While TiVo still sells some of the most popular DVRs around, the way we watch TV is changing rapidly. For example, we don’t always watch TV, well, on our TVs.
TiVo Online, announced today, is a new service that brings many TiVo features straight to your PC or Mac, assuming that you’re a TiVo subscriber. The new service also makes it easy to watch what you want to watch right now, whether it’s available on live TV or through a streaming service.
“TiVo Online is the service you can rely on to guide you right to what you want from cable and video on demand, streaming services and web videos and opens the renown value of TiVo’s search to find and connect straight to your favorite content in a simple, easy to use fashion,” TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers said in the press release announcing the new service.
One of the most important new features TiVo Online brings to the table is the ability to stream content from your TiVo to your PC or Mac. Whether live or recorded, simply use TiVo Online to find what you want to watch, and it plays right there on your computer — as long as you’re at home anyway.
TiVo does plan to bring out-of-home streaming to the service at some point, but there is no word on when this will be. The company does stress that once this feature is available, it will only support streaming to one device at a time, and not all content may be available for streaming.
The new service also brings the lauded TiVo search to the browser. Using TiVo Online, users can search across shows, actors, and networks to find what they’re looking for. Even the standard channel guide is viewable using TiVo Online for a bird’s eye view of what’s on right now.
In addition, TiVo Online allows users to manage their OnePass selections and My Shows list, while the To Do List integration allows scheduling and managing upcoming recordings right from the browser.
TiVo Online is free for existing subscribers, and is available to everyone starting today. An update planned for later this year will let anyone sign up for a free account to use the search and recommendation features.
