Ben Drawbaugh has posted a wonderful review of TiVoToGo and MRV (multi-room viewing) on the Series 3. Overall, the review is rather positive however, Ben did say that his transfer speeds are rather slow.

Granted, the transfers were pretty slow — in fact, they were about twice real time — and our understanding is that the hardware is the bottleneck, so upgrading to a gigabit network probably won’t help.

My transfer speeds aren’t as slow as what Ben is experiencing. For example, a 30 minute HD shows takes around 43-45 minutes to transfer. I don’t know why there is a difference between what I’m experiencing and what Ben is. At first I thought it was because both of my TiVos are wired but than I noticed that Ben’s TiVos are wired as well. Whatever the case may be, I’m happy that my transfers are faster :).

How fast are your transfer speeds? Are they more in line with what I’m reporting or are your recordings transferring at a speed similar to what Ben is reporting?

bkdtv has posted a great FAQ about TiVoToGo (TTG), Multi-Room Viewing (MRV) and TiVoToComeBack (TTCB) on the Series 3 and TiVo HD. The FAQ answered several questions I had about TiVoToGo including why TTG on the Series 3 is faster than TTG on my Series 2 DT.

Check it out if you have some questions about TTG, MRV or TTCB on the Series 3 and TiVo HD.

We all knew this was coming but, today TiVo sent out the following press release which indicates that we should see an upgrade for the S3 and TiVo HD sometime in the near future. As expected, the upgrade will bring TiVoToGo and multi-room viewing (MRV) support to the Series 3 & TiVo HD. Also as expected, TiVo has partnered with Western Digital to release an eSATA drive ($200) which will allow you to easily add additional storage to a S3 & TiVo HD.

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced the new availability of several exciting feature upgrades and product support for TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD customers. The news includes the availability of external storage (E-SATA) from Western Digital, the introduction of Multi-Room Viewing and TiVoToGo availability and the new feature of progressive downloads - all for Series 3 and TIVo HD subscribers. Please see below for more information on the news.
E-SATA
· The My DVR Expander external hard drive is capable of storing up to 600 hours of standard-definition (SD) or up to 65 hours of high-definition (HD) television programming based on 500 GB of hard drive storage.
· This is current the only TiVo Verified external storage device.
· The My DVR Expander is compatible with both TiVo HD and TiVo Series3 DVRs.
· WD’s My DVR Expander external hard drive is available now in the United States from Best Buy retail stores and by ordering online from TiVo.com/store.
· MSRP for the My DVR Expander drive with 500 GB is $199.99 USD.

Multi Room Viewing (MRV)
· MRV allows you to transfer programming between TiVo DVRs.
· It now includes support for Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs, meaning you can share shows between Series2, Series3, and TiVo HD boxes.
· Only SD recordings may be sent from a Series3/TiVo HD to a Series2.

TiVoToGo
· TiVo HD and Series 3 users can now enjoy TiVoToGo functionality.
· TiVoToGo™ transfers are available to all networked TiVo DVRs. This service enhancement allows users to transfer programs from a TiVo box to a desktop or laptop PC.
· Using TiVo Desktop software for Windows or Roxio Toast 8 or Popcorn 3 for Mac OS, TiVo subscribers can now transfer recordings from their Series 3 and TiVo HD boxes for playback, DVD burning, or converting to portable device formats on personal computers.

Progressive Downloads
· The progressive download feature gives TiVo subscribers the ability to watch TiVoCast content while it is still downloading, including Amazon UnBox on TiVo.
· When a download begins, the TiVo box checks the speed of the download, and calculates whether you can begin playback. If the download speed is going faster than playback speed, it will let users start playback immediately.
· If the download is slower, it will wait until users have enough of the program “buffered” on disk to be able to play it from start to finish without hitting the end of the buffer, and then let you start playback.
· This service is available for TiVo HD and Series3 subscribers.

Spotted on Gizmodo & Engadget.

According to several posts on TiVoCommunity.com, TiVo has started to roll out new software (v 9.1.L5) to the Series 2, Series 3 & TiVo HD. The update incorporates a number of new features including the following:

• Crestron Integration
• Advanced Wishlists (TiVo support article)
• Manual recording screen now has some improvements
• Better looking graphics and “crisper” text throughout (mentioned here as well)
• Emergency alert message integration
• MRV and TiVoTGo on the S3 & TiVo HD (the update doesn’t enable TTG & MRV instead it seems to be laying the groundwork for when TiVo enables these two features in November)

TiVoLovers also has a great summary of what’s new in 9.1.L5. Please feel free to leave a comment on this post if your lucky enough to get 9.1.L5. I just tried to update my two TiVos (S2 & S3) unfortunately, neither of them received an update. I expect that TiVo will publish a software priority page for 9.1.L5 sometime in the near future.

Here’s some news that we’ve all been waiting for…. Late last night TiVoPony (TiVo employee) posted a thread on TiVoCommunity letting everybody know that TiVo has plans to enable both TTG and MRV on the Series 3 & TiVo HD. According to TiVoPony, TiVo hopes to enable these features in November!

I wanted to let you know that development has been progressing smoothly, and all is well. You can expect TTG & MRV to be available for Series3 and TiVoHD this November.

These features will provide support for video transfers between Series3 & Series2 systems and between a Series3/Series2 system and a PC. High Definition content will not be supported for transfer or playback on a Series2 system (Series2’s just can’t play HD), and copy-protected High Def or Standard Def content cannot be transferred (same as our current Series2 products). The aptly yet unofficially named TiVoToComeBack also will be supported, including HD content.

I’m obviously very excited about this especially since I now own two TiVo DVRs (Series 2 & Series 3). I look forward to being able to use MRV between my two DVRs. I’m also happy that I will be able to transfer HD content off of my S3 (although it will probably be extremely slow).

I’ll post an update as soon as I hear more…

Spotted on ZatzNotFunny.

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As a side note, I would like to thank Wayne for putting me down as his TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Wayne!

Like I said yesterday, the Series 3 news just keeps on coming in. This time our buddy Dave Zatz posted several videos and pictures of the Series 3 TiVo in action. I’m not sure how he got his hands on one but the sneaky chump did :).

Here’s a summary of what he found out:

• The unit will cost $799
• No TiVoToGo, Multi-Room Viewing or External Hard Drive just yet
• The service fee remains at $12.95/month or $6.95/month for those individuals who already have a non-bundled unit subscription. Everybody else will have to sign up for a subscription ($155.40 for one year or $299 for two years)
• For $200, you will be able to transfer a lifetime subscription from one of your old TiVos to the Series 3.
• For $299, you will be able to get a three year subscription to the TiVo service
• Units go on sale today at TiVo.com. They will be available in BestBuy and CircuitCity shortly (as of this writing they are not on TiVo.com).

If you haven’t checked out the links above you really need to. Dave provides a lot more information then I wasn’t able to summarize. Nice job Dave!

Don’t forget to put me down as your referrer (raianoat AT gmail DOT com). I’d really appreciate it!