Back TiVo Future
You’ve got to hand it to TiVo. 10 years and 1 day after celebrating the production of the first TiVo DVR, they’ve taken a big leap ahead by adding the ability to fast forward through live TV. TiVotees already know that you can wait 20 minutes after a show starts and then can fast forward through the commercials until you get caught up, but with this new technology, you can now start watching 20 minutes ahead of time and wait while the rest of the world catches up with you.
Steve Fox at PC World has the skinny on the new program.
“As we’ve come to expect from TiVo, basic recording and timeshifting functionality is effortless, and the interface remains unchanged from previous models. More important, the SuperAdvance feature is easy to find and activate: A red “SA mode” icon appears in the bottom righthand corner of the screen whenever the feature is available; you simply click the icon once, and presto–you jump 58 seconds forward.”
While Fox sounded impressed by the technology, it did have a few snafus. Because of limitations to the overclocking of the DVR, you’ll need multiple TiVo’s in order to get more then a 1 minute jump on live TV. In my own beta tests, I’ve also noticed that when overclocking the DVR unit, it has a tendency to catch fire while watching reality TV programming. I haven’t figured out why only reality TV seems impacted, but it especially doesn’t seem to care for Jerry Springer.
Another complaint Fox has is the cost of daisy chaining multiple DVRs together. While it’s true that it’s expensive to buy a dozen TiVo units just so that you can fast forward into the future, the power of the technology pays for itself. I like to use mine to watch CNBC and will short stocks before they recommend them. Given CNBC’s reputation for stellar financial reporting, this is essentially like printing money.
When I inquired with TiVo about the rumor that this feature would only be available on April 1st of each year, they had no comment.
One final restriction to the super fast forward functionality is that TiVo apparently needs copyright approval ahead of time before they can unlock a program. Some channels seem Ok with this, but other programs are much more secretive. When I contacted Hell’s Kitchen star Gordon Ramsey for a comment on why he choose to not include his show in the beta trials, he told me that it was because “no #$%&(* chef worth a lick of salt can bake a decent lasagna in less than an hour.”
Hard to tell whether or not this functionality will be a hit with consumers, but it’s good to see TiVo fast forwarding into the future. While in the past, I’ve been critical of people spoiling TV shows I was saving on my TiVo, it’s nice to finally be able to turn the tables on them by using TiVo super fast foward to spoil their live TV experience.
Posted on April 1st, 2009 by Davis
Filed under: Disclosure - I own stock in co. mentioned, TiVo