Dave Zatz Covers The Comcast TiVo DVR

My good buddy Dave Zatz just put up a post about the Comcast TiVo DVR. Dave was one of several bloggers who was lucky enough to go to CES and cover the show directly from the floor of the event. Dave’s posts turned me onto a number of interesting things about the Comcast TiVo DVR.
Here’s what I think is most interesting:

…deployment is slated to begin this Spring

So here’s how it works… You let Comcast know you want to upgrade your DVR to TiVo, they flip a switch, and your current Motorola box (6412 or 3412) downloads the software. Reboot, and voilà you have TiVo

So here’s how it works… You let Comcast know you want to upgrade your DVR to TiVo, they flip a switch, and your current Motorola box (6412 or 3412) downloads the software. Reboot, and voilà you have TiVo

The new TiVo software is written entirely in Java and runs on TV Navigator middleware, a precursor/subset of OCAP

….the new color-coded grid guide looks great and includes picture-in-picture (PIP can be paused!), plus the software includes advanced search functionality not yet available on the stand alone TiVo models. Further, both search and Wishlist scan OnDemand programming which will be quite useful.

….networking is not active in the initial release: No Home Media Options (as in no sharing photos & music from computer, no multi-room viewing) and no Internet-based services such as TiVoCast or Yahoo Weather

Check out Dave’s post (which includes screenshots) if you are interested in finding out more about the Comcast TiVo partnership. It really is a great read for anybody who is interested in this partnership.