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TiVo Premiere Elite quad-tuner DVR detailed, doesn't support OTA broadcasts
Earlier this summer, we got wind of TiVo's plans to release its Premiere Elite DVR -- a retail version of the company's quad-tuner Premiere Q, which is only available directly through service providers. We knew to expect four tuners on the Elite as well, letting you record content from up to four channels at once. A leaked FCC document sheds a bit more light on the Elite, revealing two terabytes of recording capacity (for a whopping 300 hours of HD), digital cable compatibility (read: no OTA), and support for Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), for networking with other MoCA-enabled devices in your home. Still missing, however, are a price tag and release date, though Zatz Not Funny predicts pricing to land in the $600-800 range, with a release this fall. $499 seems to be more on target, though, considering the Premiere XL's $299 price tag -- but even at $500, you better really love television if you're gunning to spend that much on a DVR.
TiVo's retail plans for quad-tuner Premiere DVR revealed in FCC filing
If your TiVo-loving heart was crushed last week when we found out the new Premiere Q DVR was only for cable companies with no plans for retail sales, allow us to put the pieces back together. Zatz Not Funny has dug up an FCC filing, dated June 7th, indicating TiVo will bring the quad tuner Premiere Elite DVR with 2TB of hard drive space to retail. The purpose of the filing? To get the FCC to waive requirements that the Elite -- which is designed for digital cable reception only -- contain an analog tuner that it claims would increase costs by $80 - $100. There's no word on price or timing but it's clearly intended as a high end product that TiVo plans to offer online, through custom installers or specialty outlets like Best Buy's Magnolia stores. If it gets approved we could still see the Elite set-top box this year, assuming the FCC has its approval stamp ready and inked.
Comcast's next generation Xfinity Spectrum DVR shows off quad tuners, new menu and apps
It's been about six months since we heard Comcast was running tests of a brand new set-top box platform but now thanks to one of our tipsters we're able to see it in action and find out what's on the way. From the remote to the box to the menus it's all new, and appears to be a major step forward for the company and already includes familiar apps like Facebook and Pandora. The look of the new guide mirrors what we'd seen in the manual received by the FCC in December and demonstrated on Samsung HDTVs at CES earlier this year, intended for 16x9 displays and moving the main navigation elements to the top. The redesigned remote has a few new buttons and while it hasn't gone the QWERTY route, the software and hardware are designed around T9-style access for searching and messaging, with a button and microphone icon suggesting voice control is a possibility as well. The DVR itself is the Pace box we'd seen previously, although there was differing information on the number of tuners and hard drive space available, suggesting these details may still be up in the air. Check after the break for more details and our tipster's first hand account of the new TV experience. %Gallery-124121% [Thanks, Mark van der Linden]
