Hasta La Gadget!

Our keen eyed friend Dave Zatz spotted an offer that popped up on TiVo’s homepage over the weekend, offering customers the opportunity to obtain a TiVo Premiere DVR for zero dollars down, with the caveat that they would be locked into paying $19.99 a month for service for the next two years. That’s a slight bump over the regular $12.95 per month (currently offered at $9.95) service fee, but nothing unreasonable if you do the math. Getting a $299 box for an extended $240 payment over two years sounds nice there is one gotcha here — after the two years, customers are automatically resubscribed at the $19.99 rate, not the standard $12.95 fee. Once you’ve figured out the amortized rates and break even points (cancellation means paying $300 for the DVR minus $7 for each month that’s already gone by) move fast if interested, as TiVo’s PR team told Yahoo! News the deal was a “test” that would end within a week, but it still presents an interesting question. Does the possibility of buying a DVR like we buy our cellphones make TiVo’s hardware more or less attractive in your eyes?

TiVo tries a ‘limited test’ of free-on-contract DVRs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, Sony is a little late to the party on this one, two days behind Panasonic announcing six new BDXL-writing DVRs. But, the company is definitely still on the BDXL bleeding edge, announcing its own suite of six devices, ranging from 320GB to 2TB of internal storage and all but one offering dual tuners. When those tuners have filled that storage they can all write to 100GB BDXL discs, which we’ll remind you one more time are not backwards compatible with current Blu-ray players. Finally, all six of them support 3D playback, because if you’re already jumping on the BDXL bandwagon you surely have your 3D HDTV well and truly dialed in by now. Sony isn’t saying just how much these six will cost, but the premium model with 2TB of storage ships in Japan on September 25. For the rest you’ll have to wait until October 22.

Sony launches six new DVRs, all write to BDXL and play back in 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dish Network subscribers, get ready to join the 21st century. Your content provider of choice is said to be peeling the “beta” stickers from its DishOnline.com service this week, opening up online and on-demand streaming of content to its subscribers. At least 15 channels will be streaming live over the internets, including all the major networks and extras like Syfy and Comedy Central, though selection appears to be somewhat limited at this time. The site will also provide remote DVR scheduling and let SlingLoaded users stream recorded content straight from their device — which, of course, they could already do. The service goes live sometime within the next few days, and of course will only be available to Dish subscribers, you lucky people you.

Dish Network launching DishOnline.com this week, streaming ‘several cable networks’ to subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TiVo users, even with boxes provided by their cable company in the case of RCN and Comcast, have so far had to make a compromise: Choose their cable company’s video on-demand offerings, or bring their own DVR and access online video from sources like Amazon and Netflix — but that’s no longer the case. Cox and TiVo have reached an agreement — sound familiar? — that will see allow retail CableCARD equipped TiVo Premiere DVRs to access Cox’s VOD, as well as all that over the top internet video we’ve come to love. The SeaChange powered VOD will work similarly to RCN’s, but we’re waiting to see if this can give the new universal search an extra source to pull from as well. The deal also means Cox will cross promote the TiVo in its own marketing, and provide free installs for units purchased at Best Buy and other outlets including the TiVo website.

The only bad news here? While TiVo plans to start testing later this year, it won’t see a wide rollout (in “all major markets”) until 2011. Check out the press release for all the details before calling your cable company, why should Cox customers get to choose between two different modernized, integrated set-top box platforms while the rest of us are stuck with interfaces and access rules that have been around since before the X-Games?

Continue reading Cox to offer retail TiVo Premiere DVRs next year, first with cable VOD & Amazon, Netflix access

Cox to offer retail TiVo Premiere DVRs next year, first with cable VOD & Amazon, Netflix access originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oregon and Southwest Washington are enjoying more than just the launch of Comcast’s updated A28 guide today, the company also announced it has begun offering Anyroom DVR (not to be confused with Anyroom On Demand) setups in the area. It’s a pretty standard MoCA implementation, one central HD DVR that allows customers to watch and control recorded programming from other hard drive-less set-top boxes in the same house. Comcast say Anyroom DVR is available in 20 markets including the Bay area, Western Mass, Augusta, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Little Rock and others, while forum posts on DSLReports indicate promos have been spotted in Chicago and Pennsylvania with a price tag of $19.95 for the main DVR, and the usual fees for the other boxes (maximum of 3).

We couldn’t get an official confirmation on the amount of storage available 500GB is an all too welcome improvement over the 160GB / 250GB drives still sitting in most standard DVRs Comcast issues or the FiOS one we tested a while back, outpaces the 250GB / 320GB options in AT&T’s U-verse setups and would put it on par with DirecTV’s HR24 (can be upgraded) and the new Cox Plus Package. Sure, it’s a little late to record every World Cup match in HD (or 3D) but we’re sure you’ll find something to fill the space.

Update: Check after the break for specs on the main DVR and networked set-top boxes. (Thanks, Robert!)

Continue reading Comcast starts offering multiroom features, 500GB hard drives with AnyRoom DVR

Comcast starts offering multiroom features, 500GB hard drives with AnyRoom DVR originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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