In TiVo’s first CES meetings since being acquired by Rovi, a very bright future was laid out for the DVR portion of the business.
Once rumored to be on the chopping block prior to the close of the purchase, TiVo executives interviewed by TWICE during CES made it clear that nothing could be further from the truth.
As evidence of the future direction, new features and capabilities were demonstrated that take its products, software and interface to the next step, considerably beyond the announcement last year of a new interface design and voice control for current Bolt and Roamio models.
Expanding on voice control, full voice control and command is planned for this year for Google Assistant. Along with the ability to say, “OK Google, find my remote,” there will be full control of other Google-centric home products.
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The full command set and additional programming for installers using IFTTT will be possible to enable full integration with home control devices and systems; an example of this will be to have the TiVo pause when a connected doorbell rings. Amazon Alexa command control will also be available, though it will initially be limited to direct control of TiVo functions such as play/pause and fast-forward/reverse.
On the interface side, the new TiVo UI is greatly improved with a full grid guide, rather than the current “single day per screen” layout. Additional features will include “One Pass” recording driven by team name across all available channels, rather than the network or station covering a given sport.
Elsewhere on the technical front, in response to TWICE’s query on TiVo’s plans for ATSC 3.0, there was no firm commitment. However, it’s looking into it for a possible introduction in fall 2019. On the HDR front, TiVo continues to offer HDR10, and HLG is on the drawing boards for possible introduction this year. HLG is logical due to its strong application use case for live sports. Dolby Vision, used more for recorded content, is something that is possible, but there are no immediate plans to add it to the service.
