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TiVo is gearing up to dish out Disney movie rentals, as the digital video recorder company expands its lineup of movies from major studios.

Under an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow, TiVo subscribers can download the movies for 24-hour rental. TiVo expects to offer the Disney rentals later this year to its broadband-connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers. Price for the service was not disclosed.

The Disney movies will add to TiVo's more than 30,000 titles from Amazon Unbox, Music Choice, and other content providers.

TiVo's efforts come as Blockbuster is reportedly looking at set-top boxes for consumers to stream movies directly to their TV. DirecTV is reportedly cooking something up, as well.

Despite the fact that competing DVRs from cable and satellite companies have made great headway in the past few years, we're still fans of TiVo's intuitive interface and constantly improving feature set. However, the knock against TiVo is that it's expensive--you have to buy the box and pay a $13 monthly fee, while a DVR from your cable company usually costs less than $10 a month with no up-front cost.

As of late, TiVo has been offering a lifetime subscription plan as a promotion that was slated to end in February, but the eagle-eyed TiVo fans over at Gizmo Lovers noticed that the offer has been extended to July 2, and Dave Zatz writes that he's received word that the lifetime subscription deal is here to stay. The lifetime subscription plan costs $400, plus the cost of the TiVo box itself.

The real question is whether the lifetime plan is a good deal. The key thing to remember is that TiVo's lifetime subscription plans are for the lifetime of the box, so if your TiVo dies or you want to upgrade to a new model, your lifetime subscription is tied to the device. (In some cases, TiVo has allowed customers to transfer their lifetime subscriptions for an additional fee.)

Acting as a new subscriber, we were able to get a TiVo HD plus a lifetime subscription for $700, and a TiVo HD plus a three-year subscription for $600 from the TiVo Web site. So unless you plan on using your TiVo HD box for more than three years you're probably better off skipping the lifetime subscription plan.

With switched digital video on the horizon and the possibility that TiVo will release a newer, SDV-compatible (without the dongle) DVR in the future, chances are you might feel some upgrade-itis around the three-year mark and won't want to feel obligated to stick to your old TiVo box. Still, the lifetime plan seems to be popular with TiVo fans and it's only giving buyers another option, so it's good news for TiVo lovers who want to lock into their service.

TiVo users have been able to rent and buy movies from Amazon.com's Unbox service for over a year now, but lately the service has felt a little outdated compared with competitors like Vudu and Apple TV, which offer HD downloads. Well, thanks to a comment by TiVo's VP of product marketing, Jim Denney, it seems like that's going to change soon. In an article on TV Week, Denney claims TiVo and Amazon will announce HD capabilities "in the not too distant future."

While the upgrade from SD to HD would be nice for any service, it may seem like an even larger upgrade for Unbox on TiVo users, since our initial hands-on testing with the service revealed that movies were letterboxed, instead of true anamorphic widescreen. We'd also like to see HD movies get a bump from the standard stereo soundtrack to at least a 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS--although Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio would be even better. And while Denney's comment only referred to HD content coming to the Unbox on TiVo service, we see no reason why HD movies shouldn't be available to PC users as well.

Via Zatz Not Funny

Looks like Dish may have spoken a bit too soon.

A little over a week ago, an appeals court determined that Dish Network (formerly EchoStar Communications) had indeed violated a software patent held by TiVo on digital video recorders.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

While TiVo gleefully celebrated, Dish expressed disappointment, but assured its customers that none of its products would be affected because the software that was in violation had already been remotely updated by the company some months before.

Now it appears there's just a bit more to the story. Engadget has a blog pointing to notices Dish sent on Monday. The Colorado-based satellite TV company informed customers that though most of its DVRs are in the clear, there are four models--the 721, 921, 942, and Homezone 1022--that can no longer be sold because their software has not been updated. This only affects hardware bearing those model numbers that have not been sold or activated. If you already have one of those models installed, Dish says it is not subject to the injunction.

It's really important to note that these are fairly old models, so this likely won't affect many Dish resellers. The 942 model, for example, was reviewed by CNET in 2005.

LAS VEGAS--Big TV networks are rushing to attract Internet audiences, but there are signs that the payoff won't be that sexy.

One of the burning questions television broadcasters face is whether the Web can be mined for big advertising dollars. NBC Universal, CBS, and Viacom are just a few of the media conglomerates moving quickly to offer full-length TV shows over the Web.

What will surely be debated here this week at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual conference--which gets rolling on Monday--is whether the masses will welcome TV on a PC.

Actor Tim Robbins

What about commercials? Will audiences resent being forced to watch commercials online, when TiVo and other digital video recorder, or DVR, models enable them to skip ads on plain-old TVs?

Earlier this month, Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group released a report (PDF) skeptical of TV's prospects on the Web and urged cable, satellite, and broadcast executives to stay focused on their traditional businesses.

"There is no current economic rationale for broadcasters and cable networks to abandon traditional TV or attempt to accelerate a transition to a total online model," the group said in its report. "To do so would put $66 billion in traditional TV advertising revenue and $30 billion in cable, satellite, (and telecommunications companies') TV provider programming fees at risk."

One of the main sticking points for online TV shows is commercials. TV executives are using the technology to once again ram ads down the throats of viewers. Convergence argues that in head-to-head competition, the public will choose traditional TV and commercial-zapping DVRs over watching on the Web.

The "bottom line," Convergence wrote, is that "the DVR will limit full-episode online viewing."

Meanwhile, NBC Universal trumpeted an important milestone last week. Hulu, the video portal founded by NBC and News Corp., sold out of available ad inventory after being open only a month. NBC President Jeff Zucker announced that Hulu is looking for ways to make more ads available.

Director Doug Liman

In addition, the Associated Press reported Saturday that networks are getting better ad rates for Internet distribution than they are for traditional broadcasts.

"Advertisers pay more online because there is a better accounting of how many viewers see the ads," the AP wrote. "An extra benefit that an impulse to purchase can be acted on with the click of a mouse."

NAB notes
Actor Tim Robbins, star of the "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Mystic River" is scheduled to give the opening keynote address at NAB. Robbins will speak about how new content and distribution methods will impact Hollywood.

Other notables due to speak at the conference are Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks Animation; Doug Liman, director of The Bourne Identity; and Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu.

Updated at 11:45 a.m. PDT with Dish Network's statement.

Another court has upheld TiVo's patent suit against EchoStar Communications.

A U.S. Appeals Court on Friday denied EchoStar's appeal on an earlier court ruling that said the company's Dish Network digital video recorders violated a patent held by TiVo. The ruling was first reported by Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection blog.

Friday's appellate court decision comes two years after TiVo's initial victory, in which a court found that EchoStar's DVRs (digital video recorders) "willfully infringed" on TiVo's patented TimeWarp technology. EchoStar appealed the ruling, which awarded $73.9 million in damages to TiVo. It was also upheld by an appeals court in January.

Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo first sued EchoStar in 2004 for selling its Dish Network DVR, which, like TiVo's DVR, allows TV watchers to record one channel and watch another simultaneously.

"We are extremely pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today denied EchoStar's petition for a rehearing en banc, upholding the court's unanimous ruling in our favor on January 31, 2008, in EchoStar's appeal of the district court judgment of patent infringement, full award of damages and an order for the injunction to be reinstated," TiVo said in a statement.

EchoStar said it was "disappointed" by the court's decision not to rehear its appeal. "The decision, however, will have no effect on our current or future customers because EchoStar's engineers have developed and deployed 'next-generation' DVR software to our customers' DVRs," the company said in a statement. EchoStar said the updated software has been delivered to its customers and that none of the DVRs currently infringe on TiVo's patent, and promised that customers will see no interruption in service as a result of the ruling.

EchoStar, which has since changed its name to Dish Network, said it plans to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 software lets you view Web videos on your TV--but they need to be downloaded to a PC first.

(Credit: Slashgear)

TiVo has added the ability to view downloadable Web videos on the company's DVRs, making good on its announcement at January's Consumer Electronics Show. The update will allow Web videos such as video podcasts to be downloaded with the same Season Pass functionality used by TiVo viewers to record their favorite TV shows. But don't expect to just punch in a URL or an RSS feed into the TiVo remote. Videos must first be downloaded to your PC's hard drive, after which they'll be transferred to your TiVo via your home network. That's a departure from Amazon Unbox videos, the Rhapsody subscription music service, and TiVo's forthcoming YouTube service, all of which are accessible online straight through TiVo's onscreen interface without the need to have a PC running elsewhere in the home. (By contrast, the Apple TV can pull down PC-free video podcasts, so long as they're indexed on the iTunes Store.)

The Web video functionality requires TiVo's Desktop Plus 2.6 software, available for download today ($25 for new users, or a free upgrade for users of the existing software). For now, it's a Windows-only solution, though TiVo says that the company is continuing "to work with Roxio on delivering equivalent functionality on the Mac platform." With any luck, perhaps the new Desktop Plus software will also swat those TiVoToGo bugs that have been afflicting some TiVo users for the past several months.

A fall software update from TiVo damaged a popular feature on the company's DVR, and months later the change remains unfixed for a number of customers.

As part of the TiVoToGo feature, software from Roxio called Toast 8 allows users to transfer recorded shows from TiVo to mobile devices, like laptops and iPods, or put the shows on DVDs. The recording and transferring functions stopped working late last year for some customers using Toast.

Users began to complain starting in early October that they were unable to transfer, or burn, any TiVo'd shows at all.

(Credit: TiVo)

"Right after my TiVo box informed me that it had received the 'Fall Update,' the problems started," TiVo and Roxio customer Fred Jacobs said.

Roxio said the TiVo fall software update changed the way recorded video files were saved, which introduced technical problems into Roxio's own software.

Roxio issued its own software updates to address the problem in November, but it wasn't a complete fix for everyone. Though the file transfer feature began to function again, hiccups remain for a number of users, like Jacobs.

"When I tried to burn a new episode, the result was a DVD with constant audio breaks and skips, like someone was turning the sound on and off every half-second. Worthless," Jacobs told CNET News.com. "Also, I now have no way to archive my own shows on DVD. I just have to delete them, sometimes before I even have time to watch them. After five months of this, I just feel like a sucker."

Doug Gordon, who initially reported the problem on TiVoCommunity.com, the popular message board for TiVo customers, said he's experiencing the same syncing problem, and the November update from Roxio didn't solve the problem.

"The audio delay is variable, from barely noticeable to (more often) a second or two of delay between the audio and the video," Gordon told News.com. " I've more or less given up on burning programs to DVD now, as most of the ones I've made using Toast since the last 8.0.3 update are unwatchable due to the lack of synchronization."

Roxio admits there are problems with its Toast and Popcorn software. Roxio product manager Patrick Nugent says the company has been working on fixing the syncing issue with TiVo. Nugent said he believes it affects "a small number of users."

The reason the problem is not consistent among all Roxio Toast and Popcorn users, he said, is unclear. There "are many factors that cause recordings to be different from one another, such as fluctuating variable frame rate in HD broadcasts, especially around titles and commercial breaks and even differences from channel to channel."

But customers are demanding to know why it has taken so long to address the issue. Roxio says it's because the company had trouble replicating the problem its customers are experiencing.

"It doesn't happen on every file, which made it a little difficult to try and fix," Nugent said. He said Roxio was able to contact a few customers to show them examples of the audio and video being out of sync last fall.

Without any additional updates from Roxio, frustrated customers say they turned to TiVo, starting an e-mail campaign to the DVR maker's CEO, but say they got little to no response.

When contacted for this article, TiVo said the problem is something they are working on together with Roxio to fix.

"It is important to us that all TiVo subscribers using TiVoToGo receive the same great TiVo experience whether they are utilizing a PC or Mac," the company said in a statement to News.com. "It has been brought to our attention that a small subset of customers using Toast 8 have experienced a problem when trying to transfer their shows. We have been working with our partner Roxio and currently have a fix in beta."

When CNET News.com inquired about the issue Thursday, Roxio said that starting that day it would be expanding the testing program from 5 to 50 users.

"We're currently testing a solution with a number of customers and plan to release a free update broadly through our automatic update notification as soon as it's ready," Nugent said.

When asked why such a delay, a spokesman for Sonic Solutions, Roxio's parent company, intimated that the problem arose at a bad time: the company had to update 9 of its Mac OS X products to be compatible with Apple's November release of its Leopard operating system.

"Generally (customers) are--and should be--frustrated with us that some of their issues persisted," said the spokesman. "But it is a subset of users. We did address a good portion of users' issues. There are some additional issues that we recognize as being an issue, and we're working on (that)."

Users want a fix sooner, rather than later. One TiVo owner of five years who asked not to be identified said the feature provided by Roxio's Toast software is no longer usable, but that TiVo and TiVoToGo are such an integral part of his and his family's routine, he's not interested in simply changing DVR companies.

"Trouble is, the company still advertises the features on their website as though they are still supporting these features," the TiVo user said. "Most of us don't want a rebate. We want our program to work the way it's supposed to."

TiVo might be overstating the fabulosity of the advertisements aired during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.

See the headline TiVo used to lead its press release regarding the most-watched ads during the game: "Talking and Trading Baby Blows Away Star-Studded Super Bowl Competition."

Um...really? Were we watching the same game?

Even if you're not a sports person, that game was "one for the ages," as sportswriters like to say. Even in the midst of a five-hour broadcast inflated with as many empty pleas for your dollars and attention as Fox could possibly fit, the star was the game itself, a succinct demonstration of why it is that we love sports.

From a sports perspective, it was the classic set-up, the epic storyline fans, broadcasters, and writers love: An established football dynasty, the New England Patriots, on the verge of achieving the rarest of feats (an undefeated season) prepared to steamroll the fifth-seeded New York Giants en route to a much-deserved place in the annals of sports.

Instead, we viewers got a gem of a game, the kind that leaves lifelong fans seriously wondering if they've even witnessed a better Super Bowl, or football game, in their memory.

But, TiVo would rather crow about which multimillion-dollar ad spot (which you're likely to forget by next week, anyway) was watched the most. The talking E-Trade babies "upstaged" every other commercial, according to TiVo audience stats, including the Doritos user-generated mouse trap, the Life Water "Thriller" spot, as well as the one where Justin Timberlake is dragged all over creation for the sake of Pepsi.

But was a CGI baby talking stocks really more memorable than young quarterback Eli Manning somehow escaping a near-certain game-ending sack to curl out and heave a pass 30-plus yards to a falling David Tyree--who didn't as much "catch" the ball as clutch it with one hand to his helmet?

Maybe I'm belaboring the point, but TiVo's urge to jump on the coattails of an amazing exercise in athletic competition seems to cheapen a classic matchup, and, more importantly, an unforgettable end to a story.