TiVo Boosts Service, Supports Video Podcasts

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LAS VEGAS ? TiVo will soon allow you to watch your favorite video podcasts through your TiVo box. TiVo announced the feature here and says the added function will be part of its update the PC application TiVo Desktop Plus. The company says the new TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 rev will be available in March. The TiVo Desktop Plus service costs a one-time fee of $25.

On one hand it's great to be able to import more video content from the Web to your TiVo box. TiVo says there is no limit to the types of video podcasts it will support. It's also great that anyone using TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD DVR will be able to watch full HD versions of the video ? so long as the source video is published in HD.

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On the downside, TiVo says that in order to import Web video content into your TiVo box you'll have to keep your PC running to first download the video to, and second to transcode video into a format TiVo can playback. That's going to mean your PC is going to be tied-up taking care of TiVo tasks as it downloads videos and transcodes it. TiVo says the transcoding will only occur on your PC when it's not in use.

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Comments

As TiVo makes another incremental improvement to its service, with all the major companies trying to integrate the web into the living room, it looks like little TiVo has to be considered a front-runner. It's interface is simple and it continues to update its functionality largely using the web.

For a fun article about true TiVo devotion, visit:

http://www.smackofham.com/27601.html

Enjoy your day!

SmackOfHam

January 10, 2008

6:40 AM PT