total # of programs saved in that wishlist to 1, or you contrive wishlists for other programs to superceed the subsequent recording.

The wife absolutely loves our Tivos, but the dang things drive me nuts - not because they can't do any of this stuff, but because Tivo won't do this stuff.

[IMWeasel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

"Ummmm, how about get rid of the ridiculous $14 a month subscription? There are soooo many free alternatives why bother with tivo?"

Why? Because it just works. I have a TiVo and two Media PCs. I still pay the $14 a month for the TiVo even though the Media PCs do everything the TiVo does and more. I do so because the TiVo has only screwed up and missed recording a show maybe 3 times in 3 years. The Media PCs require constant attention to keep them working. Like usual MS doesn't understand the importance of reliability.

[Jeff Bridges @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Sounds like what you really want is a ReplayTV.

[chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

1. Tivo needs to use faster processors so the Ui isn't so damn slow.
2. Newer video codecs with higher quality.
3. cable card support
4. faster ethernet
5. cheaper monthly service with better discounts for multiple devices
6. Simple web access even if its just to tivo.com for things like weather, rss etc.
7. local music storage.
8. external hard drive support
9. hd
10. downloadable movies
11. sd card support on the front for reading and writing to.


I could go on forever. Tivo in 2005 isn't much better than tivo in 2000. What have they been doing for the last 5 years? The only reason I upgraded from series 1 to series 2 was so that I could ditch my land line. Nothing else was must have.

[Jimmy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I'd like smarter filtering of a show's meta-data.
For instance, Speed Channel generically tags it's auto racing programs as "Auto Racing" while the subhead tag is usually unique, so it reads like this: Auto Racing, Winconsin Truck Racing or Auto Racing, Dakar Rally.

If I thumbs-down, the Winconsin Truck Racing, the Tivo should be smart enough to know, I still like Rally racing.

[Hose @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Media push for HMO. Right now it's pull only--transfer SHOW from TiVo A to TiVo B only on TiVo B. We should be able to push it to TiVo B from TiVo A (people with two TiVos on different levels of their home know what I'm talking about).

And improve the web interface so that if you schedule a show and it conflicts you find out on the web site, not when you get home and have a message on your TiVo.

[kc! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

1. TIVO-TO-GO FOR MAC!!!!!
2. An easy way to get recorded snippets and audio to my computer (this might be a repeat of #1)
3. Better quality recordings (less compression artifacts)
4. Ability to record more than one show at once
5. The ability to record a show and watch tv on a different channel!!
6. deleting multiple shows at once
7. ability to record the next non-conflicting instance of a show

[raygundan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

1. Dual-tuner cablecard HDTV support
2. Extraction of shows as mpeg with no DRM
3. Automatic commercial skip like the old ReplayTVs or MythTV
4. Fast networking for show extraction

[Wayne @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

There are so many several-times-in-a-week episodes that I'm never sure what's recording when, what juggling will help and what's actually not going to get caught before it 'goes away'. In other words, I'm never sure TiVo really takes advantage of all these 'repeats'. Changing priorities on the Season Pass list frequently makes things worse - and it's really slow, too.

So: The Recording History and To Do list needs something better. Maybe just a list of new episodes and when they're going to be recorded? I dunno.

[Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I agree with most of what's said.
1. Faster system (processor, memory, etc)
2. Faster network connectivity (802.11g at least)
3. Downloadable Netflix movies
4. Better codecs
5. Cable Card (I heard that they're actually doing this)
6. 2+ tuners (I heard they're doing this too)
7. Option to start recording late (in addition to early option)
8. Option to stop recording early (in addition to late option)

[Dustin Rodriguez @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

CableCARD support.
Agnostic HD recording (from DVI, component, VGA).
Component, DVI, VGA outputs.
Do not respect the broadcast flag. I'd like the Tivo to actually be able to record after July, thanks.
Background transcoding to MPEG-4 format, preferrably H.264.
Gigabit ethernet onboard with packet processing in hardware (so it could actually approach gbit speeds and not be hindered by CPUNIC bus)
Ability for Tivo to stream content across a local network from any samba-mounted source and play it.
Support at the *BARE*MINIMUM* everything mplayer can play. My Xbox already does, you won't sway me until your device can too.
Modular multi-tuner support.
DVD recorder just like what exists now, but take it MPEG-4. Record the shows into a normal ISO or Joliet filesystem with some nice folder naming convention based on show metadata and dump HD Xvid, Divx, WMV, whatever MPEG-4 files there.
Upconvert non-HD content to whatever HD mode you set to prefer.
If you're going to go the buy-movies route, absolutely sell the movies and not a license to watch them for X hours or X number of times or whatever crapola. Price it like a DVD and give the flexibility people used to have with VHS tapes.
Heck, if you're feeling crazy, make the background transcoding engine network capable, create a PC and Mac client for it, let is distribute work over the network to help out with load, etc...

[stm @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

You can play shows from other Tivos. I think it's supposed to even work over the internet if you know what to do with your firewall..

Anyway, I wish Tivo would put some built in internet radio streaming interface w/ id3 info.

[Dustin Rodriguez @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Oh yeah, and how about sharing my preferences selections with a central server so that Tivo can be as accurate as Netflix and Amazon and other such sites that benefit from aggregated information of that sort?

Go ahead and make it opt-in because the paranoia privacy nuts will get their panties in a twist. But make it anonymous for your own safety, and promise not to tell the data to Nike even if they offer to bail you out of bankruptcy.

[kc! @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

The ability to start recording a show later and to stop recording earlier! This should be SO easy to implement. I am tired of watching 5 minutes of the previous program, knowing that the end of my REALY show is going to get cut off...

[telstar @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Here's my list:

-Ability to start recording a show a few minutes late easily
-Digital I/O everything
-Send shows over the net to friends & family
-Variable encoding rates per show ... so if I start watching a show in high-res and I want to save it ... it won't have to record the whole show in high-res. Either re-encode what's already in the buffer ... or allow for variable compression rates on a per-show basis.
-DVD-out without TiVo menuing as a front-end
-Cable-card support
-Ability to have TiVo Messages and alerts sent to an email address in addition to on my screen
-Real-time checking for end-time of shows that tend to run over (sports, etc.)
-Ability to order the soundtrack to movies that are playing, and have it synced to my iPod
-Raw video/audio extraction
-A pony

[Scott Laird @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

If you have two TiVos, then they should work together, sharing their workload and disk space. If you want to record two programs that come on at the same time, then the two recordings should automatically be divided up between the two TiVos. You can manually accomplish that now, but there's no real reason why two (or more) TiVos on the same network can't handle this better.

[ReplayTV Fan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

The solution to all your problems is to just buy a Replay TV -- it can download in MPEG2, and Nero writes the files to DVD with NO modifications. The opensource DVARCHIVE runs on your PC allowing you to download or stream from or to the Replay TV. Why wedge the square TIVO peg into a round hole when you can just buy Replay TV. I don't understand why everybody buys Tivos then sits around and complains about them when right next to them on the self is the unit that has all your wishes already fulfilled.

Replay TV also has the quick 6 sec backward AND forward buttons (Tivo gives you only back) and Replay TV *also* gives you automatic commerical skip (if you buy the old 5xxx reconditioned unit before lawsuit) but they snuck it into their latest versions as the skip ahead feature...just push the forward arrow and VIOLA -- it skips over ALL the commericals right to the next segment of the TV show. This works about 75% of the time. With TIVO? Your sh** out of luck. I guess TIVO people enjoy their commericals.

REPLAY TV! REPLAY TV! RAH RAH RAH!!

[Roger Rees @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

The ability to make a show start recording late or early in one minute intervals, as opposed to the current ability to start recording early at five minute intervals.

[a.sintic @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

SPEED UP THE UI!
I've got somewhere between 50 and 60 season passes and if I decide to move, for example, number 60 up in priority to number 10, I might as well go to bed because it takes literally over an hour. I can't tell you exactly how long because the last time I did this I got so bored after waiting for an hour that I DID go to bed and when I woke up it was done. For all I know, it could have taken 6 hours.

[whiplash @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I don't think I'm adding anything new... but here's what I want most...

- Ability to limit a season pass to one channel and/or timeslot. I'm tired of having 5 episodes of Cheers recorded daily when all I want is the ones on CH26. Yes you can manually record a channel/timeslot now, but if the programming changes or is irregular you get copies of programs you don't want. Or on some channels that play a show early in the day and again at night, you get two identical shows... just make season pass a little more precise.
- Faster transfers to PC, wireless-g built in
- Renting movies via Tivo sounds really cool
- I like the save as MPEG option. I hate having 90 minutes of SNL on my disk when all I wanted was that cowbell skit or the System of a Down performance.
- Dual tuners

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Firefox on your TiVo to surf the Web.

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Download Games or Movies from Netflix When is this coming 2007?

[yuppicide @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Built in FUFME interface.

[RuneSpyder @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Add the ability to store programs on other devices that are not Tivo boxes. For example, be able to map a network drive on your Tivo that points to some file server on your home network. That would make the shows available to other Tivo units in your house. So, not necessarily have the Tivo's, talk to each other, but be able to have any Tivo in your house save it's files on a central server that can be your own home PC.

[mph @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

For the DirecTiVo, I shouldn't have to manually tell the thing which channels I receive, and which I don't. It's a pain in the ass, especially since I have to look at the chart for my programming package to see which ones I get. Look at paper, look at screen. Look at paper, look at screen. Repeat over and over.

Worse yet, the recent automatic software upgrade wiped out this setting, and I have to do it all over again.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

There are so many things I'd change about TiVo at this point, I don't even know where to start.

1) CableCard. Everything needs to be CC now. TiVo, MCE, TV's, cable boxes, whatever. I don't understand why it's taking so freakin' long (you know, not all of us even care about on-demand stuff, so just give us our freakin' CC 1.0 if we want it!).

2) Update the boxes. Sheesh, they're still on Series 2! These things have what, 66mhz processors? 40 or 80GB hard drives? (I know, you can buy a Humax, but shouldn't the first-party official boxes be better than this by now?) Give current owners a break on a box upgrade - heck, do what the cable company does and give monthly subscribers a new box free!

3) Do not release a software update until it is fully tested. 7.1 broke a lot of things for a lot of people. I just received a new update last night (the second since they broke everything) and most of what got borked originally is now fixed, but it shouldn't have taken this long to iron out the bugs. One of the reasons people used to like TiVo is that it just worked - I can't confidently tell anyone that anymore.

4) Up the recording quality. I think they did this once already and didn't tell anybody, but I'm not sure. One day, I checked my season passes and they had all been reset from "Best" to "High" quality, but the available record time stayed the same. I wondered if that meant "High" was now the old "Best", but I tried it out and the quality itself didn't seem as good. So I don't know what went on there... in any case, I can record at up to 12mbps on my MCE system, but only up to I think 6mbps on TiVo. They need to up this.

5) Totally retool TiVoToGo, from start to finish. Complete rewrite. The entire concept is screwed up and the implementation is even worse. It takes me 2 hours to transfer a 1 hour TV show (on my MCE box, it takes about 5 minutes, meaning I don't even really need to transfer it, I can just watch it over the network). Then you've got about the most onerous DRM scheme anyone has ever come up with - even my MCE box lets me transcode dvr-ms files in a whole bunch of different apps (Nero will even remux without re-encoding it). And you've got the requirement that you have the TTTG app installed on your machine to even view the files, which carries with it two or three system services that stay on all the time - this is just unnecessary. The promise of TTTG was the main reason I hung in with TiVo for so long and it just turned out such crap.

I've got a lot more, but that's a good start...

[Leif @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

About the only thing I REALLY want (as in, I'd be 3 more Tivo's 2 seconds after they announce it) is for DirectTV to get off their behinds and support HMO.

If it wasn't for the fact that Cable sucks even more...

[LairBob @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

The ability to "overlap" Season Pass recordings, so that when two shows partially overlap, the higher priority one gets completely recorded (as usual), but the remaining portion of the lower priority show gets recorded, too.

For example, when stupid friggin' ABC makes "Alias" run 5 minutes long till 10:05PM, that automatically cancels the entire recording of "Law & Order" that starts on NBC at 10:00PM sharp. I'd like the Tivo to just switch over to L&O as soon as "Alias" stops, and pick up from there.

This would have to be optional, of course, per show, but it would _really_ help. There are lots of time when I want to either stay tuned to a sports event until a different show kicks in, or just tape the first half of Conan, even if something else starts halfway through.

[Scott Dunagan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Cable card and HDTV support ASAP

[ZildjianKX @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

No one has mentioned the obvious yet... WPA support and 802.11g speeds. Supposively they've added support for 802.11g cards, just not at full speed (or WPA support).

[Stoneman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Put TIVO on a PC card. Seriously. Why not just put in into a PCI express port? Or AGP?

Or better yet. Integrate TIVO into a motherboard.

AND Make it possible for Canadians to subscribe.

Damn CDN rules are so backwards.

[Matthew McClintock @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

A smaller form-factor! Sheesh, everything's thinner and narrower -- my Tivo looks like a hog (and takes up a lot of room).