Tag archive: DVR

Rolling out to consumers as of today, Boxee announced the shipment of the Live TV tuner on the company's official blog. The dongle plugs into the back of the Boxee Box hardware and provides over-the-air high definition television stations through the system's user interface. Connecting into one of the two USB ports on the back of the unit, the $50 dongle also connects to an included passive antenna. However, the owner can also… Read More

Announced on the official TiVo blog earlier this week, the DVR service company is rolling out a new user interface for owners of the TiVo Premiere, TiVo Premiere XL, and TiVo Premiere Elite. Called version 20.2, the new update overhauls the previously translucent high definition grid guide and live guide as well as introduces a mini-guide, info banners, speed improvements, a revision to the discover bar, improvements to the search algorythm and… Read More

With more and more streaming options being added to our online lives all the time, it's becoming more and more tempting for some people to cut the cable cord altogether. If you've got a Roku box or gaming console along with Netflix and/or Hulu Plus accounts, paying somewhere around $80-$100 for full cable service might seem like a bit much. To many, though, cutting out regular TV altogether is too extreme, but now we have something… Read More

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is almost here and it seems to be all I can write about today, so let's just dive in headfirst. Sortable (via Mashable) has created a decent infographic that gives a bit of history about CES and all the gadgets that have been unveiled there. The show was started in 1967 and has marked the debut of many culture-changing tech products including the VCR, Nintendo Entertainment System, the HDTV, DVR, and the… Read More

According to a study conducted by consulting firm Deloitte, approximately 9 percent of users subscribing to premium television programming such as cable or satellite TV ditched those services in favor of online options during 2011. With more than 2,000 respondents between the ages of 14 to 75 participating in the survey, eleven percent are considering “cutting the cord” during 2012 since they believe their favorite television shows… Read More

An old patent recently awarded to Microsoft may shed some light on the company's future ambitions regarding the Xbox. The patent sums up an idea for a gaming console moving towards an entertainment center, rather than simply a gaming machine. Back in January 2007, around the time when the Playstation 3 first came out, Microsoft was toying with an idea for a gaming console to pack a digital video recorder (DVR). The DVR application “running… Read More

According to a story published today in the Wall Street Journal, Google-owned YouTube is finishing up preparations on premium video channels for the streaming video site. Ideally launching in the first half of 2012, these premium channels are themed by topics such as sports and fashion. YouTube plans to pay up to a few million dollars for content and providers are already starting to work on content creation over October and November. In… Read More

Day one of CEDIA 2011 kicks off today and TiVo is marking the occasion by announcing the latest addition to its DVR family, the TiVo Premier Elite. Interestingly, the new unit reads a lot like the Premier Q, a similarly equipped DVR we reported on earlier this year, which is slated to be provided only to cable partners.  The Elite will come with a 2TB hard drive capable of storing up to 300 hours of HD recordings. It is TiVo's first retail… Read More

Industry watchers received a shock Saturday night with news that Google has purchased DVR software and set-top box company SageTV. The announcement came via an email sent to SageTV customers and a near-identical statement posted to the company's website, which has ceased all functionality aside from a landing page that explains the acquisition. “[A]s the media landscape continues to evolve, we think it’s time our vision of… Read More

DVR pioneer TiVo has taken wthe wraps off two new set-top boxes at the 2011 NCTA Cable Show—the TiVo Premiere Q and the TiVo Preview. Both mark substantial departures for the company: the Premiere Q sports four tuners and can push video to up to three other other devices on a home network, while the TiVo Preview lacks any DVR capabilities at all: it's a set-top box designed to provide a TiVo experience purely for cable content,… Read More

Unlike Netflix, which seems to speed onto new platforms, Hulu takes its time. In September 2010, TiVo announced that Hulu Plus would be coming to its line of DVR boxes. After eight months, the service is finally launching. Today TiVo revealed that Hulu Plus is now available to subscribers. Better yet, those who just purchased a TiVo Premiere DVR and service will get six months of free Hulu Plus. Current TiVo subscribers also get a one-month free… Read More

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal District has ruled that EchoStar digital video records did violate TiVo's crucial “time warp” patent on DVR functionality, and that EchoStar is on the hook for damages and subject to an injunction barring the infringing technology from the market. (PDF) Although the seven-to-five decision theoretically clears the way for TiVo to require infringing DVRs be shut off, EchoStar says it… Read More

Just last month, TiVo found itself being sued by Microsoft for infringing on various parents. Now, Motorola will get in on the action and take the TV service to court for allegedly illegally using its own patented DVR technology. Two years back, TiVo itself was the one hurling accusations of patent infringement.  The company claimed Verizon was benefitting from its own innovation, saying at the time that “we will continue to pursue enforcement… Read More

TiVo’s spiraling losses continue, as the DVR service reported an 11 percent revenue fall this quarter. This equates to a net loss of $20.6 million, over three times the company’s loss last year. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers claims a significant amount has been eaten up due to its various legal battles. TiVo has been cutting costs lately, marking its DVR box down $200 from its former price. Combined with an increase in monthly fees (from $12.99 to… Read More

DVR pioneer TiVo has been working to develop new revenue models and boost the profile of its DVR set-top box solutions in the face of stiff competition from cable and satellite providers that off their own DVRs. (Although TiVo has had some success partnering with other PVR and set-top box makers.) Now TiVo is trying something new: instead of requiring customers to pay up front for a TiVo and then pay monthly fees for TV listings services,… Read More