Tivo Announcement: Revolutionary HD Recording Technology On Tivo Premeire

Tivo finally to unveil their new product “Tivo Premeire.” it was the one of the largest shops for DVDRs. But the set-top-box led digital video recorders and took the market. Being out of popularity Tivo revolutionizes a new HD recording technology which they named Tivo Premeire. It’s the next step to TiVo HD, was leaked in a manual received by a customer.

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TiVo Premiere launch has been supported by company’s sell-out of TiVo HDs at its own store. The clearing out of old stocks at the stores clearly indicates the coming of Premiere.

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They would be launching two products TiVo Premier and the TiVo Premier XL. Let’s delve into its features

  • They will have redesigned software interface using Adobe Flash. Premier would be the ultimate set-top-box with the ability to search for and access video from both broadcast and broadband.
  • Deliver content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and Blockbuster on Demand.
  • Handle cable video through a cable card
  • Menu options to allow TiVo subscribers to see all the video options in one catalog.
  • Ability to follow specific actors, receive recommendations based on their habits and customize their home screen

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The specs:

• The TiVo Premiere (320GB, $300) and Premiere XL (1TB, THX certified, $500) are the new Series 4 TiVos
• They have completely new widescreen HD software built on Flash
• This software will not come to Series 3 models (or earlier)
• The Premiere is less a DVR than a completely integrated video machine
• Available in early April

The TiVo Premiere is the smallest TiVo yet, a thin and diminutive box that holds only one CableCard and still lacks Wi-Fi (a $90 802.11n adapter will be available this May, plus you can pick up a $30 TiVo powerline adapter). It hides a multicore processor inside that drives a new, HD UI that previews your program at all times.

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Plus there are little touches that anyone can appreciate: A disk space meter. Show titles change colors once watched. The 30-second commercial skip? That’s been programmed into a dedicated “scan” button that flashes half a minute by in just a handful of frames (to keep advertisers happy). Plus, I have it in good faith that TiVo won’t be eliminating the classic 30-second skip, either.

Internet

Imagine if TiVo and IMDB made a baby. That’s exactly what you get.

Swivel Search, which allowed you to search for programs by criteria like actor and keyword, has been built in to the very core of Series 4, and it’s got internet access.

So say you’re watching 30 Rock and you decide, that Jack Donaghy is an interesting guy. I want to see more of his work! A few clicks takes you to Alec Baldwin. A few more? You can access pretty much anything Alec Baldwin’s been in—but not just within your cable subscription.

You’ll see Netflix streaming options. Amazon Video on Demand. Blockbuster on Demand. YouTube clips, even. Or you can find an Alec Baldwin movie that will be in the theaters in several months.

There’s Not Much Flash

If we have one criticism regarding the Series 4 (other than the lack of integrated Wi-Fi, yes, I’m gonna hammer that point home), it’s that there’s nothing all that flashy about it.

Yes, this point is a quibble, but an important quibble all the same. Those accustomed to flipping through their Netflix queue on a modern, powerful machine like the Xbox 360, those accustomed to the seemingly endless media oomph of the PS3’s animated XMB previews and photo collages, may be disappointed in the Premiere’s general lack of flare.

Oh, and TiVo, Wi-Fi dongles shouldn’t cost $90 anymore.

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TiVo’s Series 4 box is superficially, well, just another TiVo box, but that’s not the point—all set-top boxes are boxes, and if they were anything else, they wouldn’t be set-top boxes. It’s what’s inside that counts, and that’s where the Premiere’s newness is.

In terms of content, TiVo’s taken a hard turn online: as Mark put it, it’s as if “TiVo and IMDB made a baby,” which is to say any TV show or movie you’re browsing is augmented with context and metadata, pulled from online. A minor feature which is actually kind of huge is that if you look up a film or show, the Premiere plants icons for the integrated streaming services—Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon, etc—to help see if a download or play option is available. The integration is smooth, and the concept natural. But groundbreaking? Not so much.

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The optional QWERTY remote will be very familiar to anyone who’s used TiVo for more than five minutes, excepting the giant freakin’ keyboard that slides out of the side. Integrating the keyboard into a peanut shape was risky, and it didn’t really pay off: The keyboard itself isn’t overly large, but the fact that it’s flanked by two large endpieces makes reaching the center buttons tough, even for the large-handed. Anyway, it’s more merciful than generous, since asking users to navigating any amount of text-oriented web content with the regular ol’ peanut is mildy hellish. I suspect a lot of folks will spring for this one, even if the necessary Bluetooth dongle (not to mention the remote itself) costs.

What’s most striking about TiVo’s Next Big Thing is that it doesn’t do a whole lot that other DVRs and set-top boxes couldn’t, probably for a lower price. (The Premiere is $300, and the XL, with a 1TB drive, is $500.) Granted, a lot of people are going to end up with a Series 4 DVR subsidized by their TV provider, and then, yeah, it’s going to be a nice step up from whatever terrible TI genero-box they would have had otherwise.

TiVo Premiere Box Specifications:

* TiVo Series4™ architecture
* Supports digital cable, high-definition digital cable, antenna (ATSC) and Verizon FiOS
* Outputs: HDMI, Component video, Composite video, Optical audio, Analog audio
* Video output modes include: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
* Inputs: CableCARD™ support, Cable coax, Antenna coax, Ethernet
* Ethernet connection, USB 2.0 ports (2), E-SATA support for external storage
* TiVo Wireless N and G Network Adapter support
* ENERGY STAR® certified
* 320 Gigabytes
* Records up to 45 hours of HD programming or up to 400 hours of standard-definition

TiVo Premiere XL Box Specifications (all specs not listed are the same as above unless noted)

* One Terabyte storage
* Records up to 150 hours of HD programming or up to 1350 hours of standard-definition
* Backlit, programmable, and learning remote
* THX®certified, ensuring optimal audio and video reproduction and enables seamless integration with other THX components
* TiVo Premiere XL box is the first HD product to feature THX® Optimizer™, a video calibration tool that lets users fine tune color, black levels and other settings to improve picture quality. Hailed by critics for its ease-of-use, the exclusive THX Optimizer for TiVo Premiere XL box is found in the My Shows menu of the TiVo service. A pair of THX Optimizer Blue Glasses, designed for adjusting Color and Tint settings, is included with the owner’s manual.

TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premiere XL boxes will be available in retail nationwide in early April. They are also available for pre-order today at tivo.com for $299.99 and $499.99 respectively.

Courtesy of Gizmodo

Aguntuk

Piash Das is Senior Editor for TheTechJournal. He is also one of the founding members of TheTechJournal. He loves to write about latest technology. He is interested in Renewable Energy & Linux. He is working as a Telecom Optimizer in RF Field and loves Football very much. You can reach him on Twitter And Google+.

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