Netflix streaming comes to TiVo

(Credit: CNET)

Netflix streaming will be coming to TiVo DVRs by the end of 2008.

The ability to stream Netflix movies and TV shows will begin beta testing for select TiVo owners immediately, with an official roll-out scheduled for early December. It will be available on TiVo HD, HD XL, and Series3 DVRs (not Series2 or DirecTV models).

The service will effectively be identical to the Netflix feature available on the LG BD300, Samsung BD-P2500, and BD-P2550, Roku Player, and--as of mid-November--the Xbox 360. That means that existing Netflix subscribers can stream more than 12,000 movies and TV shows directly to their TV over a broadband Internet connection on an "all you can eat" basis, with no additional charges beyond the existing Netflix and TiVo service fees.

Interestingly, the TiVo/Netflix tie-up makes good on a deal originally announced in September 2004. At that time, the then-novel idea of streaming Netflix movies directly to TiVo set-tops generated a lot of industry buzz and consumer excitement, but nothing became of it. Both companies seemed to go their separate ways, with TiVo adding on-demand content from Amazon and (just last week) CinemaNow and Jaman, while Netflix's service rolled out on the above-mentioned devices from Roku, LG, Samsung, and Microsoft. More than four years later, however, TiVo owners will finally be getting their Netflix streaming.

Separately, CNET has confirmed that Netflix's nascent HD streaming capability will soon be coming to all Netflix-compatible devices, not just the Xbox 360. However, the Netflix HD library will be starting with a very small selection (just 300 titles), and will require significantly higher bandwidth than the standard-def streaming that's currently available.

[Macajuel]

Tivo keeps doing this to us Series 2 DVR owners and it's beginning to **** me off!!!! What logical reason could there be for excluding Netflix streaming from Tivo Series 2 owners?! A lot of the newer Tivo features have been excluded from Tivo Series 2 and this nonesense needs to stop.

[megazone]

Whoa, calm down there. They have the best reason possible - the Series2 can't do it. The Series2 only decodes MPEG-2, and streaming services - like YouTube and Netflix - use MPEG-4/H.264 or VC-1. The Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL have hardware that supports the newer codecs, the old S2 simply doesn't. That's life, the old hardware can't do everything the new hardware can do. And you're going to see more new features the S2 won't get. Live with it or upgrade.

[rk2469]

Hey, genius.. maybe series 2 can't handle the software.
They have different processors and memory (RAM).

Why don't you just get Roki or something and get over it? Complainer...
I mean, why didn't Sony make older VCRs to play DVD or Bluray... How dare Sony do this to their customers?

[c293716]

I think Macajuel is upset about the fact that when this was announced...FOUR years ago, there was no such thing as series 3...I am also a disgruntled Series 2 customer and think it's really wrong what Tivo is doing to their legacy customers. First no youtube support and now this.

[ssswayze]

I wouldn't get too upset about not getting all the features of Series 3 owners. I have a series 3, and most of the new features, such as you tube, do not work at all. From my experience, the Series 3 is a piece of garbage that can't deliver on half of what it promises to do.

[RobertFHarwood]

I also own a TiVo HD and a Pioneer 810-HS (Series2 with a DVD Burner). Something I noticed is the DRM is stronger on the Series3 for the same content. I left SesaonPasses in both boxes for some shows (I probably paged past them) I noticed that they were copy protected on the Series3 and not on the Series2. This is good since I work the heck out of my TiVo to go. I have a dedicated box to transfer from the TiVos to the house NAS (8 Terabytes of space, running FreeNAS on a PII at 600) with a second serving it. This means that anything DRM'd ain't being saved, which is most HD content from the major networks.
It is not like TiVo is making a lot of money on boxes. I bought my Series3 about two months ago for under $150 from TiVo. So it must be pressure from the broadcasters for the DRM. TiVo has two real revenue streams, subscriptions and selling the anon. stats about the subscribers. I know some of my customers buy the stats and trust them over Nielsens, at least at "Person in the cubicle" level.

[nordstrl]

With that attitude, I'd depeicate all your electronics just to see how far off the deep end you'd go. Seriously though, the only point in having a series 2 is if you have analogue cable or SD satillite. Sure, you can sync it to a digital box box via serial/infared, but a refurbished HD is so much more elegant and cheap.

[emandude]

Yup....you're a *******.

[gthiruva]

Wow! I have a Roku box, but I also have a TiVo Series 3 HD. Hopefully, this will use the TiVo's hard drive to buffer streamed video data to make fast forward and rewind work better than it does on the storage-less Roku. I can't wait to try this out! Hopefully I can unplug the Roku.

[clsmithj]

I'm an Xbox 360 owner, and I hope Netflix select a different set of 300 movies their going to initially show than what is already up on Xbox Live.

[Rollin4]

Netflix and Xbox Live movie lists are unrelated and will not have all the same movies. But the best news is that Netflix just teamed up with Starz movie channel to offer their catalog of movies - which include quite a few new big budget movies from Disney, Miramax, Sony, ect. I can't wait for November 19th so I can try it out on my home theater. If this works well, netflix membership is going to shoot through the roof.

[alice420]

I have a 360 and a series 2 tivo. I'm not worried. By a 360 and you will soon forget your tivo, just like I did.

[johnray]

I have 3 Tivo HDs and two Xbox 360s, and I will not be using the Xbox 360 for Netflix playback.

Why?

Because I'd either have to:

1. Put my profile on a memory card and move it between the 360s when I wanted to watch Netflix.
2. Restore my profile over the network (which I've seen take 30 minutes) when I want to move my Netflix watching between rooms.
3. Buy multiple Xbox Live Gold accounts to cover every friggin' room where I wanted this to work.

As far as I'm concerned, however lovely the implementation, this effectively renders the service useless to me. I was SOOOO happy to see the Tivo announcement last week. I would starting to contemplate buying Roku boxes for all my TVs.

Too bad Sony didn't snap this up for the PS3.

Grumble.

[androg1]

Does anyone know, if the same service will be offered on PS3 ?

[nordstrl]

YouTube on series 3 works just fine. You need one of them new fangled things called an "internet connection".

[willismt]

As a long-time S2 owner, I'm not surprised but not really disappointed either.

For other S2 owners...ask yourself, do you really want *more* software loaded on the S2? I know the performance & responsiveness of my box took a serious nosedive immediately after the v8.x bloat-ware was installed.

The hardware just can't keep up with all the feature-creep implemented in the past 6 years or so. I also doubt if the USB 1.1 network connection would be fast enough to handle high quality streaming video.

[espnjason]

Hey John, when you said that the Netflix-Tivo streaming wont be on the DirecTV Tivo recivers, would that preclude that Netflix won't be on the new HD Tivo for DirecTV next year?

[Macajuel]

Don't get me wrong guys, I have no real problem with Tivo series 2 boxes not getting Netflix. All I really needed was an explanation which megazone thankfully and sufficiently provided without any need for "lip."

rk2469, I think your reasoning is a little off. Sony wouldn't upgrade VCRs to play blu ray of DVDs.....different era, different format (though there are tons of DVD/VCR combo players still around, and Blu-Ray players still play DVDs). This is a case of HDD-based DVR vs HDD-based DVR and issues such as codec incompatibilities, etc should be able to be sorted out with firmware upgrades.

"If you want the feature, then buy a series3/roku/xbox360 etc" should not be an acceptible compromise in this case (if so, my accounts are open for donations). Running out of space on the entertainment center here..........work with me Tivo.

[drabek]

I have two Series 2's packed in their boxes down in the basement that haven't seen a moving electron since the TiVo HD came out. You really have to replace/upgrade hardware periodically in order to keep up with new features in any technology; look at cell phones, cars, computers or toasters.

I just wish I know what to do with those orange and black boxes downstairs.

[abensky]

As long as TiVO allows re-assigning the lifetime service to a new box. Do they? I know they've gone back and forth on that a few times. Hardware upgrades ar a fact of life in technology, but being forced to pay again for a lifetime service is really a bummer.

Macajuel has a very valid point in both postings. I have 3 S2 TiVo's with TiVo to Go and Home Networking and they work very well with hardly any issues. I also have a PC I bought in 1998 and it too generally has no issues - and no replaced parts either. My wife still uses the free cell that Verizon Wireless gave 6 years ago. The solution is NOT always about buying the latest greatest (S3, cell phone, toaster). Sometimes you do need new hardware, I agree. But, sometimes it really is about proper development (software or hardware) with your audience in mind. I work in the technology sector and it's a crock if you believe that, to solve your problem "go out and buy another, better, newer one." Macajuel's point and mine is -

"I have one that works, it really isn't that old, it's paid for and I'm blocked from features because YOU forgot about (or neglected purposefully) this group of people. It didn't have to be that way. It was a poor decision."

And, honestly, the SONY VCR to DVD comment was just silly. A more appropriate analogy would have been "Does SONY make a PS3 that plays PS2 games?" The answer is YES. That's because it would have pissed off the millions of people who have invested in their earlier titles - just like the PS2 was backward compatible to the original Playstation games. TiVo should have taken this into account during development. That being said... it is what it is - so, yep... just gonna deal with it. Or figure out a hack to make it work. And, yes, those lucky legacy S2 owners who bought the lifetime service - that'll go buy-buy ( I meant to spell it that way) when you drop the $$ for a new S3 or HDXL or whatever.