The Good News and Bad News about New TiVo Features

There's been a recent update to TiVo boxes, enabling two famous and long-rumored features: Netflix support and Ads displayed while pausing/fast-forwarding. Both were first discussed on this site four years ago and it wasn't until this week that both finally became available for TiVo users.

The Netflix support is really good, exactly like using a dedicated Roku box. You add things to your Instant Queue on the Netflix website, then walk over to your TiVo to play them. Unfortunately you can't search for new movies from your couch and have to use a computer to interact with the Netflix website, but the the syncing is nearly instant and easy enough to use. Video quality is quite good and I had some low-end HD video that looked a lot like the AppleTV's 720p HD movies. Movie selection is limited to studios that allow for Netflix streaming but one of my favorite genres (Documentary) is well represented.

The ads displayed during fast forwarding has been a long time coming and raised quite a ruckus when it first was announced. Gizmodo has a screenshot of what they look like and say it's only on the older Series 2 boxes for now. On first glance it doesn't seem as invasive as I envisioned, but it does seem like a distraction from the way a TiVo is typically used.

Comments

[jstevens60]

So far it seems the small ads appear only when you pause the TiVo, and they are pretty unobtrusive. Also, after doing a little experimenting, I am relieved that the ads do not appear when watching a program in the KidZone.

[ivo]

I've not had good luck with netflix, mostly codec issues.

Friday Night Lights season 2 episode #1 - needed a "stretch" because it was shot widescreen but displayed in a compressed horizontal format.

An evening with Kevin Smith 2 (disk 1) had the video playing about 25% faster than it was supposed to, which looked funny and quickly became desynced with the audio.

The audio also became desynced on the 30 Rock pilot.

I tried the same on my xbox 360 and they worked without a problem.

[Jake]

As long as they don't kill the 30-second-skip, I'm fine with almost anything...

[JustPuked]

I hate the ads, especially since it screws up using pause to check out stats during sporting events. I was ready to buy a TiVo HD for Christmas; instead I'm now looking into buying a new PC with Windows Media Server. Thanks TiVo. I there goes me buying my fourth TiVo with lifetime.

[Andy]

When paused, you can press the Clear button to remove all screen overlays, including ads. That lets you examine the freezed frame unobstructed, be it of a sporting event or a key plotline in a movie.

[Andy]

The ads can be painful on the Tivo boxes - I just bought a sagem set top box and it seems to handle this stuff much better.