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Multi-roomViewing posts

Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Oct 27th 2009 at 8:51PM

Pace DC900X DVR MoCA 1.1 NAS
There aren't many times where we're caught off guard by a new product enough to think, why didn't we think of that, but this is one of them. The set-top-box manufacture, Pace, has just launched one of the coolest multi-room DVR solutions we've ever heard of. Not only does it over come the limitations of other so called solutions by not being limited to two tuners (for the whole house), a 160 GB hard drive, copy control flags (it streams, not copies) and a scattered recorded TV list; but it doesn't require even a single extra wire to be run in your house -- no, it doesn't use WiFi. What Pace has done is to work with Rovi and load up new software on its standard dual tuner HD set-top, the DC700X. This new software paired with a MoCA 1.1 NAS (pictured above) makes every DC700X set-top in the house a multi-room DVR. If this sounds like what you've been waiting for, then you'll want to click through past the jump to learn all about it -- or just to see another picture.

UPDATE - Pace announced deals with Buckeye Cablevision, Mediacom Communications, NCTC and Sunflower Broadband to deploy this.

Continue reading Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR

DirecTV's CEDIA booth was all about multi-room viewing

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Sep 14th 2009 at 1:36PM


When we were walking around CEDIA this past week we noticed a thing or two that we would've missed if we just focused on reader press releases. One of those things was the emphasis DirecTV put on multi-room viewing. This is good news to us, because we think that MRV is one of the next big things in the world of HD and DVRs. Most consumers just want to be able to watch whatever they want, wherever they want, so having the exact same experience on every TV in the house is key. Specifically DirecTV was showing its vision of the future including how the next generation of DirecTV HD DVR would work. What's interesting is that although DirecTV does allow customers to download beta software for the current HD DVR that enables MRV features, that isn't what these pictures are of. The current technology also isn't using the new RVU Alliance's technology, of which DirecTV promised to deploy next year. Overall we'll be keeping a close eye on the progress, but we were disappointed to hear the booth representatives describe the system without mentioning the full experience on the thin clients.

Hands-on with HD TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Nov 9th 2007 at 11:00AM Featured Story


It seems as if we've been waiting a lot longer than a year for TiVo to add two of our favorite features to the Series3, and while complications with CableLabs haven't exactly made the process possible before now, we're elated that TiVoToGo and Multi-Room viewing are finally a reality.

Both new features had to be enabled via TiVo.com by logging into our account and enabling transfers, and we've detailed the process below:
  • Log into TiVo.com and under Manage My Account, enable transfers on each of your TiVos.
  • Wait 24 hours for the TiVo to phone home or force a call
  • Check System Information page on your TiVo and verify that TiVoToGo has a value of a,a,a and not i,i,i.
  • If all else fails, force another call and reboot.
You've waited long enough, so click on through to take a look at these two long-awaited features in action.

Continue reading Hands-on with HD TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing

TiVo Series3 and HD FINALLY get TiVoToGo, MRV, eSATA drive, other new features

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Oct 23rd 2007 at 8:30AM Breaking News


TiVo let on that November was going to be the month that both TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing became a reality, and now with only a week to go it's finally here. But that's not all TiVo's taken the occasion to announce: in addition to being able to stream shows between your TiVos (MRV) and copy programming from a TiVo to your PC (TiVoToGo), TiVo has also announced (hack free) eSATA drive support along with Western Digital's My DVR Expander, which, for $199, will expand your TiVo with 500GB of space (a good 65 hours of HD). Another new feature included with this release is progressive downloads, which means you won't have to wait for TiVoCast and Unbox videos to finish downloading before you can start enjoying them. Instead, the TiVo will figured out how much of a buffer is required for uninterrupted viewing and let you start watching as soon as possible. While most of these features have been a long time coming, we can only imagine how excited TiVo owners are to know that the wait is over -- assuming they've already signed up for the priority list to received the 9.2 update.

HD TiVo Fall update, still no TiVoToGo or Multi-room Viewing

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Sep 24th 2007 at 1:21PM

TiVo 9.1
TiVo is starting to roll out their fall update for the TiVo lineup including the TiVo HD and Series3. This brings them to version 9.1 which includes some bug fixes and a few new features. The WishList feature gets enhanced and now allows more advanced searches, but they've also added Crestron integration for the Series3. The TiVo HD gets left in the cold as does the rest of HA market, as only Crestron is supported. The integration is via IP, so hopefully TiVo will release the protocol, or someone can reverse engineer it. We'd assume that the more anticipated features like TiVoToGo, Multi-Room viewing and eSATA support are included too, but not yet activated. Perhaps it's time to start trying to find new kickstart commands.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

TiVo's quarterly call, it's not all bad news

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Aug 31st 2007 at 11:53AM

TiVoIt's no secret that TiVo isn't a blue-chip stock, in fact the real question each quarter is usually, how much did they lose this time? This is a big reason why we have our TiVo Deathwatch, but it's not all bad for TiVo and since they make it nearly impossible for someone to buy them out, we like to focus on the positives. The Comcast deal is moving along, -- no not fast enough -- and not only are New England Comcast customers getting TiVo software on their Motorola boxes soon, but Comcast is going to foot-the-bill to port the software over to Scientific Atlanta boxes. We also enjoyed the mention of DirecTV's new software update, and get the feeling that we may see new TiVo products from DirecTV in the future. They're finally going to make it so you can start watching UnBox movies while they're downloading, but since there is still no mention of HD -- or even widescreen -- content, it's still useless. TiVo has finally got an HD TiVo for the masses, and looking forward, the future is looking brighter for SDV support, as well as old favorites like Multi-room Viewing and TiVoToGo, so with any luck, TiVo might get in the black next time around.




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