Phillip Swann gets a first look at the R15 DirecTV Plus DVR
Yeah, TiVo had some good news for us last night (first profit ever!), but it's no secret that DirecTV's decision to stop pushing TiVo and start pimping its own in-house DVR means they're in for a world of hurt over the coming years and months — over the years DirecTV has been TiVo's biggest source of new subscribers. We figured that at least DirecTV would do it up TimeWarner-style and introduce a shoddy DVR that had plenty of customers running back into TiVo's waiting arms, but Phillip Swann over at TV Predictions says no dice: he got his hands on a product manual for the new the new R15 DirecTV Plus DVR, which is set to debut in October, should have the execs over at TiVo worried. Why? Because rather than going the no-frills route they're actually introducing a DVR with a few extra features that even TiVo doesn't have (at least not yet), like a 90-minute buffer (three times as long as what TiVo offers), the ability to bookmark specific points in programs you've recorded, built-in caller ID service, a new "Active channel" with multiple screens so you can watch/preview several shows at once, and plans for a new video on demand feature.
[Thanks, Ron]
