Audio Video News

In case we needed further evidence of the market domination of portable electronics devices, TiVo has announced that a future enhancement of its Series 2 DVRs will allow users to sync to home-networked PCs and then download recorded programs to video iPods and PlayStation Portable media players. TiVo subscribers will be required to buy the software required to drive this enhancement. Although the price for the software hasn't been announced yet, it's anticipated to be low enough to drive sales.

Finding an audience for this new service probably won't be difficult- TiVo is claiming over three million subscribers, and the sales forecasts for video iPods are in the millions for the next couple of years. Paradoxically, TiVo ToGo software doesn't yet support Apple's own Macintosh computer, so Mac users who want to watch their TiVo'd programs on their video iPods are out of luck until next year when a Mac version is expected to be available. TiVo ToGo doesn't support DirecTV-based TiVo DVRs either.

Although the idea of watching TV shows on an iPod-sized screen isn't very attractive to the home theater enthusiasts who read UAV, it's obviously not a home theater experience that is being anticipated as driving this market. As reported in an earlier UAV news story, video over handheld devices is a way for people on the go to catch up with TV shows, music videos and other relatively short episodic video content. Why not catch up on some TV on the subway ride to work, or while you're slogging through that hour on the Stairmaster at the gym?

While this move by TiVo seems a logical extension of their services into a hot and growing market segment, it's not without controversy. To some extent the TiVo ToGo enhancement pits TiVo against Apple and ABC, who have teamed up to sell downloads of ABC's most popular shows through Apple's iTunes online store for $1.99 per episode, as well as DirecTV and Comcast, which have inked deals with NBC and CBS, respectively, to sell commercial-free DVR downloads of network shows for 99 cents a shot.

Also, TiVo acknowledged that it had not discussed this new feature with the television networks or studios before the announcement was made. Although a watermarking feature is going to be in place to prevent piracy, some have speculated that the studios, ever conscious of protecting their intellectual property, might take some offense at this new means of distribution.