Here comes the Wooo BH250, the new Hitachi Blu-ray set-top recorder with a built-in 250GB HD for storage of content. So it’s really a Blu-ray disk burner/DVR combo, which is a pretty sweet mash-up.
We’ve heard that Blu-ray recording was coming to the Wooo series before, but this is the first actual model that goes on sale for the public.
It’s set to hit Japan in June, and hopefull we’ll see it here, but you know that no matter where you are, it’s going to be expensive. But if you’re a high-end home theater nerd, you’re already wiping drool from your keyboard.
Father’s Day and graduation season is upon us, readers. And what better way to celebrate than getting your dad or grad a My DVR Expander USB edition external drive from Western Digital. Of course, they’ll have to own a DISH network VIP Series HD DVR and the 500GB drive only retails for $150. It’s also a low power-consuming hard drive that has a no-fan passive cooling system that keeps things quiet and reduces energy by 30 percent.
The New York Times has a piece on the impact that digital video recording, on-demand offerings, and web video services have had on advertising budgets for prime time television slots.
Apparently if people aren’t actually watching TV during prime time, it makes advertising “trickier to measure and pitch to marketers,” resulting in less ad revenue, giving the networks “no choice but to adapt.”
Boo hoo.
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A new update to TiVo’s Desktop Plus software features the ability to subscribe to video content via RSS. TiVo’s touting the feature as Season Pass for web video, which is basically just a fancy way of saying that you can subscribe to a video podcast’s RSS feed and new episodes will be downloaded to the TiVo Desktop Plus software ($24.95 one-time fee) that runs on your PC and then makes those video files available for viewing on your TiVo box.
According to the recent press release,
Starting today, TiVo users can subscribe to and watch a broad range of video content available through Real Simple Syndication (”RSS”) feeds, including everything from network nightly newscasts and The Sesame Street Podcast to Daily Headlines from MTV News and College Humor from CHTV. The application also gives consumers access to niche interest and hobbyist videos covering areas far more specialized than cable and satellite channels.
Again, the Desktop Plus software is $24.95 and is PC-only. There’s also a free PC version that supports fewer video formats and doesn’t handle the RSS stuff and a Mac version that only does photos and music (you can use the $150 $70 Roxio Toast 8 to handle video transfers).
TiVo ToGo [TiVo.com] via Zatz Not Funny!
…at least in patent-world. AppleInsider found a patent related to an AppleTV DVR interface for picking programs to record. Since it was filed in October 2006, this might have been a feature they left out because all of Apple was drunk the week they made the Apple TV and left out the DVR part — that’s just my guess, seeing as how the thing has pretty much sucked on wheels until firmware 2.0 and even then it’s no great shakes.
Anger at being force to still use my SD TiVo aside, it seems like a cool addition to the wee box but would definitely require a hardware refresh.
Apple TV DVR interface revealed in patent filings [AppleInsider]
Some boffin over at Rice University has decided that five years from now, the capacity of DVRs will be such that we’ll be able to record HD video from ten channels at once, and keep it going for two weeks straight.
That’s all fine and dandy, but what the professor has failed to take into account is that channel-based TV is on its way out even now, and the popularization of DVRs is symptomatic of consumer dissatisfaction with that system. Customers aren’t going to want to spend $500 to upgrade to another version of the same thing when the next generation — on demand TV — is staring them in the face right now in 2008. And in 2013? Please, do you really think they’ll even want a DVR when they have a hoverboard?
DVR Capacity Going to Skyrocket? [G4TV]
The PS3’s PlayTV add-on — essentially a DVR for the PS3 — will go on sale in Europe in March for about $150. Not word on US availability. There are also reports that content recorded by PlayTV will not be copy-protected and that you will be able to drop video onto MPEG-2 compatible devices without DRM.
Sony stamps on PlayTV date and price listing [GamesIndustry]
When the TiVo HD box was announced, there was a pretty substantial price gap between it ($299) and the original Series3 box ($799) but the differences between the two didn’t seem enough to justify the purchase of the more expensive unit.
After a $200 holiday rebate on the original Series3, TiVo has just about run out of stock and will not be replenishing its supply.
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Here’s a quick first look at the Comcast + TiVo interface that’s recently become available in the Boston area.
Pros: Way better than the alternative Comcast DVR interface from 1982, it’s TiVo, dual tuner + HD for about what you’d pay per month for TiVo except you don’t have to shell out $299 up front for the TiVo HD box, Comcast OnDemand feature is intact.
Cons: It’s way slower than “real” TiVo, no home networking or Internet features
We also found out from sources that the required technician visit is a temporary measure to make sure installations go smoothly. In the near future, it’ll be a software push upon request. You’ll just need to pick up a new TiVo remote at your local office. Actually, you don’t need to pick one up because the regular Comcast remote works.
Also, the networking features will be here in a later software update, except for things that would otherwise cut into Comcast’s revenue, like downloading Amazon Unbox movies and things like that. So you’ll be able to share videos and photos across the network and maybe view Internet video, but you’ll not be able to purchase videos or movies from anywhere besides Comcast.
If anyone has any questions, please let me know and I’ll try to dig up the answers.
Product Name: Seagate PipelineHD Series Hard Disc Drives
Description: A hard drive that’s specifically built for high def DVRs with (initially) up to 1TB in storage space
Price: TBA
In-store date: First-half of 2008
Site: Seagate
Why it’s cool: Because storing high def, DVR’d content takes up an obscene amount of space. PipelineHD is not only large enough for 200 hours, or 8.3 days, of high-def content, but it uses propreitary technology to be as quiet as possible—nothing kills the charm of movies like “Once” like the ear-piercing sound of HDD access.
Credit: Steve Garfield CC BY-NC-SA
It’s been over two years since Comcast announced that its DVR boxen would be getting the TiVo treatment, with nothing materializing yet. That is, of course, unless your name is Steve Garfield, of the Boston area, in which case your DVR is now a TiVo.
Garfield is apparently the first customer in the country to get the upgrade, and things are going about how you’d expect things would for the early adopter: poor support, buggy software, and an all-around headache.
But the fact is, the upgrades are rolling out, so when do we expect the service in, say, Seattle? We have no idea, and I’m tired of waiting for my Comcast rep to call me back.
First reports of the Comcast-TiVo box [PVR blog]
It would be tempting to come up with a snarky headline for this story, such as “TiVo changing channels”, but we’ll spare you. In fact, we’re going to make a general summarization: TiVo is doing better than analysts thought it would, and that’s because it’s concentrating on working with content providers, not just using what they create.
NBC, for example, after leaving Apple, is now working with TiVo to deliver NBC programming on-demand to TiVo owners. It’s significant because the networks hated on the TiVo when it first appeared a few years ago, basically jumpstarting the DVR marketplace.
That, coupled with TiVo’s licensing of the interface and back-end, means that TiVo’s winning strategy won’t be hardware, it will be services, and you can bet Xbox and Apple TV are in its sights.
TiVo Shifts to Help Companies It Once Threatened [NYT]
Your TiVo box added a wee bit o’ usefulness today with the inclusion of Photobucket and Picasa compatibility.
You can view your own photos, other people’s photos that you’ve been given the ability to access, and you can also customize photo feeds and view photos that have been tagged with specific keywords. Anyone try this out yet? I’m gonna fire my TiVo up this afternoon and give it a whirl.
TiVo gains Photobucket, Picasa photo streaming [Electronista]
I found this here. I do not know what it is and I am very scared.
Nobody likes cable companies, but now you have a reason to loathe Comcast a little less. New England Comcast customers can pay $2.95 a month to get the TiVo interface in their cable box in addition to the normal $16.94 a month charge for a DVR, ratcheting the cost up to about $19.89.
This is a good move for Comcast because it makes them look less like backwards Neanderthals and it’s a good move for TiVo because now their R&D team can eat again and build up some energy to produce an HD product that people actually will buy. It’s just not win-win for that $2.95 burning a hole in your pocket every month, but you don’t count.
Comcast to Charge $2.95 Extra for TiVo DVR Service [Mulitchannel]
Let’s face it. Much of TiVo’s charisma is due to its excellent software interface. The boxes are nice, yes, but the real power is in the UI.
Well TiVo and Nero have just struck a deal wherein "Nero will develop a software solution that will bring TiVo features to the personal computer." Hot damn. No word on timeframe or how much it’ll cost but this is good news nonetheless.
TiVo and Nero Partner to Deliver the TV Experience to the Personal Computer [Press Release] via Digital Trends
Oh hey. Ya, they got them TiVo in Canada now, you betcha. You can get a Series 2 dual-tuner DVR for $199 CAD or $10,223 USD, considering the exchange rate. You also got to get yourself a TiVo subscription, ya, and it’ll be available at Best Buy, The Brick, Ye Olde Maple and Moose Shoppes, Beer ‘n’ Pancakes ‘n’ DVRs, Bruce’s Hockey and Electronics Store, and Geez It’s Got a Low Price, Dave.
Press Release
Product Page [Warning: In Canadian]
Wow, this is a good one. I bought a single tuner TiVo last year for around the same price (maybe even more).
This offer is $125 for a dual-tuner Series2 TiVo with 80-hour recording time and an entire year of service. The deal ends on December 28th, so you do have some time to mull it over. Enter promo code "Toyota" without the quotes.
Toyota Owners Online [TiVo] via FatWallet
The Bullet DVR system is a portable video recorder designed for racing. It records all of your racing action from a first-person point of view and can be played back on a Windows PC. TrackTimer, a provided app, will allow you to log your lap times, jetting, gearing, suspension and fuel consumption. If you’re a struggling serious racer, this could be a great tool to study your driving skills and figure out what you need to improve on. The solid-state video recorder uses mpeg-2/mpeg-4 encoding with a max resolution of 720×480. The DVR is also resistant to shock/vibration and can have up to 8GB of storage via CF card. On a side note, does anyone out there race a Mini Cooper S? If so, how is it?
Bullet DVR [official site]
Thinking of buying a TiVo soon? You’ll enjoy discounted service rates if you make your purchase between now and February 2nd. Monthly dues have gone from $16.95 to $12.95, 1 year prepay has gone from $179 to $129, 2 year prepay has gone from $279 to $249, and 3 year prepay is staying the same at $299.
Unfortunately, this offer only applies to new TiVo customers. Existing customers can, however, scoop up a previously-defunct lifetime subscription for $399 for a limited time. Adding an extra TiVo to your package now costs $9.95 per month (up from $6.95 if I’m not mistaken) or $99 per year, too.
TiVo offers a temporary price break on its service fees [CNET]
As a current TiVo and former Rhapsody subscriber, the idea of putting the two together intrigues me. What doesn’t intrigue me is paying $17 a month for TiVo and another $13 a month to use Rhapsody on it. I like the services and all but $30 a month seems a little steep, especially on top of the extortion money that I have to shell out to Comcast every month to rent (against my will) a ridiculous and cumbersome box for every TV in the house.
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