Exclusive pics of TiVo Download

It's pretty much an open secret that TiVo is rolling out a download service, and courtesy of a friendly source we were able to get our hands on these screenshots of what the beta for TiVo Download looks like. It's still the same TiVo interface you know and (probably) love, but obviously they give you the option of downloading a show rather than just recording it, and in this instance you can see that they're offering a download of a show from the Independent Film Channel prior to its initial broadcast. Click to see the rest of 'em.

[dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

IFC ain't no Netflix. I'm underwhelmed to say the least... show previews is just another form of advertisement. How about something I want to download, like Kung Fu Hustle?

[Dale @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

No doubt, No. 1: this is WEEAAAK. I can't wait until they offer downloads of Cadillac commercials.

TiVo crash, burn.

(I have and love TiVo . . . )

[sr20de @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

If you actually read what the first screen says, you will see the download test is a package of 3 shows totally 1 hour. Sounds like 3 30-minute shows with no commercials to me.

Show downloading is a promising new service, but I won't be upgrading from my already-upgraded Series 1 TiVo just for this. My next PVR will be home made.

[Huey2k2 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

IFC is showing Greg the Bunny starting August 19th? **gasp**. This is great news, I was upset when Fox cancelled it back in the day....

[otakucode @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

OK... and how long does it take? What is the quality of the downloaded programs? On HD Tivos do the shows come down in HD? Is there any way to throttle its bandwidth if you need to do something else on your network? Can the downloads be scheduled to happen at a later time like at night? Is there any indication of transfer speed/time remaining somewhere in the interface? Can you watch the downloaded stuff before it is entirely complete?

Pictures are nice... information is better.

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

From what I understand, the quality of the downloaded programs is "Best Quality", and if it's an hour long program, figure how long that would take to download over broadband. The beta that Tivo is testing has upped the speeds on TivoToGo, so i'm guessing that they'veeither improved their USB driver or they've enabled 2.0 support. The HD Tivos won't get this because this is not coming on DirecTV Tivos (at least as I understand it).

[dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Downloading previews of shows (complete episodes or otherwise) on a network I don't get isn't very compelling. I want a video collection, heck let's call it Netflix, that allows me to buy whatever movie I want whenever I want... not as part of an advertising campaign (as they're referred to on Tivo's career pages) at a specific time.

It's nice to see them dipping their toe in the water and testing broadband content downloads in this way. But it's not the evolutionary step many of us were hoping for.

[pete @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Certainly a step in the right direction.
But how they handle this will make or break them.
I think being able to choose when the content is downloaded is imperative.
Also, will the downloaded content be able to be pushed to a portable device via Tivo-to-go? That would be a huuge selling point...

[WizarDru @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

But isn't TiVo currently working on something with Netflix, as well. This is proof-of-concept stuff. Consider the potential, not the test.

Frankly, the near daily litany of "Tivo's done for" seems a little silly, after five solid years of it.

[JohnB @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

SLOW....

The typical network setup is to have an 802.11B wireless adapter plugged into Tivo Series 2's USB1.1 socket. Its not USB2 and its not 802.11G

Transferring recordings with TivoToGo is slow so I don't see how this will be different.

[anne.non @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

I can say with some certainty that you can download the shows with Tivo2Go, and the downloads are indeed faster because of the enhanced wireless G drivers.

[grovberg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

6 and 10:
How exactly is updating to 2.0 or G going to help you download faster? USB 1.1 is 12Mbits/second which is faster than any broadband access I've seen the US.

9:
I agree. It's like booing the Model T because it didn't have power windows and GPS. Give it time.

[Mr.Ortiz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

"they've either improved their USB driver or they've enabled 2.0 support."

Oh please let this be true! I just bought an ethernet adapter because I thought it would be faster than the wireless B adapter I was using. The speeds are nearly identical, with any boost in the wired transfers attributable mainly to wishful thinking and rounding errors. From what I've read, the USB connection is the most likely bottleneck. I hate ragging on TiVo--I've been a happy customer for 5 years--but sometimes it seems like they've got just one guy writing all their code. USB 2.0 should've been supported years ago, hire another programmer, TiVo!

[yem @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

I'm glad someone else is excited about "Greg the Bunny." :)

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#11, FWIW, I have a USB Ethernet Adapter that connects to a Wireless G router - for something shown at High Quality (Best would of course be slower) the length of the show is about how long it takes to download with the beta

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#12 - The improvements are for the Tivo To Go service, because currently the USB 1.1 speeds are.....extremely limiting. Most of the Series 2 Tivo's have USB 2.0 ports, they just aren't enabled (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-179785.html) - judging from the speed increase the beta appears to give, something has changed - whether it's a reworking of the USB drivers or what.

[sMoRTy71 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Is it just a coincidence that I got an e-mail from Netflix offering me an exclusive DVD of this exact same content?

"As someone who enjoyed Arrested Development: Season 1, we thought you'd like to know that IFC has three new comedies premiering August 19 at 10pm EST. As a Netflix subscriber, you can get a special sneak preview right now.

This time around, IFC's "TV Uncut" lineup of original series includes "Hopeless Pictures," an animated comedy from the mind of Bob Balaban that follows a self-absorbed indie mogul's struggles to keep his dysfunctional studio afloat; the return of "Greg the Bunny," starring puppet duo Greg and Warren the Ape (who originally entertained audiences on Fox before finding a new home at IFC); and "The Festival," a mockumentary series about a na? director making his film debut at M.U.F.F. (the Mountain United Film Festival). The sneak preview DVD features the first episode of all three shows, adding up to one deranged hour of IFC.

Enjoy the show,

Your Friends at Netflix"

[Galley @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Why would the excellent TV show "Greg the Bunny" be shown on the Independent Film Channel???

[Hector D @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Greg the Bunny?! Who cares? What about that 40 year old virgin?! Oh well, ... it is probably about a male geek that checks Engadget through RSS on the tool bar every 5 minutes ... :)

[Tim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Greg the Bunny actually started on IFC years ago. The old IFC version of Greg the Bunny was basically little bits with Greg harassing real-life people in public spaces, as little skits during commercial breaks in a movie. It wasn't a "show" with a plot, so much as filler. It was funny as hell, but nothing like the show that was on broadcast TV.

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#19: If that's the case, I'd think you'd have a claim on some type of royalties.

[Huey2k2 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Dave:

All I can say is Oh Snap!!

[Bucky the Cat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

What a bunch whiners. First of all, this is from a beta test. The person who sent these pictures broke an NDA to do so, and is therefore a jackass and a criminal. These pictures should not have been published here.

Second, the purpose of a beta test is to test software functionality. To presume that this is the big "IT" from TiVo is bizarre and unfathomable. "Yes, now from TiVo, you can download Greg the Frickin' Bunny from IFC. Yep, folks, sign up here." Get a clue, dimwits. This is a test of the ability to download content to the box, not an announcement of the future of TiVo content. Got it?

Bunch of numnuts, crybaby, whiners on this blog. Get a life.

No, I don't work for TiVo.

[otakucode @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Sure, 802.11b is slow. So is USB 1.1. That's only a concern with getting shows back OFF of the unit, however. My curiosity is whether they are going to pony up and provide actual high speed servers for this content, or if they are going to go the route of most other "pay us to download something" companies whose speeds are abyssmal. I have an 8mbit downstream. I've never seen a commercial provider of any file of significant size (over 100MB) that could give me a solid 750KB/s. I'd just like to know if Tivos servers, even the beta ones, seem to be trying to match consumer bandwidth.

And man I can't wait till services like this get big and Grandma gets a letter saying she's gone over her 50GB combined up/down transfer allotment for the month and now owes the cable company $800 in excess bandwidth usage fees.

[Snake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Long live G the B.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

man, Bucky the Cat is a dick. take a nap dude.

[The Jeremy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Wonder if the President of TiVo took my suggestion seriously when I wrote to him and asked him to look into the possibility of scoring a download exclusive here in the States for TiVo owners to download episodes of *Doctor Who.* That would certainly be cooler than *Greg the Bunny.*

[Jason Anderson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Greg the Bunny rocks, but I don't get the damn Independent Film Channel.

Grrr...

[narphorium @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Greg the Bunny rocks! blah.

Can't wait to see new episodes in the old IFC style.

[MegaZone @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Folks, USB2.0 is enabled in 7.1 - it is out NOW. All Series2 units have USB2.0 HW, except the very early units - models that start with 110/130/140. So, right now, ALL S2 units except those early boxes and the DVD-R units (which are still at 5.x) have USB2.0 running. And they also have 11g support.

It sounds like some of the folks commenting don't realize that.

As for the other comments, I'm with Bucky. Someone talked out of school, and I doubt this is the whole story. As has been said, it is obvious that this is a *test*, and it should hardly be considered representative of what a shipping service will be. If they can offer broadband downloads of IFC content then the infrastructure is there for *ANY* content, simple.

[mattack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Greg the Bunny is already out on DVD, btw.

If something like this were an extension to an existing netflix membership, especially for shows that didn't already have extra features on DVD, that would likely get me to upgrade from my series 1s. TV shows are something I already use netflix for a lot.

[prof. frink @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Hey all you kids with your knickers in a twist: (Bucky and MegaZone, I'm looking at YOU).
No one broke the NDA. The software has been distributed to a very small portion of the general public by mistake.
http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaysinglethread?rootPostID=10184583&returnExpertiseCode=

[Bucky the Cat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Bullshit, Frink. The article above says it is from the beta and a "friendly source." If it were an accidental leak, like happened with Netflix a couple of weeks ago, the article would say that. Just because the pictures could have come from the "mistake" doesn't mean they did. And the asshole who leaked them is a little bitch.

[sMoRTy71 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Sounds like Bucky is MegaZone based on the similarity of the comments here and on PVR Blog:

http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/08/exclusive_pics_.html

Either that or we just happen to have the 2 people on the planet concerned with both TiVo and NDAs.

[Mister Shiney @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

The last msg I got from tivo (about changes to the privacy policy) specifically mentioned a download service.

This is cool and all, but what I REALLY WANT is the ability to download MPG video from a networked PC to my tivo!

[Tony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Who cares how slow it is? Seriously...

Let's say this eventually becomes a Netflix-to-Go service (remember: Netflix and Tivo entered into an agreement some time ago, and Netflix is in the process of digitizing its library). Now, suppose you remove a movie from your Now Playing List. The next movie in your "queue" will be downloaded overnight...while you sleep. It'll be ready for viewing when you wake up in the morning...which is a LOT sooner than dropping the old movie in the mail, waiting for it to get to Netflix, getting the new movie shipped to you.

Who cares if it takes an hour or more to download if it's happening at 3:30am?

[mrderp @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Bucky, TiVo came out and confirmed that the pictures leaked abover were part of their interface, in tandem with an announcement confirming their beta TO THE PUBLIC. If they didn't want these images leaked, that would have been the first statement they would have made.

Get over yourself

[Jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

For those whining about slow TivoToGo download speeds: you need to do your homework. The speed of TTG downloads has nothing to do with USB1.1 or 2.0, or 802.11B vs. G vs. Wired. TivoToGo is CPU bound, because the content has to transcoded to .Tivo. Yes, this is essentially just an MPEG2 wrapper, but its still intensive for a machine not designed for encoding.

Everyone out there with multiple Tivos knows that the upgrade to 7.1 and the adoption of 802.11G made a big difference in transfer speeds FROM ONE TIVO TO ANOTHER (multi-room viewing, MRV). And THAT is the kind of download speeds that you can expect: the kind that go TO your Tivo, not FROM your Tivo. In that regard, Tivo's DL speed for Tivo Download is going to be restricted by the strength of your wireless signal (if wireless, I'm wired personally), yes, but mostly by 1) your ISP Downstream and 2) Tivo's servers' upstream.

Don't compare Tivo DL to TTG. Apples, oranges.

[evan shapiro @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

It will be 3 whole shows and one full hour, and the shows are friggin hysterical - though i am biased. In fact, you can see the whole episode of Greg The Bunny - the new Greg, not what's already out on dvd - at:

http://pv.ifctv.com/ifc/what/0,5266,CAT0-45-CAT1-6546-SHID-18963-AID-13455-TZ-ET-TB-4-CLR-blue-BCLR-00A8EC-,00.html

And the whole first episode of "Hopeless Pictures" (including Jennifer Cooldige doing v/o for R-rated animated intercourse) at:

http://pv.ifctv.com/ifc/what/0,5266,CAT0-45-CAT1-6548-SHID-18963-AID-13449-TZ-ET-TB-4-CLR-blue-BCLR-00A8EC-,00.html

Before you judge, chceck them out.

[Bucky the Cat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

mrderp, you may be the dumbest of a dumb lot. To participate in that beta, which was indeed offered to the public, you have to sign an NDA. Understand? And then, to send the screen shots to engadget, you have to violate that NDA. Understand?

And TiVo admitting that those screen shots were of their software in no way excuses the jackass who violated his promise.

I am not MegaZone.

[Frank Z @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

The dumbest thing TiVo did was to not include a 10/100 port in the back of the unit. That's one thing ReplayTV got right. And yes, USB 1.1 is slower than the highest rate of broadband available but burst speeds do push the rates higher. Plus wireless at 1.1 is generally slower than hardwire.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#24 - Just a quick note on download speeds. 8mb/s is pretty darn close to 750KB/s. 750KB/s works out to 6Mb/s. Lower case b = 1 bit. Upper case B = byte = 8 bits.

[?Bournthisway?Cowboy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Question! why cant movies be compressed down to a tight little bunch of 1's and 0's and asigned a code #'s.I don't know what the Programers have aginst 2 thru 9 I gotta be moseing along now i'm going to go have some beer and chips.

[tivodude @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i think it can be a hit. ability to watch shows before they air and commercial free?

> "I can't wait until they offer downloads of Cadillac commercials."

no kidding i have seen DTV do it in the past.

>The typical network setup is to have an 802.11B wireless adapter plugged into Tivo Series 2's USB1.1 socket. Its not USB2 and its not 802.11G Transferring recordings with TivoToGo is slow so I don't see how this will be different.

802.11B is faster then the broadband internet connection*(~11Mbps). even with really fast internet broadband download speed it isnt going to be a 1:1 transfer time.

[Alexander @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

I didn't understand - what is the real speed of the device??