Black Boxes: TiVo Home Media Option
When TiVo representatives first introduced their concept for networking TiVos with other devices a couple of years ago, they spoke of the TiVo as the hub or server in a home network that might use TiVo technologies for machine-to-machine communication. Now that the company has actually deployed the Home Media Option, we see they instead took the (we think preferable) approach of providing software that allows TiVo units to operate as nodes on standard Ethernet networks. This review is not about an individual TiVo machine, but is instead devoted to the Home Media Option itself. The Home Media Option is also available on a few other products (such as DVD Recorders) and not just on a standard TiVo DVR.
Benefits
These are the benefits that TiVo promises to users of the Home Media Option (HMO):
In case you're wondering, the TiVo HMO does not allow you to move television programs from a TiVo to a computer for burning to a DVD and the devices did not appear on our computer's list of Network Places.
TiVo sent us two 40-hour TiVo HMO DVR units with the necessary Ethernet adaptors (from Linksys) for our test. We networked the TiVos with two computers on a wired home Ethernet LAN. We also could have networked on a Wi-Fi LAN, using a USB Wi-Fi adaptor.
Building the Network
Though one could enjoy all of the benefits (except Multi-Room Viewing) of the Home Media Option by networking one TiVo with one computer, we tried a more ambitious project, involving two TiVos, the Internet and two computers on a home LAN.
The most difficult part of installing the hardware was wiring a TiVo into the home theater system. We wired, upstream from this TiVo, a satellite receiver, and, downstream, a stereo receiver and TV set. Added to the standard difficulty of wiring a new component through the rat's nest of cables behind one's stereo system was the difficulty of creating an alternative path for the TiVo's audio signal. We were using a single digital audio cable to connect our satellite box to our stereo receiver, but the TiVo has neither inputs nor outputs for digital audio. So we used analog RCA audio cables from the satellite to the TiVo to our receiver and sighed a goodbye to digital surround-sound programming for the duration of this test. (Some DirecTV receivers with TiVo include Dolby Digital capabilities.) We also attached the TiVo's IR blaster to the unit and placed its emitters in front of the satellite receiver, enabling the TiVo to change the satellite receiver's channels.
Wonder Twins Activate
We then turned our attention to the activation and initial programming of the two TiVos. The Guided Setup took almost an hour for each unit and required a phone connection for each TiVo. The first download of data took around 20 minutes for each unit. On first attempt to use DVR functions brought up a message saying the DVRs needed to process the data for 4-8 hours additional. In the meantime, however, we could still watch live TV through the TiVos.
After activation, but while we were still awaiting full DVR functionality, we placed both TiVos on our LAN. First, we plugged the Linksys Ethernet adaptors into their USB ports, and ran Cat5 cable from them to a DSL router. Next, we visited the TiVo Central Website, where we set up an account that controlled the programming parameters for our two TiVos. It is here that we enabled the Home Media Option and the Multi-Room Viewing capabilities for both units. These capabilities did not activate immediately, since the TiVos apparently couldn't download the new settings until they finished downloading and processing the initial activation data. In any case, we received a message that noted that it could take as long as 24 hours to enable these features. We kept trying to update our TiVos by forcing them to visit the TiVo services site, until finally, around 18 hours after we began the installation, all features were enabled on both TiVos.
We were able to change their default connection with the TiVo service from telephone to DSL only after networking through a DSL router. It was thereafter possible to update their software, EPG information and other data through DSL, which is much (much!) faster than phone line updates.
View Pictures
In order to have the TiVos find image and sound files on our Windows computers, we installed TiVo Desktop (and TiVo Publisher) on both PCs on the LAN. This allowed us to specify folders of still images and music on our TiVos. The software interface seemed to require that we mark each subfolder individually and offered no help screens to clarify the situation. From the TiVos, however, we found a "Play subfolders" option.
The TiVos cropped pictures automatically to fit the 4:3 TV screen and offered a "Rotate 90 degrees" options for portrait photos. We changed the default slide length from five to two seconds, but each sequence of slides started out at the speed given and tended to slow down over the course of multiple slides. The TiVo recognized all JPEGs in the designated folders. Other supported file formats include GIF, BMP, DIB and PNG. The TiVo allowed shuffling and repeating of slides within a selected folder, but there was no way to play music in the background during the slide show.
Play Music
Again, we could "Play subfolders" of music with shuffling and looping of songs within a selected folder. The TiVo supports ID3 tags, so it displayed (on the TV screen) complete album and song titles, the name of the artist and other data found in the MP3 files on the network. It found only MP3 files and MP3 playlists and not sound files encoded in other formats (e.g. Windows Media). The quality of playback was good and occurred without failure.
The TiVo Media Gallery Online
You can also playback songs from TiVo Central online. There is only a very small selection of songs, but those that were there played well, without effects endemic to streaming audio. Perhaps the audio files were already cached to the TiVo's hard drive before they ever were selected? If so, this might explain the long setup times.
The same mutatis mutandis for the even more limited collection of still photos in the TiVo Gallery. This service seems like it is probably a placeholder for a yet-to-be-developed photo service of some kind.
Remote Programming
We surfed to TiVo Central on the Web and found a TV program already on the air and gave the command for the TiVo to record it. It responded with a message warning us that remote TiVo might not start recording the program quickly enough. We gave the command anyway and forced the TiVo to visit the TiVo service Web site for an update. It was only on the second such visit (around 10 minutes later) that the TiVo's "To Do" list received the command. At that point, it did begin recording the program which was already in progress.
We then sent a command to record a program which was to begin two hours later. This command also took around 10 minutes to arrive in the TiVo's "To Do" list. It also executed correctly, just as if we had scheduled the program directly from the TiVo itself.
The Web-based program search at TiVo Central quickly found programs matching our search criteria. An improvement here would allow users to set a number of criteria on their computers (e.g. director's name or program titles) and save the criteria to the TiVos as WishLists.
Transfer TV Programs
It was necessary to enable the multi-room viewing option for both DVRs at the tivo.com/manage Web site. When done, we were notified: "Please note that changes to your Multi-Room Viewing Permissions may need up to 24 hours to take effect on that DVR." It took around 18 hours in our tests. The Now Playing on TiVo list on each of the TiVos the displayed the programs stored on the other. After clicking on the title of one of these remote programs, a message informed us that the program was being copied from the remote TiVo to the local one. While viewing the program it would occasionally pause while we waited for more of it to copy. In our tests, viewing speed exceeded copying speed and resulted in pauses unless we waited for more than 15 minutes. This kind of advanced planning seems a little out of place in our on-demand TiVo environment.
Midway through our transfer, TiVo began recording one of the airing programs we had placed in its "To Do" list. The TiVo paused the transfer of the movie until it finished the recording of the live program. When the live program ended, the transfer resumed where it left off. We transferred a one hour and 40 minute movie in about an hour and 55 minutes, not counting the hour the transfer paused for the recording of the live show.
Back End, Two Feet; Front End Ten Feet
Networking TiVos with computers through the Home Media Option created an environment in which meticulous work such as collecting and logging music files, editing and organizing photographs, and selecting TV programs to watch can be done on a tool that lends itself to this kind of work: the desktop computer; while reserving the sofa for the pleasures of viewing and listening.
We can envision developers creating new applications optimized for this kind of environment. The upgrade of TiVo Central that would allow creation of WishLists on a compter, would be a good next step in this development.
III SMART SPECS
Single TV tuner
2 sets of stereo audio and composite video RCA outputs
1 S-video output
1 sets of stereo audio and composite video RCA inputs
1 S-video input
2 USB ports
Audio file types supported: MP3, M3U, B4S, PLS, ASX playlists
Still photo file types supported: JPG, GIF, BMP, DIB, PNG
Company: TiVo
Phone: (408) 519-9100
Web: www.tivo.com
Price: TiVo Series 2
40 hour recording $249
80 hour recording $349
Home Media Option $59
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