TiVo Premiere hands-on (update: video!)
By Paul Miller 
posted March 2nd 2010 9:40PM
posted March 2nd 2010 9:40PM
The new ways to find and promote relevant content are pretty intuitive and helpful. Everything is "connected," so it's easy to start from a category like the "Oscars" or an actor like "Jack McBrayer" and end up on the other end of the universe, IMDB style. There's a certain amount of dumbing down, to be sure, and nothing's going to beat your laptop for speed or comprehensiveness in bopping around this sort of information. Although, TiVo helps out a bit in this department with the optional QWERTY remote. Unfortunately, while we appreciate the full QWERTY input, the sliding mechanism is utterly cheap and shoddy -- we're assured that it's a couple revisions away from a final design, and we certainly hope so! The QWERTY buttons themselves are rubbery and not very clicky, but perhaps they'll helped along as well by this promised revision.
Update: We've got video. It can be found after the break, though unfortunately you can't hear a single thing our helpful guide says because she's drowned out by the "fist pumping" good times of the party that TiVo's event devolved into.
That's a pretty slick UI.
@LCDBox the ui might be nice but why on earth do people need a big box to watch and save tv shows/whatever?
@LCDBox
I still like the TiVo Central home screen I came up with a lot better:
http://www.wattproductions.com/docs/Tivo_Central.png
http://www.wattproductions.com/docs/tivo_new.png
I want more information in less space... let's take full advantage of 16:9.
@LCDBox A BIG disappointment... As much as I loved tivo, I hate them for not staying ahead of the curve, and after such a bold statement... this is all they've got?
Not to mention, they are charging for the box and treating my Tivo HD like it pretty much doesn't exist... I am probably leaving.
pal :)
@coolpal I meant charging that much for the box and then demand a monthly service fee :(
@(Unverified) Eek don't quit your day job. :$
@punkrockguilt999
Yeah, no doubt I'm no graphic designer, but it was just supposed to show how a central home page can display all kinds of relevant info.
I do think it's kind of ironic that my comment was downranked into oblivion just because I linked to an image... if I'd just DESCRIBED what I thought would make the best home screen it would have been left alone... I suppose that added detail was just enough to render my post as not adding anything to the conversation...
@(Unverified)
Were you Microsoft's UI designer before Zune?
@LCDBox
Do we know if we can turn off all the clutter at the top? The whole screen looks really cramped and I absolutely, positively DO NOT WANT recommendations or advertisements on my TiVo Central screen. I want all the space to display just what shows I have on my TiVo.
I'm all got a new UI, but if I can't get rid of the clutter, I wont bother with buying the new TiVo.
NO CLUTTER PLEASE.
Better that
www.ii-view.com
First Microsoft TV. running windows 7 native.
Maybe it's just me, but the stuff they announced doesn't sound as revolutionary as they'd have you believe. Most of it I've been doing on my Media Center for years.
It's a nice improvement, but not as big as they hyped it being.
@jhoff80: I agree media center FTW...and can i say since Netflix was added, OMG! I don't have to download movies. (as much)
@jhoff80 Dude, here's the truth. Tivo is hanging on by their fingernails. Sure they're superior to any of the cable company DVR's out there, but most people would rather rent a box for a few bucks a month rather than pay for it first and still pay a monthly fee. So Tivo? Kind of a failure. They might be getting buy soon on their patent fees, as much as I love mine.
Yet as questionable as Tivo's success is, a Windows Media Center PC is EVEN LESS POPULAR. Very very few people have one of these. They are WILDLY unsuccessful. Sure, I like the idea myself, or I might if the whole extender model hadn't gone POOF, but its basically not going anywhere.
@Fanfoot Nobody's talking about popularity, we're talking about features and interface. And these features and interface are just nothing new. Sure, it's nice to have, but they don't warrant having a big event promising "the next big thing in DVR".
@jhoff80
I agree completely. For full disclosure: I've never been a fan of TiVo, even though I have installed many of them (for others).
That being said, in my opinion, it was unacceptable to have a slow interface a decade ago. The fact that there is a please wait spinner *at all* on the new interface is pretty sad. It's not like it needs to go to a server to list your information—it's all right there on the same hardware!
Maybe if they put less effort into the animated interface, and more effort into designing a database that works with the user's needs, it would actually feel faster.
While Dish has really frustrated me lately with their treatment of existing customers, my DishDVR has run faster from the day I got it almost 5 years ago. Like anything, it's not perfect, and some rely on the recommendation feature. If that's your thing, great. But as a general purpose set top box / DVR, TiVo still makes products that disappoint me.
(And both DVRs pale in comparison to my old-and-slow Mac mini running Plex, but that's a different issue still ;-)
@Fanfoot
> Yet as questionable as Tivo's success is, a Windows Media Center
> PC is EVEN LESS POPULAR.
That is a completely unsubstantiated claim. It's nothing more than wishful thinking.
While Tivo certainly has mindshare and brand identity, most consumers just can't seemed to be bothered to buy something other than the default option. Those that can be bothered, also happen to be the sorts of consumers that might find a Tivo lacking in features.
Stuff like MCE eats away at what little is left of the market for Tivo.
@jhoff80 I have a TiVo and everything they talk about my TiVo can already do... ?? I think this product was rushed, they had to do SOMETHING to make some money cause they're basically bankrupt
many people are waiting for the directv tivo announcment. if tivo wants to become big, they can't force you to be a cable customer. The Directv consumer will most likely choose to buy a Tivo Dvr, since directv customers have to buy their boxes anyways, so it would be a market i would target.
@kushkm
wait, what? DirecTV makes you pay $250 for a box that you don't own, and then charges you monthly fees.
@petsounds They also make you return the box that you purchased, don't own, and paid a monthly "lease fee" for when you switch providers
What's the going price on a life time plan now a days? I love TiVo but the monthly plan really irks me and there really is no box that I know of that competes with it for a lower price.
@reallynotnick
It's all at tivo.com. IIRC $299 if you already have a Tivo or $399 for the first lifetime subscription.
Compared with paying monthly on a cable box, it eventually works out to be cheaper (I haven't paid monthly for a Tivo ever).
lold at the side shot of the remote. That thing looks pregnant.
Can't really tell from the pics, but is there a clock or any sort of an external display on the front of the box like there is on the Series 3? That clock was the reason I removed my VCR from the AV stack, as sorry as that sounds...And it's so handy to look down and see what's being recorded without having to turn anything on.
@airmattdog No clock on the front, just five circular lights. See page 2 of http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/tivopremiere.pdf
@elyscape Ahh, thanks. I guess that saves me the $500. I'll just stick with the Series 3.
I am sure a DirecTV TiVo will be announced this month, they were probably just waiting for the new series 4 revision, I think this would be something DirecTV would announced over TiVo.
I'm just hugely disappointed that this new UI wont be ported to the current TiVo HD, honestly, what is my subscription paying for?
@shorties You're paying for the TV Guide-type info and other content. The new UI can't be ported back to the TiVo HD because the HD quite simply can't run it.
@elyscape
Windows media center gets guide info for free. And if the TiVoHD really doesn't have the horsepower the run the new OS, then at the very least it should get an upgraded less flashy (Excuse the pun) OS implementing the features the TiVo HD can handle. At this point I might as well just put a cable card tuner in my PC and cancel the TiVo service .
@shorties I imagine that they would have preferred to keep the new UI in Java and put some or all of the new stuff on the Series3 boxes, but for whatever reason found that unworkable. It would explain why they went to Flash, anyway. It still sucks, though.
@shorties Honestly, given that the Tivo event was today and they DIDN'T announce a new DirecTV model, I'd say that if one IS coming, it ain't soon...
@shorties
When I see the new Tivo, I see an overpriced ION with a couple of extra components. The base level Premiere should be gone. There should be no HD Tivo with less than a TB hard drive. If THX costs extra due to licensing nonsense I could see that being part of a "special upgrade" unit.
The base unit certainly should not have a dinky hard drive.
Laptop drives are bigger than that now.
Not sure about the extra cost for wifi either.
It seems like Tivo boxes have passed the point of being "loss leaders".
How is TiVo working do you still need to pay for cable monthly? Can anyone tell me?
@(Unverified)
I could tell you, but I'd get sued. Not sayin' by whom.
@(Unverified)
Obviously if you want CABLE you have to pay for cable monthly.
Tivos have always worked with OTA too.
Since they are not allowing my Series 3 to use the new UI, I'm pretty much done with Tivo.
I've waited years for them to update their UI to use HD/widescreen, and when they finally do they give all their current users the big FU.
@liuping
Maybe are hardware just isn't setup to handle it. I dunno. My TiVo HD is fine.
@liuping Probably can't run it.
Series 4 has 400mhz dual core CPU, 512 MB of RAM, 800mhz memory bus.
Series 3 has 300mhz single core CPU, 128 MB of RAM, 400mhz memory bus.
@liuping So half the people think the new UI is not a real improvement and the other half think that they should have updated the existing models to support it? Okay, sure...
Like others said, the existing models can't handle it. Plus, it doesn't seem like there's really much new here. Be happy with what you've got, its fine. It doesn't seem like there's much reason to upgrade...
@liuping
They have only said that the new FLASH interface will not be compatible with previous hardware. They have not said that there will not be a new interfaces for the old hardware. The fact that we have the new beta HD Tivo Search interface means that our hardware can drive an HD interface. I for one am going to wait and see before saying anything stupid and rash.
what is this flash thing you are talking about? Is it another teabag of hurt?
Since it has flash, does that mean that it is hardware accelerated? Also, could this mean that we could use hulu? If so, that would be very nice...
@combouser
This is what I am thinking, if this thing has Flash, it'll integrate perfectly to online video sites. Hulu included. It's going to be awesome.
How DARE they not picture this QWERTY slide out remote (for harmony to copy, ASAP please). Also, DishTV, can you immediately start copying the rest of the features in this thing? I HATE TiVo.
This looks pretty slick, but is the UI updates really worth upgrading for? Even with selling my old one, it will cost around $200...
Ha! I guess the joke is on us long time TiVo Subscribers. "Inventing the DVR was just the beginning"... The beginning of a long *SS F*CKING! Done.
Being a tivo fan I was super psyched about them doing something revolutionary and turning the tivo into more then a DVR. Most of these features have been available in my series 3 for YEARS. There are a few new features but nothing to get excited about, and it looked like it pulled the info so slowly that its not worth my time. There is only one word to describe this all for me.
FAIL
I don't know, but in the video it looks kinda laggy doesn't it? It just seems sluggish. The transitions and stuff are either non-existent or not smooth.
And what did the lady say about Comcast VOD? I couldn't make out what she was saying.
@cypherx I agree. Not sure if he/she is pausing on the options for us to look. I'd like to see someone move around that knew what they were after.
@cypherx Yeah, very laggy. But I'm hoping that's because of the video running in the PIP window. If it's always that sluggish, it's a bit of a fail.