Comments on: TiVo update adds progressive downloads, multi-room viewing, and TiVoToGo

By: Steve O'Hear (editor)

Steve O'Hear (editor) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:38:26 +0000

@Berryman

I think you’re right, and I’ve removed the ref. to multi-room sharing not working both ways.

By: Berryman

Berryman — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:19:32 +0000

There is no need for this upgrade to go to the series 2 Boxes since they have already had all of these features other then progressive downloads for years now. The TivoToGo feature works in both directions Series 2 to Series 3 and Series 3 to Series 2. The only thing that you can’t send to the Series 2 from the Series 3 is HD Content since the Series 2 does not support HD content. This isn’t a choice of Tivo to not support this upgrade for Series 2 it is because some of the hardware necessary for these upgrades do not exist in the Series 2. They are never going to port any of these changes back to Series 1 since it has been end of life for a few years now.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:46:40 +0000

“HD recordings can only be sent from a Series 3/HD box to the Series 2, and not in the other direction”

Makes sense since the Series 2 aren’t recording in HD.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:51:13 +0000

“recordings can only be sent from a Series 3/HD box to the Series 2, and not in the other direction”

I’m 99% sure that this is wrong.

By: Confused

Confused — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:06:55 +0000

How are they not supporting the Series2? My

By: Confused

Confused — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:05:13 +0000

How are they not supporting the Series2? My HD

By: Joe Seefus

Joe Seefus — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:04:44 +0000

Anonymouse said:
“The development time it’d take to backport changes like these is not free.”

That is true but Tivo is not without continuous sources of income. They could make the same modifications available to Series 2 and Series 1 machines. They just don’t want to. Tivo believes that they should just “encourage” consumers to throw away their older Series 1 and 2 machines (along with their already-paid lifetime service plans) for the new Series 3 machines with continuous monthly fees for the life of the unit. Tivo gets the money for the new machine and every month from now on.

By: Remember ReplayTV?

Remember ReplayTV? — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:56:24 +0000

Sure, Tivo is greedy. And ReplayTV, Panasonic Showstopper, Sony T-60 (rebadged Tivo), and Humana (rebadged Tivo) are all generously out of the DVR business – no new features, no support. Get real, Series 1 & 2 are years old. Do you expect carmakers to upgrade your engine (and the internal software on which it runs) when they introduce a new model year? Consumer products often go stale before they are used up – bread, fresh fruit, and software.

By: hpavc

hpavc — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:09:41 +0000

One the reasons Tivo has such a hard time is that is larger share holders (sony and the like) are not entirely apt to have crazy innovative features on the multimedia side of the box. This also makes people scared to deal with them in various contracts. So Tivo has a pace that differs from the other devices.

By: Television Uncensored

Television Uncensored — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:53:49 +0000

I’m not sure how media publishers feel about Tivo, I’m quite certain they’re already not pleased with them. I can only assume that they’re waiting for a way to prevent PVRs and Tivo alike.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:47:37 +0000

If TiVo is greedy, they’re not very good at it. I don’t think they’ve ever operated in the black.

Not that that excuses them from not better supporting the venerable Series 2.

By: anonymouse

anonymouse — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:41:57 +0000

“There is no reason not to allow Series2 models to all of these things, TiVo is just greedy”

The development time it’d take to backport changes like these is not free.