And… it’s… outta here. TiVo is down to less than three million subscribers and they sold about 500 DVRs a day last quarter, giving it 8% of the 38 million US DVR market. That’s not much.

TVByTheNumbers has the numbers. They’re down 314,000 subscribers to 2.76 million and lost 146,000 last quarter. Rough stuff.

Listen: I loved TiVo for years, but after the TiVo HD rolled out to a resounding plop I knew the end was near. We just cancelled our account after years of accepting sub-par video playback – we stuck with the SD TiVo and never upgraded – and it can only get worse.

Godspeed, happy dancing TiVo mascot. We loved you, once.

TiVo has finally dropped the price on the HD and HD XL DVRs. These models have been rocking their initial MSRP for years now, but now they can be had for a little bit less. The 160GB HD model is now $249 and the 1TB model, $499 down from $599. Of course you still have to pay a monthly fee to use these DVRs, but I’m not one to snub a modest price drop.

I wonder if this was a reaction to the Moxi price drop from last week. Probably not because these things are usually planned months out, but you never know. Maybe TiVo is starting to feel a little heat from their closest competitors, who now have a 3-tuner DVR by the way…

Here’s a story I first heard on Figure 4 Daily last night while farming for mageweave (no, I’m not lying): not only have DVRs not ruined the TV businesses, as we had been led to believe for so many years, but it turns out that the delayed viewings, and more accurate ratings, have given the networks exactly what they’ve always wanted. That, of course, is the opportunity to squeeze more money out of their advertisers.

Some history: television networks had sued ReplayTV, once Tivo’s direct competitor before people even knew what “DVR” stood for, in 2001 because they felt its DVRs would let people skip commercials. There was also “share” function, which is bonkers considering the state of broadband in 2001.

The point is that the television networks hated DVRs since they thought people would record all this content (for free!), then skip the commercials. If people skipped the commercials then advertisers would become sad, and no longer hand over millions of dollars to the television networks for the privilege of airing commercials during The Office or some other hunk of junk.

Nielsen then stepped in and changed the way it measures viewership to include DVR viewings. The thing is, when you examine the data it turns out that people totally don’t skip commercials while watching DVR’d content.

TV, research shows, is still primarily a passive medium, That is, you’re sitting on your couch just watching. You’re not picking up your remote control to change the channel, you’re not pressing fast-forward to skip any commercials. TV = sitting down and not lifting a finger, it seems.

So the television networks were freaking out over nothing. Now they can turn to their advertisers: “See, even more people watch this junk then we ever thought! Pay us, please.”

TiVo users have known that Blockbuster On Demand was coming to TiVo for a while, but the service just went live. So, does it have the goods to put up a fight against Netflix or Amazon On Demand that have been streaming content on TiVos for months already? Nope, not at all.

My main issue with the Blockbuster On Demand on TiVo is that it doesn’t offer any titles in high definition. That’s a problem for a lot of folks including me. But besides that, there are only 652 titles available right now, which pales in comparison to Netflix’s 17,000 streaming library.

Sure, I know that Netflix is a subscription service that requires a monthly plan, but even the $4.99 per month plan will get you all you can watch streaming content. Compare that at the $2.99 or $3.99 rental price per title of Blockbuster and tell which is the better deal. There are a few free movies on Blockbuster right now, but they seem like D-run flicks.

At least the interface seems sufficient. It’s about the same thing as Amazon On Demand actually. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

The Blockbuster On Demand set-top box was a great first step, but a lot of people do not want another box to clutter up their AV rack, but simply an app that works with devices they already own. Hopefully soon more content will be available as well as HD streaming. Digital delivery is the future and this service shows that at least Blockbuster has seen the light.

Don’t look now, but your Series 2, 3, or HD TiVo is probably getting the Blockbuster On Demand update right now. Actually, go look now because while I couldn’t get a picture to show this accurately, the screen above looks slightly different than other TiVo screens. It’s tad higher resolution and there is just something different about it. Maybe a TiVo GUI refresh is just around the corner…

Update: Blockbuster On Demand is now live. Hands-on coming soon.

The movie rental fees range from $2.99 for “classic” or old films to $3.99 for new releases. The library will be expanded over the coming weeks to include more content.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for digital delivery. It’s the future, but Netflix and Amazon already seem to have a wide selection of content with some available in HD. I doubt Blockbuster will be able to provide a better experience than those two and there isn’t even any mention of HD content in the press release, which kills any appeal at all to me. If it’s not HD, I’m not going to spend money on it.

Check back later for a hands-on with the new service. Hopefully that will be sometime today.

[AOL Money via Engadget]

The timeshifting stat is important to networks because advertisers look at it as well. They would much rather give networks money whose programs are watched live and therefore isn’t a way for viewers to fast forward through commercials. To be honest though, only about half the time I watch something off my TiVo do I skip the commercials. IDK why, maybe I’m just that lazy.

Ah, patent trolling: the last refuge of a dying company. Don’t get me wrong. I love my TiVo. It’s like a friend and a lover. We still have the old DVD-burning Humax model – I didn’t even upgrade to the wonky cable-card HD model – and the fact that I, a fairly plugged in tech nerd didn’t bother to upgrade is a testament to the company’s slow descent. I know there are better things out there and better things coming down the pike and so the current my TiVo is just fine by me.

That leads us to TiVo’s lawsuit against AT&T and Verizon for time-shifting patents. Here is the basic info:

ALVISO, Calif., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) today filed complaints in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas against AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications, Inc. for infringement of the following three TiVo patents U.S. Patent Nos. 6,233,389 B1 (”Multimedia Time Warping System”), 7,529,465 B2 (”System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams”), and 7,493,015 B1 (”Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System”). The complaints seek damages for past infringement and a permanent injunction, similar to that issued by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas against DISH/EchoStar.

The DISH lawsuit lasted for five years and involved, in short, the company presumably infringing on TiVo’s “concept” of stream time-shifting. Essentially they’re saying that only they can build a time shifting DVR.

Essentially TiVo is going after DVRs, straight up. TiVo’s patent is for a device that can allow you to watch one program while recording another. In a world where standalone TiVo boxes are going the way of the Dodo, this patent could be a goldmine for the failing company, resulting in a series of nutritious lawsuits until the company ends up like SCO – a lawsuit slinging shell of its former self.

Digeo just pushed the summer Moxi HD DVR update and I had to check it out. I had a few issues with the DVR after the last release that was supposed to be resolved. One, I hate the vertical channel guide bar thing and the summer update added a traditional grid guide. Two, the GUI was supposed to be faster now and require less button presses. Three, the player was finally suppose to be able to playback more video file formats like AVI and MKV.

Spoiler: Digeo fixed two out of the three issues mentioned above and ignored other glaring problems like the fantastically funny but also very offensive Porn search tool.

If you read my review of the Moxi HD DVR, you should know that I’m not a fan of the vertical bar channel guide. I think it’s a pain and doesn’t utilize the widescreen layout of an HDTV efficiently. But the summer update was supposed to add a grid guide and that was the first thing I checked out.

So I went to the settings, and sure enough it was enabled. I then quickly navigated to the Channel icon (and ignored the onscreen message about the grid guide in the settings menu) only to discover that damn vertical bar was still there. So this time when I went back to the settings, I actually read the message that explained the only way to access the grid guide was to hit the little square icon on the remote twice.

Yeah, so when you hit the Moxi button, you still have the vertical channel guide. When you navigate to the guide through anything else, you still have the vertical channel guide. The only way to get the grid guide – which looks like it was designed by an 8th grader btw – is to hit the little square icon on top of the remote twice. Dumb.

There is some good news though. This update does speed up the GUI a bit. It doesn’t lag like it did before, which is always nice. Also, when navigating the network shares, you no longer have to hit the back button twice. A single click to the left navigates the system down one step. Before the GUI would ask you if you wanted to step back even though you hit the back button. This was a huge pain if you where several directories into a network share.

But – this is rich – now when navigating the network, the GUI asks you if you want to enter the folder you just clicked. Let me you walk you through this. I select PlayOn Media Server and click OK. The GUI then asks me if I really want to enter that folder, which I then must confirm by clicking OK again. Then I select Videos, which prompts the same confirm screen that I have to say OK again to. Then I can select the genre of movie I want to watch. But don’t forget about that confirmation screen which wants to make sure that you really want to enter the folder you just selected.

I don’t get it, folks. Navigating a menu should be as easy as possible with no extra steps. I think the purpose of this confirmation screen is to allow users to add the folder to a favorites menu, but there must be a better way of doing things. The current method is downright aggravating.

Just as Diego promised though, the Moxi HD DVR can playback more video file formats including AVI and MKV. Although, don’t expect to be able to watch any MKVs though as it seems that the speed is too slow and the playback is very choppy on larger files. AVIs playback fine although this is something that PlayOn resolved a few weeks ago. But now you can use any DLNA service including TVersity and Twonky.

I still have one major issue with the Moxi HD DVR and that’s the search tool. As a family man, I really don’t want my child seeing descriptions of 18 Petite N Creamy, 18 Year Old Dream Teens, or any of the hundred other programs shown in the search tool. The problem is that these stations are available from Comcast, and even though I don’t subscribe to them (promise), all the programs show up in alphabetical order starting with numbers. This is a major problem I noted in my review that still hasn’t been addressed. The search tool should not show you programs on stations that aren’t available, pornographic in nature or not.

I would grade the Moxi summer update as a C. It’s not failing, but it’s also not excelling. These tiny fixes and poor implementation of a grid guide probably could have been rolled out without any fanfare. Don’t get me wrong, this $800 HD DVR is dramatically better than anything cable offers, but it still doesn’t reach the level of usability or function set by TiVo years ago.

TiVo is really a product that needs a salesmen. Consumers need to be shown what it can do and how it is better than the cable company’s DVR. As much as we all rag on Best Buy, the company does employ salesmen that generally know what they are doing. If Best Buy tells their staff to push TiVo, they’ll probably move a few more units.

The otherside of this agreement involves a Best Buy co-branded TiVo set-top box and places TiVo’s software onto Best Buy-branded HDTVs. This new TiVo will likely be built off of the existing TiVo platform but allows subs to purchase items from Best Buy using only the TiVo remote.

The HDTV brands of Insignia and Dynex probably need something to help them stand out against the big boys of Sony, Samsung and Panasonic. I don’t know about you, but an embedded TiVo awould sway my buying decision.

There are of course a lot of details left out of the pre-announcement. I kind of have a feeling that the Best Buy co-branded TiVo will be available without a monthly subscription. There needs to be a reason for consumers to buy the this model over a normal TiVo. Plus, I don’t know if even I would purchase an HDTV that came with a monthly cost.

I’m also excited to see where this multi-year agreement takes TiVo. Perhaps we’ll eventually see more HDTVs embedded with the TiVo software. Lets hope that this agreement provides TiVo with enough capital to finally update the almost decade-old GUI.

Widgets and gadgets are the latest trend to hit HDTVs. Vizio is upping the game by equipping its soon-to-be-released HDTVs with an impressive suite of Internet applications and video streaming sites. So much so, that this portfolio will place them on top of many people’s wish list as these TVs will be better equipped than a TiVo or even Windows Media Server.

Forget about Vizio being a mid-tier, Walmart brand. These features might make some people question why they pay a monthly fee for a TiVo. Owners will be able to stream content from Revision3, Showtime and Pandora for free, while also able to subscribe to Vudu, Netflix, Blockbuster OnDemand, Amazon Video On Demand and Rhapsody. Plus, the sets are able to work with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and the Yahoo Widgets Engine.

All this content should be easily controlled and managed with a Bluetooth remote that features a slide-down QWERTY keyboard. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing this feature finally becoming available. Hopefully similar remotes will soon be available from TiVo and Moxi as there is nothing more annoying than typing via an on-screen keyboard.

The HDTVs connect to the local network via either 802.11n or wired networking. There is no word on DLNA support, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that finds its way into spec list.

Expect the new XVT series to be available next month and start at $749 for a 32-inch. The series continues up in price as LED-backing and 240Hz options are added. The top of the line VF551XVT has both options as well as five HDMI ports for $2,199 and will be available this September.

We’re just hoping that the picture matches the impressive feature list…

TiVo is already in cahoots with Comcast and DirecTV, and a deal with Time Warner would get its software in front of another 13+ million potential subscribers. Representatives from TiVo and Time Warner have refused to comment on the discussions that Time Warner’s COO Landel Hobbs said had been taking place during a recent conference call.

If the deal comes to pass, Time Warner could learn some things from Comcast’s TiVo rollout here in the New England area. I finally gave up on Comcast TiVo after a year and a half and over twenty dead cable boxes. It just never really worked right. I’d have a working box for a month or two, at most, and then it’d just stop recording shows and I wouldn’t be able to delete any previous shows.

Or the live TV would just stop working. Or the box would just reboot itself over and over again in and endless loop. I finally just bought an actual TiVo box for the main room and now I have the plain old Comcast DVR in the bedroom. I miss the TiVo interface tremendously, but at least the box is stable.

[Bloomberg via Gizmodo]

You can get your hands on a refurbished TiVo HD DVR for $199 with free shipping, directly from TiVo. The box can hold up to 180 hours of standard-definition footage or up to 20 hours of HD content.

The refurb boxes carry a 90-day warranty and service fees start at $12.95 monthly, $129 annually, or $399 for a lifetime subscription. You also get access to Amazon’s video service and streaming Netflix movies, too. If you’re not quite on the HD bandwagon yet, you can get a dual-tuner standard definition TiVo box for $79.99 instead. But everything’s better in HD. Except Larry King. And just about anyone over the age of 60, really.

Special Deals on Factory-Renewed TiVo DVRs [TiVo.com via dealnews]

Instead of disabling the DVRs, EchoStar uploaded a new OS onto them, which, according to this judge, isn’t what they were ordered to do. The company had an option to modify the original judgement to include that option, but they didn’t file for the change. Now EchoStar was ordered to pay TiVo $103 million. That figure could reach $190 million once interest is tacked on. Well, if you can’t pay, don’t play.

No word was given what caused the delay, but it probably has something to do with the company lossing $4.1 million over the last three months. That same call also featured talk about TiVo’s tru2way partnership with Comcast. But that service is still a bit out so don’t expect that anytime soon either.

TiVo has featured online scheduling and DVR control for a while, but it wasn’t anything special as it could only preform simple tasks. Not anymore. The website just got a refresh in the style of the TiVo Beta Search and is now loaded with features. In fact, there isn’t much that the new site can’t do.

One of the biggest, and best, updates to the new site is the one click episode and season recording options. Previously users would have to navigate away from the original site for these options. Not anymore. Simply click the button, and the show will be recorded or a Season Pass scheduled.

Speaking of the TV listings, the new full screen mode is a welcomed upgrade. It now displays 50 stations without a page refresh and a snap to use.

There is so much more too. The new site can control Internet downloaded shows, view/edit the To Do List, and can easily switch between controlling different TiVos. I, for one, will use the site more. In fact, it’s kind of easier to use the website now instead of navigating through the TiVo’s menu tree. Well done, TiVo.

Still, it’s only $14.99 with $11.96 in shipping for a TiVo. It may not be the latest and greatest, but if you’re still rocking basic cable on an SDTV, this could be a great alternative to the cable company’s shitastic DVR. Better hurry, this deal generally doesn’t last very long.

Surplus Computers via DealNews