This has been in the works for a long time – I’m talking years. It’s great to see it finally come to light. So it’s looking like our living room will be able to stream movies from Netflix to different boxes – our Xbox 360, and our TiVo HD.

The article mentions this new Netflix streaming will only be available to the Series 3, TiVo HD and the new TiVo XL (Basically the TiVo HD with a larger hard drive), the article does not mention HD streaming. It seems at least initially, the Xbox 360 will be the only device receiving HD streaming content from Netflix.

All these high bandwidth files about to come to our living room is making me wish we had Ethernet, rather than wifi to those two devices.

Netflix and TiVo to Partner on Movies

Edit: The site below answers a couple of my questions including HD streams to the TiVo and recommended broadband. The answers are, “Yes to HD Streaming to the TiVos” and 5Mbps or better respectively.

TiVo Gains Netflix HD Movie Streaming

For years, PC users have been able to move content from their TiVos to their computers via the free TiVo Desktop software. Us Mac users have had a crippled TiVo Desktop that only allowed photos and music to be played via the TiVo. In the last couple of years, Mac users finally had a way to get content into OS X via the CD/DVD burning app, Toast – great, but not free like its PC counterpart.

Well earlier this week, I stumbled upon a Google code site for iTiVo – a simple application for pulling TV shows off your TiVo. All you need is your TiVo’s media key and possibly its IP address (it was able to find all three of our TiVos no problem). Then you can queue up shows and transfer them to your computer and iTunes. It is in alpha and is a big buggy, not to mention slow to transfer and transcode, but I’m loving being able to transfer content from our TiVos.

So I got all excited to see the WeaKness Blog post a new posting today regarding SDV tuning adapters – SDV Tuning Adapters for Time Warner - Pre-order. That post directed you to Time Warner’s SDV Page. Putting in my Zip code, nothing happened. It just went to the Time Warner NC site, with no mention of SDV anywhere (even after a search). A call to TW was even more hopeless. I had to explain myself 3 times and they weren’t getting the concept, the technology, etc. Instead, all they wanted to know where I got the link. It’s on the TWC corporate site people. If it’s a case of the SDV tuners not available here yet, that’s fine, put that up on the site. Maybe other Time Warner Cable users will have better luck elsewhere in the U.S.

For those of you asking, “What the hell is SDV?” It stands for Switched Digital Video. It’s a way for cable companies to send more data over the same-sized pipe. Basically, standard cable sends you all the channels all the time. SDV, only sends the data you need for the channel(s) you’re watching and/or recording. SDV is becoming more popular with cable stations as they add more high-bandwidth HDTV stations.

This looks pretty freaking sweet. TiVo is currently focus testing a new user interface, though one of the links in the article below has been removed at the request of TiVo. I wonder how far in the future we’re talking about to seeing a version of this in production?

In all honesty, I’m kind of surprised it has taken this long for TiVo’s software to get a facelift. Other than some color changes, the current TiVo user interface is the same interface from when I got my first Sony SVR-2000 TiVo back like 7 or 8 years ago. Man, has it been that long?

A Sneak Peek at the New TiVo User Interface

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed with Time Warner’s lack of HD content in Raleigh-Durham market since we switched to them. The main reason we left DirecTV was that they were turning their backs on TiVo. Well a press release this morning might mean eventually the Keefer household will return to DirecTV… maybe.

Regardless, I’m always happy to see advances from TiVo, or at least potential for more market share.

DirecTV and TiVo to Launch New HD DirecTV DVR with TiVo Service

Man, this is a really good read for all us TiVo fanatics out there. TiVo spent a lot of time on their remote’s design, ergonomics, button layout, etc. and it shows. Hell, the TiVo peanut remote has won awards. Anyway, check out this article for some in-depth TiVo history for their little IR remote.

Story of a Peanut: The TiVo Remote’s Untold Past, Present and Future

This is a great list for us TiVo users who are also Mac users. I need to go through this list in depth to see if I can get more out of my Mac/TiVo relationship. At quick glance, the first on the list, TiVo Desktop, is pretty limited. It lets you stream music (MP3s only I believe. I don’t think AAC) and show photos from your Mac. This is the official piece of software from TiVo. The Windows version is a lot better, allowing you to transfer shows, etc.

I’ve also used the “TiVo NowPlaying” widget. It’s alright, but the initial install is fairly limited. There’s more you can do with it, but I haven’t been able to get it to work.

“SeasonPassGetter” sounds like it could be great for getting content onto my iPhone. I’ll give that a go soon.

TiVo Software Roundup (Mac Only)

Homer loves his TV.. and we all love our TiVos. Thanks to Lisa, the Simpsons have *the* DVR.