Earlier today, TiVo went ahead and published a priority page for the 9.3 software release. If you own a Series 2 TiVo, you might want to head on over to the page and sign up. This release is supposed to speed up the TiVo interface including a 5-10 second improvement during the season pass creation process.

This priority list is for TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorders only!
DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo and TiVo Series1 DVRs are not eligible for this update. If you have a Series3 or TiVo HD DVR, they will receive the Spring update automatically in the near future.

Only DVRs with TiVo Service Numbers beginning with the following numbers are eligible for this software:
110, 130, 140, 230, 240, 264, 275, 540, 542, 565, 590, 595, and 649.

Spotted on Gizmo Lovers.

EngadgetHD is reporting that Comcast TiVo may be coming to the Portland Oregon area sometime in the near future. According to EngadgetHD, one of their readers was told by two different Comcast installers that the Comcast TiVo DVR solution would be available in the Portland area sometime soon. Currently, Comcast TiVo DVRs are only available in the New England area.

Can anybody in the Portland Oregon area confirm this rumor?

Yesterday, TiVo announced that later this year you will be able to access YouTube directly from your Series 3 or TiVo HD DVR (sorry, no Series 2 access). Other then that information, the official press release really doesn’t contain a lot more. Hopefully, “later this year” means some time in the summer as opposed to the winter time frame.

On a number of occasions, I’ve gone on the recorded as saying that TiVo should provide access to YouTube. That being said, I am extremely excited about this news. Anything that brings more content to my TV is a good thing, especially when there’s nothing on TV…

ALVISO, Calif., March 12, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced an agreement with YouTube(TM) that will offer access to YouTube videos directly from the TV via a TiVo DVR. The service will be available later this year to broadband-connected subscribers with TiVo Series3(TM) DVRs, including the new TiVo HD.

Every day hundreds of millions of videos are viewed on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of videos are uploaded. Upon launch of the TiVo-YouTube service, TiVo users will be able to search, browse and watch these videos directly on their television sets through their broadband connected TiVo DVRs. The combination of having the YouTube experience with the convenience and familiarity of TiVo’s intuitive user interface will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to discover and enjoy the most shared and most discussed web videos in the world on their televisions. Importantly, users will be able to log into their YouTube accounts directly from their TiVo boxes and access their favorite YouTube channels and playlists.

“We’re delighted to be working with the world’s leading online video community so that TiVo subscribers can access YouTube’s popular content on the TV via the TiVo DVR,” said Tara Maitra, Vice President and GM of Content Services at TiVo Inc. “Being able to make available YouTube videos to the TiVo subscriber base using one device, one remote and one user interface is another major step in our commitment to combine all of your television and web video viewing options in one easy to use service.”

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added five new channels of content to their TiVoCast service. Each of the newly added channels come from TrueFire.com. For those of you who don’t know, TrueFire is a well known maker of guitar lessons and tutorials.

Since 1991, TrueFire and its collective of 450+ artists and educators, has produced thousands of guitar lessons and interactive video courses, which are available as downloads, streaming video and CD-ROM. We also offer top DVD and Book titles from other publishers.

If you’re interested in playing guitar you might want to check out these channels. I especially like how TiVo organized the channels based on your level of experience with playing a guitar.

As usual, you can subscribe to these channels via TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Program —> Download TV & Movies.

Stephen Mack just announced that TiVo has added GameTapTV as a TiVoCast channel.

GameTap TV joins the TiVoCast lineup today, featuring shows about video games and video game culture. A new GameTap TV episode will appear every weekday.

GameTap looks like a great show especially if you are interested in gaming (which I don’t have time for).

As always, you can subscribe to GameTap via TiVo’s website or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central —> Find Programs —> Download TV & Movies —> GameTap TV.

As noted by TiVoLovers and several other blogs, TiVo recently sent out an official statement which confirms the rumor that TiVo Inc. plans on discontinuing the TiVo rewards program as of May 28, 2008. Also as as expected, you have until April 28, 2008 to earn additional points.

Along with this news, TiVo has gone ahead and added a couple of new items to the rewards program. From now until May 28th, you can pickup a My DVR Expander drive for 28500 points. In addition to the expander drive, TiVo has also added two “entertainment packages” which they are calling the TiVo Rewards Entertainment Package (120,00 points) and the TiVo Rewards Ultimate Entertainment Package (150,000 points). Both packages included a TiVo HDwith lifetime service and a TiVo Wireless Adapter. The Ultimate package also includes a My DVR Expander drive so that you can add additional storage to your TiVo HD.

Like I said in my previous post, I’m disappointed that TiVo is getting rid of the rewards program. I hope that MegaZone of TiVoLovers.com is correct and that TiVo will restart the program, possibly under a new set of rules. I guess all we can do is wait and see for now…

Both Dave Zatz and a TiVo Community member have reported that TiVo plans to discontinue their rewards program sometime in the near future. Unlike the TiVo Community thread, Dave Zatz went ahead and contacted his TiVo rep. to get some more details. According to Dave’s rep, April 28th will be the last day that you can earn points and May 28th will be the last day you can redeem your points.

Based on this information, I’ve gone ahead and used up all of my rewards points on a TiVo HD and two TiVo t-shirts (which I’ll probably give away on this site). Prior to this news, I had planned on waiting for TiVo to add new items to the program but, now it looks like that won’t happen. I’ve been meaning to post something about the lack of new items that are available via the rewards program however, it looks like that post is no longer needed….

Thanks to this site’s faithful readers, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive a number of great items from the rewards program. In a little of three years I’ve referred 82 people via the rewards program! That being the case, I’m obviously very disappointed that TiVo is going to discontinue the program. Hopefully TiVo will reconsider this move because, I think if they discontinue the program they’re loosing out on a great opportunity to get new subscribers……

Stephen Mack just announced that TiVo has added ExerciseTV as a TiVoCast channel. As always, you can subscribe to ExerciseTV via TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Programs –> Download TV & Movies –> ExerciseTV.

Great job TiVo! Keep those TiVoCast channels coming!

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added Finding America to their growing lineup of TiVoCast content.

As always, you can subscribe to Finding America by heading on over to TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Programs –> Download TV & Movies –> PodShowTV –> Finding America.

TiVo has once again announced the top 10 Super Bowl Ads based on approximately 10,000 anonymous households. This year’s top ten Super Bowl ads are:

1. E-Trade: “Baby” (spitting up)
2. Pepsi Co: “Justin Timberlake”
3. Doritos: “Mouse Trap” (user-generated)
4. Coca-Cola: “James Carville and Bill Frist”
5. Ice Breakers: “Carmen Electra”
6. Bridgestone: “Headlights”
7. Bud Light: “Cavemen”
8. Vitamin Water: “Horse Race”
9. Cars.com Plan B: “Witch Doctor”
10. Life Water: “Thriller”

What was your favorite Super Bowl ad? Personally, I liked the Audi ad for the R8. I’m not much of car guy however; this car looks pretty sweet…