Back on March 28th this site and several others broke the news about TiVo releasing a dual tuner Series 2 DVR. Well, the lucky bastards over at Engadget and CNET got their hands on one before anybody else. The 80 hr. version is currently available for $254 with a prepaid one year subscription. TiVo’s own press release states the following:

“We’ve been hearing from our subscribers that they wanted a TiVo DVR that could record two shows at once,” said Jim Denney , Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo. “With the TiVo Series2 DT DVR, we’ve delivered that capability to our customers at a very affordable price.”

“We are excited to bring the new TiVo Series2 DT DVR into our stores,” said Rick Bickford, Merchandise Manager at Circuit City . “TiVo is one of our most well-loved brands and we’re confident that the feature enhancements and low price point are going to make the TiVo Series2 DT DVR a big hit.”

The TiVo Series2 DT DVR will join the existing TiVo product line, and is available in an 80-hour model priced at just $99.99, after rebate and service activation. It will also be available at tivo.com bundled with the TiVo service.

This is great news for TiVo however, I don’t think I am going to buy one simply because I am waiting on the Series 3 TiVo. In any case, this is a great DVR for somebody who simply wants to record multiple analog channels.

If you follow this site, you probably already know that at one point in time TiVo and Netflix had said that they were going to partner up on an online video on demand (VOD) service. Well, now it looks like TiVo has instead partnered with Blockbuster to offer Blockbuster’s online subscription service. Dave Zatz first spotted this new partnership yesterday while he was browsing through the TiVo store. Here’s a screenshot that he took showing the Blockbuster offer included with the TiVo service.

I currently don’t use either Blockbuster or Netflix however, I would consider trying one of these services if they were to partner up with TiVo and offer an on demand service. I’m not sure where this will go however, I’ll be sure to keep you posted as I find out more. As of right now the offer has been removed from TiVo’s website so it does look like TiVo didn’t intend for this to get out in the open.

Here’s something that a buddy of mine sent me. I thought it was worth sharing with everybody else :).

I guess Leon hasn’t stopped developing Galleon just yet. Yesterday he released version 2.3.

Here are the release notes straight from Galleon’s website:

Version 2.3.0:
———————-

• Native version for Windows
• Resync ToGo video files if moved
• Fixed ToGo stats doubling
• Fixed GoBack subfolders
• Fixed ToGo sorting by TiVo name in GUI
• Fixed movie posters
• Fixed upcoming dates

According to the Associated Press, TiVo has been awarded $73 million in its patent dispute against EchoStar. Several analysts had said that this was a life or death case for TiVo. The stock market has acted according bringing TiVo’s stock price up nearly 20% to $9.65.

Congratulations TiVo! I’m sure there will be more news to come…

Update 04/13 @ 8:17PM EST: TiVo’s official response can be found here. The official response says that TiVo is seeking an injunction against EchoStar.

First spotted on ZatzNotFunny

MarshallNewsMessenger.com has done a wonderful job covering the TiVo vs. EchoStar case. Here’s a snippet from what was published today:

After nine days of mind-boggling technical testimony, both sides rested Tuesday in TiVo Inc.’s patent infringement lawsuit against EchoStar Communications Corp., owner of Dish Network.

U. S. District Judge David Folsom dismissed the five-man, five-woman jury shortly before 3 p.m., instructing them to return 9 a.m. Thursday and “bring a sack lunch.”

Folsom said he would use Wednesday to rule on various “unresolved issues” presented by attorneys and prepare his charge to the jury…..

Read More…

Mike over at Techdirt.com has posted an interesting article which talks about how TiVo is changing the way we watch commercials.  Check it out if you are interested in that kind of thing.  I thought it was rather well done and that it brought up some good points.

It looks like the relationship between DirecTV and TiVo isn’t as shaky as I once reported. Just today DirecTV announced that they would extend their service and support agreement with TiVo for another three years! The agreement also has several provisions which are supposed to prevent TiVo from bringing DirecTV to court over a patent dispute if TiVo wins against EchoStar. TiVo stock went up 8.12% on the news while DirecTV’s stock pretty much remained unchanged.

In my opinion, this is a win-win for all parties involved. TiVo wins because the agreement removes the threat of TiVo losing 3 million customers. DirecTV wins because they no longer have to worry about potential patent lawsuits. DirecTV users win because they can continue to use their TiVo and take advantage of future software/hardware updates. This news is yet another reason why TiVo’s future looks promising!

Thanks to everybody who sent me this story. I saw it earlier in the day however; I was unable to comment on it since I was at work….

Back in September of 05 TiVo announced that they were looking for somebody who could represent the company as a TiVo ambassador. Just today TiVo announced Matt Ward of San Diego was selected to be the ambassador. Matt has already started blogging on the official TiVo blog. More information on Matt as well as a link to the winning video submission and his essay submission can be found here.
I truly look forward to reading what Matt has to say.

We all know that I’ve been a little criticial of the blog before so I hope that Matt provides the site with some interesting content and discussion. In any case, I’d like to congratulate Matt!

Unless you follow TiVo news like I do, you might not know that TiVo has brought EchoStar (the parent company of Dish Network) to court over a patent dispute. In the case of TiVo vs. EchoStar, TiVo alleges that EchoStar stole its technology which allows a user to record one show while watching another.

Several people have said that the fate of TiVo depends on this case. Why is this case so important? Well because there is the potential for EchoStar to have to pay TiVo $95-$300 million dollars. Along with this large sum of money, a win for TiVo would also help to strengthen the company’s position in the DVR marketplace. According to some analysis, TiVo has approximately a 70% chance of winning.

I know that I haven’t done a good job following this case but I’ve been extremely busy as of late with stuff at home. Enough with the excuses…stay tuned for more news and information as it becomes available.

For additional insight and information you might want to head on over to one of these blogs (ThomasHawk, ZatzNotFunny) or main stream media sites (Washington Post, Forbes).