MRV
Latest
NASA demos incredibly agile, remote-controlled EV
When we talk about the cars of the future, we're normally bandying around names like Google and Tesla. NASA's engineers at the Johnson Space Center might have just trumped those other names after unveiling its new Modular Robotic Vehicle prototype. While it may look like the world's dullest golf cart, the MRV is actually a futuristic EV that could serve as the test bed for future rovers, amongst other things.
CableLabs demos multiroom DVR and DLNA servers
In recent comments to the FCC the NCTA and its members were proud to exclaim how innovative its set-top boxes were, while we still laugh at their pitifully small hard drives, hideous user interfaces and the down right unpleasant experience they provide. But to be fair the cable providers do innovate, it is just 5-10 years behind the retail market. So in the same light, CableLabs held a tech demo recently and showed multi-room DVRs and set-top boxes with DLNA servers built in. Now both of these features should've been old news years ago, but will be welcomed even today since the majority of valuable content is delivered via cable companies. The DLNA aspect is actually an interesting one as we remember how odd it was when that very group issued a press release during CES that included quotes from most of the big cable companies who were sharing their love for DLNA. Of course that was 8 months ago and we are just now seeing a demo, so you can probably expect to see it hit your set-top in about 4 or 5 more years.
FiOS customers moved to Frontier getting Copy Once DRM
Verizon's FiOS is literally at the top of its industry in customer satisfaction and it isn't just the fiber running to the outside of its customer's houses that makes it so great -- although no one is saying FiOS is perfect -- it is the total package including how FiOS doesn't mark any content as Copy Once or marry CableCARDs to 3rd party hardware. Well here is the first bad news for the 69,000 FiOS TV subscribers in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin that are now Frontier subscribers. You see although the company promised regulators that customers would continue to receive the same great service, on June 10th TiVo Community members started to notice they couldn't watch recordings in another room or on the go. After some discussion, and many a call to customer service representatives, it became apparent that Frontier is purposely setting the CCI byte to Copy Once, which for all intents and purposes locks down the content to being played on one TiVo. Not much anyone can do since the FCC does allow the Copy Once CCI byte to be set on non-broadcast TV, but still, it sucks for those who are affected.
DirecTV Q1 results are great for profits, multi-room viewing and RVU -- but not DirecTiVo
It's not difficult to guess what's on the soundtrack around DirecTV's headquarters, with revenue and earnings results that beat analysts estimates for the first quarter. That's thanks to higher prices and increased HD and DVR revenue (DirecTiVo? Yeah right, according to the conference call, it could be pushed back until "maybe the end of this year, or maybe early next year,") while it also experienced a net increase of 100,000 subscribers over the period. Of course launching DirecTV 3D is a major focus for the rest of the year, as well as increased VOD with DirecTV Cinema, multi-room viewing (officially rolling out next week) and "connected home" initiatives. All the dirty details are in the reports and transcripts linked below, dive in as deeply as you dare.
DirecTV's new H24 HD receiver is one step closer to reality
We got a taste of DirecTV's new multi-room nirvana at CES but while we wait there is a new HD receiver. The H24 can act as both an HD satellite receiver but although it looks the same it isn't the same as HD DVR thin client via MoCA and RVU we saw at CES. Our friend Doug at DBSTalk.com had a chance to play with it and shared a first look with the world. The little guy is considerably smaller than its predecessors, is faster, and has DirecTV's flavor of MoCA called DECA (DirecTV Ethernet Coaxial Adapter) baked in -- regular MoCA isn't compatible with satellite. With coax networking built in one wire is all you need to use it as an HD receiver or to access internet enabled feature without running a CAT5 or depending on WiFi. One other item of note is that the new version of the ugly, cheesy, DirecTV remote now programs itself, useful for your mom, but not for you Harmony loving types. **UPDATE** The H24 will not be an RVU thin client, just a new HD reciever, so we updated the post for accuracy.
DirecTV's public beta of multi-room viewing for existing DVRs is on
We truly believe that one day the idea of having a DVR in just one room of the house will be foreign to most and here's a new step in that direction. DirecTV has a new opt-in public beta of multi-room viewing software for its HR2x series of HD DVRs. Now this is not to be confused with the new hardware that uses RVU that we showed you from CES due later this year -- we wish -- this is simply adding new features to hardware you already bough leased. The way this will work is that you'll plug each DirecTV box into your home network via CAT5, enabled sharing, and pay an additional monthly fee. At that point you'll not only be able to stream shows between DVRs or standard HD set top boxes, but you'll also be able to delete shows as well as schedule new recordings. The big downer is it's far more complex than many will be willing to tackle, especially since the user must still manage the network and the sharing settings, as well as the fact as there still isn't one cohesive list of scheduled recordings. And worst of all, there is no resume sync, so if you start a show on one DVR, you'll have to figure out where you left out by fast forwarding when you decide to finish the rest in bed. Ultimately this is a great feature to offer and although it isn't what we're waiting for, it is a big step in the right direction. Thanks Doug and Jonathan!
DirecTV's CEDIA booth was all about multi-room viewing
When we were walking around CEDIA this past week we noticed a thing or two that we would've missed if we just focused on reader press releases. One of those things was the emphasis DirecTV put on multi-room viewing. This is good news to us, because we think that MRV is one of the next big things in the world of HD and DVRs. Most consumers just want to be able to watch whatever they want, wherever they want, so having the exact same experience on every TV in the house is key. Specifically DirecTV was showing its vision of the future including how the next generation of DirecTV HD DVR would work. What's interesting is that although DirecTV does allow customers to download beta software for the current HD DVR that enables MRV features, that isn't what these pictures are of. The current technology also isn't using the new RVU Alliance's technology, of which DirecTV promised to deploy next year. Overall we'll be keeping a close eye on the progress, but we were disappointed to hear the booth representatives describe the system without mentioning the full experience on the thin clients.
Macrovision shows new Passport tru2way guide and multi-room features
At the Cable Show this week Macrovision is showing off its new tru2way Passport software, which we have to say is pretty cool looking. Of course it isn't the coolest looking software we've seen, but it is the best looking tru2way option so far and at least it is widescreen. But maybe in what might be bigger news to Comcast fans customers around the country -- or anyone who uses the Passport of iGuide software really -- is the that like the Passport tru2way software, the new Passport and iGuide software will also support multi-room viewing. So you'll finally be able to have your content follow you around the house and automatically pick up where you left off. Unfortunately like other solutions based on the Motorola boxes it's limited to two tuners throughout the house -- because a DVR can only act as a server and not as a client -- and we'd bet our old friends at the cable company will continue to only offer DVRs with puney 160GB hard drives, which really makes it hard for most families to get by with a single DVR.
Hands-on with HD TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing
It seems as if we've been waiting a lot longer than a year for TiVo to add two of our favorite features to the Series3, and while complications with CableLabs haven't exactly made the process possible before now, we're elated that TiVoToGo and Multi-Room viewing are finally a reality. Both new features had to be enabled via TiVo.com by logging into our account and enabling transfers, and we've detailed the process below: Log into TiVo.com and under Manage My Account, enable transfers on each of your TiVos. Wait 24 hours for the TiVo to phone home or force a call Check System Information page on your TiVo and verify that TiVoToGo has a value of a,a,a and not i,i,i. If all else fails, force another call and reboot. You've waited long enough, so click on through to take a look at these two long-awaited features in action.
TiVo Series3 and HD FINALLY get TiVoToGo, MRV, eSATA drive, other new features
TiVo let on that November was going to be the month that both TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing became a reality, and now with only a week to go it's finally here. But that's not all TiVo's taken the occasion to announce: in addition to being able to stream shows between your TiVos (MRV) and copy programming from a TiVo to your PC (TiVoToGo), TiVo has also announced (hack free) eSATA drive support along with Western Digital's My DVR Expander, which, for $199, will expand your TiVo with 500GB of space (a good 65 hours of HD). Another new feature included with this release is progressive downloads, which means you won't have to wait for TiVoCast and Unbox videos to finish downloading before you can start enjoying them. Instead, the TiVo will figured out how much of a buffer is required for uninterrupted viewing and let you start watching as soon as possible. While most of these features have been a long time coming, we can only imagine how excited TiVo owners are to know that the wait is over -- assuming they've already signed up for the priority list to received the 9.2 update.
HD TiVo Fall update, still no TiVoToGo or Multi-room Viewing
TiVo is starting to roll out their fall update for the TiVo lineup including the TiVo HD and Series3. This brings them to version 9.1 which includes some bug fixes and a few new features. The WishList feature gets enhanced and now allows more advanced searches, but they've also added Crestron integration for the Series3. The TiVo HD gets left in the cold as does the rest of HA market, as only Crestron is supported. The integration is via IP, so hopefully TiVo will release the protocol, or someone can reverse engineer it. We'd assume that the more anticipated features like TiVoToGo, Multi-Room viewing and eSATA support are included too, but not yet activated. Perhaps it's time to start trying to find new kickstart commands.[Via ZatzNotFunny]
TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing coming to HD TiVos in November
It looks like it's finally going to happen, the Series3 and the TiVo HD are finally going to catch up to their SD siblings and get upgraded with the most highly anticipated TiVo features. We know all to well how complicated CableLabs can make it to bring 3rd party CableCARD products to market, and as a result we've been waiting over a year for the Series3 to get the ability to transfers shows to our PC and between TiVos. And while CableLabs has never specifically forbid these features, until recently they've made them impossible to implement. According to a post over at TiVoCommunity.com by Bob "TiVoPony" Poniatowski, a TiVo product marketing rep, both TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing are currently in beta and will be available to both Series3 and TiVo HD owners in November. Naturally, Bob reminds everybody about "the first rule of beta club", so we'll just have to take his word for it -- until it leaks, anyway.
TiVo's quarterly call, it's not all bad news
It's no secret that TiVo isn't a blue-chip stock, in fact the real question each quarter is usually, how much did they lose this time? This is a big reason why we have our TiVo Deathwatch, but it's not all bad for TiVo and since they make it nearly impossible for someone to buy them out, we like to focus on the positives. The Comcast deal is moving along, -- no not fast enough -- and not only are New England Comcast customers getting TiVo software on their Motorola boxes soon, but Comcast is going to foot-the-bill to port the software over to Scientific Atlanta boxes. We also enjoyed the mention of DirecTV's new software update, and get the feeling that we may see new TiVo products from DirecTV in the future. They're finally going to make it so you can start watching UnBox movies while they're downloading, but since there is still no mention of HD -- or even widescreen -- content, it's still useless. TiVo has finally got an HD TiVo for the masses, and looking forward, the future is looking brighter for SDV support, as well as old favorites like Multi-room Viewing and TiVoToGo, so with any luck, TiVo might get in the black next time around.
