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TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 Now Released
Engadget's feed lets us know that Tivo has delivered Desktop Plus 2.6, as promised (just a week after they announced the YouTube deal). "Truth be told, there's not a whole lot here that you didn't already get a taste of in our hands-on at CES, but here's the skinny. As of today, TiVo users can grab hold of the latest version of Desktop (Windows only, we're afraid) and 'enjoy a broad range of web entertainment available directly from their TV.' More specifically, these customers 'can choose web videos downloaded on the home PC using web browsers, RSS video clients such as iTunes podcasts, or other video download software to automatically copy to their TiVo DVR's Now Playing List alongside recorded broadcast and cable TV shows.'"
Still, give us geeks a shout in a couple of years time when you want to keep all those downloaded DRM-protected MP3s and movies you bought for a period of longer than two days - we'll see if we can help you out then.
You are The Weakest Link. Goodbye.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Their site lists Mac OS X as well as a few portable devices. Apple iPod Creative Zen Nokia n80 Palm Treo PSP Toshibe gigabeat Vision:M
Done.
Now I suggest they spend some development time fixing their on-board software so that the interface on my Tivo [Series 2] isn't so f*cking slow! New features are nice, but when they keep adding more stuff to the point where it takes 30+ seconds to bring up the Live TV guide, or takes me almost 2 minute to navigate to a particular show in 'Now Playing' and get it started, it's time to step back and think about whether those extra features are worth making the product unusable for its primary purpose.
I'm a HUGE Tivo fan, but I've been seriously considering getting rid of the Tivo and using something else.
Nothing to see here
What you don't have are dual tuners capable of decoding the HD 1080i most cable companies are offering today, unless you're willing to shell out about $500 for it.
What you don't get is a cableCARD slot that, while not perfect, is certainly a much better solution than an IR Blaster taped to your cable box.
What you don't get is one-click integration with Amazon Unboxed and Rhapsody. Simple Device-to-Device networking, brainless remote scheduling, a low profile settop box, a superior remote control, and a polished User Interface that's Jobs-ian in it's attention to detail.
I'm not saying Sage and the ilk are not fine solutions.
But to suggest that Sage is entirely at par w/ Tivo because of these specific feature sets is disingenuous.
Living in NYC, I am beholden to TimeWarner as my only cable provider. Of course, TimeWarner unlike nearly all other cable systems in the country sets the broadcast flag for EVERY channel other then OTA (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC). When questioned about this they just pretty much laugh and say its a part of the contract. Of course, I would love to see said contract because I highly doubt every cable channel is asking TimeWarner to set the broadcast flag, ESPECIALLY when I friends on other large cable systems that do not have this problem. This means is that TivoDesktop is useless to me and I cannot download shows to my laptop to watch on the plane unless they are from the major networks.
*Yes, I am a geek and could go find workarounds. No, I don't want too because I have more important things to worry about and things to do with my time then be denied TV on the go which is probably a good thing.
I've been a Tivo customer for maybe five years now; and for the first few years I loved them. But for the past couple of years, their main focus seems to be adding new types of advertising to their products - pop-up ads when you're fast-forwarding through a commercial (a primary reason for owning a DVR), new ads on the menu screens, etc. What they purport to give their customers are ill-conceived new ways to play computer games that don't really work well with the Tivo remote, view video (e.g. YouTube, RocketBoom and other videocasts) that works better from a computer than a television, and such. At the same time the usability of their software seems to be going downhill, such as with the significant degradation of the Multi-Room Viewing function on Series 2 boxes.
All of this is their right, since they're providing a service - I can always vote with my feet, right? Well, as with many customers inertia has kept me with them... so far. I keep hoping they'll recall their old mindset of putting their customers first. But I think, at this point, a focussed newcomer could pretty easily kill off Tivo. Lord knows I'll jump ship if, say, Apple turns the Apple TV into a PVR, or if I finally get off my butt and roll my own.
#DeleteChrome
Tivo Desktop 2.6 is the version it displays when I start it up. It dumps to "Treo" files (downscale mpeg4), it dumps to ipod and a few other formats. It allows real time download from my computer to my tivo using the tivo remote for DIVX, mpeg4 and a few other formats.
I downloaded it ($20 fee for "plus" version) like 8 months ago and have been using it to watch drm free legitimate backups of my DVDs on my TV ever since.