Netflix coming to TiVo HD boxes

Wow, the partnership deal that began in 2004 and died in 2005 is back from the dead to finally happen in 2008. The New York Times reports that Netflix's stream now movies that are currently available on devices like their Roku player and their website will finally be coming to TiVo HD boxes soon.

The article states that it will go into beta this week and should be available to TiVo customers by December. It's a good idea and a long time coming, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this feature get released. Having purchased and used a Roku player to enjoy some of Netflix's library on my TV, I will definitely enjoy seeing the same films on my TiVo directly, removing one more device from my media cabinet. Kudos to TiVo and Netflix for finally making this deal work.

Netflix coming to TiVo HD boxes

Wow, the partnership deal that began in 2004 and died in 2005 is back from the dead to finally happen in 2008. The New York Times reports that Netflix's stream now movies that are currently available on devices like their Roku player and their website will finally be coming to TiVo HD boxes soon.

The article states that it will go into beta this week and should be available to TiVo customers by December. It's a good idea and a long time coming, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this feature get released. Having purchased and used a Roku player to enjoy some of Netflix's library on my TV, I will definitely enjoy seeing the same films on my TiVo directly, removing one more device from my media cabinet. Kudos to TiVo and Netflix for finally making this deal work.

TiVo's rebound

Five years ago, I wrote a post here called TiVo's Apple Problem. I looked at the current state of TiVo and wondered if they would be much like Apple was at the time (Apple has since gained much more mainstream appeal and higher sales), which was to say it would be a high-end product used by a small number of people and that things like cable company DVRs offered for free would dominate the space.

Off and on for the past six years I've been an armchair quarterback for TiVo telling them they should do anything and everything to become profitable, among other things: they should offer pay-per-view downloads (I asked for this in 2002), they should broker deals with cable companies, that they should release software for PCs, that they should move to international markets, and that while I'm not a fan of software patents in general I feel the TiVo patents are original and worth fighting.