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TiVo's 4K-ready, commercial skipping Bolt hints at the future
This new Bolt DVR may not totally remake the recording technology TiVo is famous for, but it introduces a sharp departure in design and adds features customers have asked for since it started in the late 90s. Just like the leaks suggested, the Bolt is a funky arc-shaped white box that looks different from anything else near your HDTV. Despite being smaller than TiVo's older DVRs -- or whatever cable box you probably have -- it's eye-catching enough for visitors to stop and ask what you're watching TV on. Looks aside, Bolt's main claim to fame will definitely be its ability to bypass commercials with a new SkipMode (No more hidden 30 second skip! We've been asking for this since 2009). That's actually an old trick, and while it's appreciated, where I see evidence of TiVo looking towards the future is the way it's connecting the DVR to Amazon's Fire TV.
Switched On: New world recorder
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. When it comes to time-shifting television viewing, the conversation these days usually involves premium streaming services -- namely, Netflix and Hulu Plus. But consumers routinely shell out more than they do for either of these services -- in fact, sometimes more than for both of them combined -- simply to have more convenient access to the television from their existing cable or satellite subscriptions. Not only that, they're often willing to put up with a large, relatively noisy (and failure-prone!) box for this privilege. That box is the digital video recorder.
ReplayTV escapes the executioner's blade, guide data to continue flowing
We don't know why you're still using a ReplayTV, but if you are then we say congratulations, since you can just keep right on going. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day guide data would be provided but as shown in this picture from satpro on AVSForum its parent company has reversed course and decided to continue EPG services. As ZatznotFunny points out, there's probably a few TiVo Series 1 owners in the UK hoping for a similar change of fortune, but wile we admire their steadfastness we're still wondering why they won't just switch to something HD.
ReplayTV guide data comes to an end July 31st
DirecTV has carried on the "resurrection" of ReplayTV for a lot longer than we thought it would since purchasing the ancient DVR brand back in '07, but everything comes to an end next month. Zatz Not Funny points out the website has been updated to inform users EPG data will cease July 31st, leaving any stragglers to either find their own sources or to schedule recordings manually. If any users are thinking this is the time to switch (and not, say, anytime in the last decade) we'd suggest SageTV as an option but, you know...
Schedule DirecTV recording with your iPhone
A lot of people may know about this, and a lot may not. Here's the straight skinny. Last year DirecTV rolled out the ability to go to a web page and give instructions to your DVR to record a program. TiVo and Replay TV also had this ability for quite some time. Meanwhile Dish Network just announced integration of Slingbox technology into some of their new DVRs.DirecTV has a mobile web page that makes this easy on web enabled devices like the iPhone. It should also work on the iPod touch. Using Safari you go to m.directv.com. That will put you on a page called "DVR Scheduler." Then you log in and search for the show by name or by channel. You can also search by actor names or host name. Any eligible DVRs will show up and you can ask for the recording to be made. In my experience this can be done very closely to the scheduled air time of the show. Shortly after, you'll get a confirmation that DirecTV has your request. It is not a guarantee that the recording will work, however, but it always has for me. DirecTV then sends your request from the website to your DVR and all should be well. You don't need an iPhone to do this. It works from a laptop or desktop computer, and DirecTV provides a list of mobile phones that work. Here's the FAQ that tells you all about it. (You'll need to be a DirecTV customer to see this.) This page should give you information if your are not logged in or a DirecTV customer.So if you haven't tried this, give it a go. It has saved me a few times when I forget to record something while I was away from home. It might save you too.
ReplayTV changes hands again, acquired by DirecTV
DirecTV just did itself a solid and picked up the pre-TiVo DVR company, ReplayTV, from parent company D&M. We don't know what all bundle of valuable time-shifting IP and patents wound up being worth in the form of an acquisition price tag, but it's got to be a pretty penny -- especially to a company like DirecTV, which has watched its peers have a prickly run-in or two with TiVo and its heavyweight "time warp" patent. Something tells us the brand will probably only live on in legacy alone, though. We just can't see much reason for DirecTV to bother carrying on with the half-assed comeback ReplayTV's been trying to make over the past couple of years.[Via Zatz Not Funny]
ReplayTV launches Personal HD tuner kit, plays nice with iPod / iPhone
We've seen a number of USB tuners that make converting files for handheld viewing a lesson in simplicity, but ReplayTV is givin' you one more alternative. The Personal HD kit includes a USB 2.0 ATSC / NTSC hybrid tuner, an antenna, wireless remote (which fits nicely in a spare PCMCIA slot), a free year of ReplayTV Electronic Program Guide (EPG), and bundled software that features native iPod, Apple TV and iPhone support. This "all-in-one" solution for getting OTA content on your device of choice is set to ship this November for $99.95.
Netflix hire reveals "Internet TV" division: downloads coming to living room
We're still not so sure how this newfangled "internets" thing is going to work out, but Netflix seems enamored with the technology, and has set up a whole Internet TV division to push movies and TV shows over that series of tubes. Today Netflix appointed ReplayTV founder Anthony Wood to the VP position of the group, whose "invented the DVR, founded Roku" and "good written and verbal communication" resume items make him a natural choice for freeing those media downloads from PC shackles to make the trek into the living room and onto your television. "The company has taken the first step -- and an innovative one -- in offering online video to its members," said Mr. Wood, "and I'm here to work with a range of partners to get that video to the television, where consumers watch most of their movies." We knew Netflix had a good bit of this stuff in the works, but it's nice to see 'em come clean and take a proactive stance on this, especially since this war for PC-to-living room supremacy is sure to be a bloody one.[Via Zatz Not Funny]
ReplayTV officially (re)launches
Looks like ReplayTV is pretty confident about the progress of this early beta program of theirs, since not not even a month since opening up pre-release downloads of their newly reinvigorated and resurrected ReplayTV product, we're already seeing the launch announcement. You'll be able to get your ReplayTV PC Edition in a bundled pack included with a Hauppauge WinTV tuner, as expected, or if you already have the right hardware you can snag the PC software release for $99.95 (with a $20 annual EPG service fee per year, of course). We won't compare that given retail price to the whole free TiVo thing because ReplayTV and TiVo are now officially on total opposite ends of the DVR spectrum, but when you're looking at ReplayTV versus a Media Center PC, we can imagine some scenarios where it'd be a little difficult to justify that cost. Then again, you are getting such features as Surprise Me (think: TiVo WishList combined with recommendations to find programming with your favorite actors, directors, etc.), fast searches, and a whole slew of other features the other guys have long since used (like show overlap management, program grouping, custom channel lists, and so on). Sorry though everybody, you're still gonna have to wait until September to officially make over that PC into a ReplayTV box, so if you're in the market right now for a new HTPC DVR and didn't get in on that beta, you're gonna have to look elsewhere.
ReplayTV: the resurrection
Remember how last year we told you that ReplayTV-cum-SonicBlue-cum-D&M was doing the smart thing -- exiting the hardware DVR business to sell its software for computers -- in 2006? Oh, you know we're getting close now, people; ReplayTV's launched its beta sign up program, which will have you suffering laboriously over its 41 question survey before you can submit your app -- that is, if you have (or are willing to buy) a compatible ReplayTV tuner card (those being either a Hauppauge PVR-150 model 1045 or PVR USB2). Testing begins at the end of June 2006, so be on the lookout for "stray" builds, everybody.[Thanks, Matt]
