I Know TiVo And DirecTV DVR Is No TiVo

As we’ve already mentioned, later this fall — software and hardware willing — DirecTV, which is majority owned by News Corp., will stop marketing TiVo and start pushing its own DVRs from another News Corp. company. Given the new emphasis on new technology at News Corp., you might expect it to have some of the home networking frills now being touted by TiVo. You would be wrong. (Those of us with DirecTV TiVos don’t have it either.) According to USA Today, subscribers with home networks will not be able to transmit from DVR to computer nor will they be able to share music and photos from computer to TV using DirecTV Plus DVR. No ad skipping either (until a good hack comes along). One other twist: one of the features most identified with TiVo won’t be offered at all by DirecTV — recordings based on previously viewed programs.
The new DVRs will buffer more live TV — 90 minutes instead of 60 — but, most important from the company perspective, users will be able to watch PPV on demand instead of waiting for a selection to cycle through on one of the PPV channels. The new DVRs will work with other DirecTV features, reports David Lieberman, including local weather reports, multiple channels on a screen and the new $99 add-on pack for football. NFL Sunday Ticket SuperFan will let users with an interactive receiver navigate betwen 8 games on one screen.

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