However good TiVo’s new Roamio DVRs may be, not everyone can justify purchasing them — especially not TV providers that would have to buy in bulk. TiVo could make that experience more accessible with its just-unveiled Network PVR. The service (not yet pictured) puts the Roamio interface in the cloud, letting operators offer similar recording and streaming features though cheaper set-top boxes and mobile devices. Network PVR should also let providers offer perks that aren’t possible with locally-stored shows, such as sharing a recording with friends who missed the big season finale. There’s no estimated launch time frame for Network PVR, although that’s more likely to be dictated by the providers; don’t be surprised if it takes a while for the technology to reach viewers.
The TiVo Roamio platform is still extremely young, what with it only having been launched earlier this month and all. Still, the DVR maker isn’t wasting any time and is now finding ways to bring as many features as possible to its new set-top boxes. With this in mind, TiVo let it be known today that it’s adding support for Opera’s Devices SDKandTV Store to its lineup of Roamio DVRs, providing developers an opportunity to create a variety of HTML5-based applications. TiVo’s hoping the partnership with Opera can introduce a slew of apps in different categories to the platform, including entertainment, fashion, sports, business, gaming news and more. As for Opera, we can imagine it’s rather pleased to get its app-creating tools used by yet another company.
TiVo’s brand new Roamio platform is about to get a whole lot “appier” thanks to the introduction of Opera’s Devices SDK, and the addition of the Opera TV Store, a means through which developers can offer HTML5 web apps to TiVo device owners. The new partnership will also give developers an SDK to build TiVo-specific apps for an app store the over-the-top services provider plans to launch later this year.
TiVo’s Roamio platform launched just last week, via a new family of DVR hardware devices that improve considerably on the amount of content that can be recorded, and there’s a new feature coming that allows live and recorded content streaming, even out-of-home, thanks to an upcoming feature that’s going to be introduced via an update (hence the “roam” pun).
While most of the update was focused around the hardware — adding more tuners and more storage to improve the core DVR experience — TiVo also improved several of the onboard apps, making them faster and more responsive. According to TiVo VP of Product Marketing Jim Denney, some of that improvement comes from switching to the Opera Browser for those apps. The Netflix and YouTube apps in particular, both of which are built on Opera, are a lot faster to open and use.
Already, Roamio devices offer up access to some pre-installed apps including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Spotify and more, and it consolidates content from all of the above in addition to cable services when you’re searching for shows. The introduction of the Opera TV store, which TiVo is aiming to deploy early next year, will bring a whole catalogue of new HTML5-based apps to the service, broadening the type of app-based content users have access to exponentially.
Opera’s TV Store is already available on millions of shipping devices, and the Opera Devices SDK made its way onto over 25 million connected TVs in 2012 alone. That means that TiVo customers will be getting access to a platform that’s already mature when the Opera Store goes live on its devices; there won’t be any waiting while a new store is set up and curate the way there would be if TiVo had started from scratch.
TiVo also contends that the partnership will help it more quickly introduce new and improved pre-loaded software to its set-top DVRs, since Opera has become a key partner for big brands and service providers that are making the switch to HTML5 in order to gain more presence on connected home entertainment platforms.
Access to Opera TV Store content is a big value-add that should help TiVo’s Roamio price tags look more attractive to users who might otherwise feel like a Roku or Apple TV device could fit their needs. And if TiVo and others suspect that Apple is preparing to make a fresh foray into the living room, as has been recently rumored by none other than our own contributor MG Siegler, building as full-featured an offering as possible definitely explains the push to build a software ecosystem.
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You’ve got a TV, cable box, Roku or Apple TV, Blu-ray player, stereo system, and who knows what else clogging up your living room, each with its own peculiarities and taking up space. When did watching TV become so much work? TiVo’s new Roamio DVR/Cable receiver helps you do one thing we all desperately need to: simplify.
The dream of watching whatever we want, wherever we want, just got one step closer with the new “Roamio” DVR platform from TiVo. Also known as the Series 5, the Roamio family includes a revamped user interface, up to six tuners and 3TB of storage. That’s certainly enough space and tuners to record almost anything you might want, save for maybe the 4K director’s cuts of Lord of the Rings. Perhaps more exciting, though, is the addition of out-of-home streaming. The Roamio Plus and Pro both include integrated TiVo Stream functionality, except it’s not limited to the confines of your home network any longer — an update will bring this to the existing TiVo Stream first, while Roamio customers will have to wait a bit longer. The other new update — also coming to existing hardware — is the long-awaited dynamic tuner allocation for the TiVo Mini, which frees up more tuners for recording and expands the new room limit to nine. What to Watch Now is coming to TiVo Central and there are new guide filters to help you find stuff to watch. Last but not least, there’s a new HTML5 engine that powers a fresh YouTube app and Netflix app has received a minor update as well.
All three models also include a new RF remote as well as WiFi (finally!), but only the top two feature MoCA. You can pre-order the Roamio, Roamio Plus or Roamio Pro now for $199, $399, and $599, respectively (plus service). If you want to know more, then don’t miss our full review. %Gallery-slideshow73096%
It’s been three and a half years since the last major TiVo release and while the company has offered some new features since — via hardware revisions, software updates and accessories — we’re very excited to tell you that TiVo is back. The three new TiVo Roamio DVRs range in price from $200 to $600 (plus service), all with at least four tuners and built-in WiFi. And the Pro and the Plus have integrated TiVo Stream functionality. The cool new trick is out-of-home streaming for both live and recorded shows, with the ability to download shows to your iOS devices while away from home. (Note: this feature isn’t coming to the Roamio until this fall, so we tested it with a TiVo Stream instead). There’s also a new remote that no longer relies on IR, as well as a refreshed user interface, which includes the What to Watch Now feature and new Netflix and YouTube apps — that launch quickly now. We’ll get into all the highs and the lows in just a moment, but we’re pretty confident in saying these are TiVo’s best boxes to date.%Gallery-slideshow73029%
It has been more than three years since TiVo’s Premiere platform launched, but it appears the company is finally readying a successor. A pair of FCC filings referring to new TGN-TCD8465 shown above) and TGN-TCD8400 (after the break) models have appeared, revealing a couple of design pictures and the shocking confirmation that they are DVRs. The TGN-TCD8400 documents apply for two different models: the TCD848000 and an TCD840300, that differs only by capacity of the disk drive, and the addition of MoCA and a transcoder that could reference built-in Stream capabilities. An earlier post on ZatzNotFunny points out a MoCA certification from June that adds the Series 5 tag, and a separate FCC listing for a new remote. It also speculates on a “Roamio” name or codename, with three new boxes on the way including one base 4-tuner box and two 6-tuner models.
The TCD8400 and TCD84030 are referred to in these documents as the Roamio Pro and Roamio Plus, respectively. We couldn’t find any other details on specs or a name for the TCD8465, but with cable companies like Cox launching six tuner, 2TB DVRs and even Comcast offering more options on its X1 / X2 platform, advances in all areas (app, recording, second screen and multiroom features) are necessary to stay a step ahead.
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