dvr

TiVo has quietly rolled out a new test that has some of its DVR customers raging. Users recently started noticing the arrival of advertisements that play before a recorded video, one that changes each time the video is loaded. Questions about these unusual ads prompted a forum post on TiVo's website, but the company has remained quiet at this time about what it's doing and whether users should expect to see the ads deployed broadly.

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TiVo is planning to update its home DVR product line with a new TiVo Edge model, a leak earlier this summer suggested. The model from Arris surfaced in an FCC filing earlier this year, though most of the documentation was redacted and few details were available. That changed over the weekend with a new leak revealing an image of the DVR, as well as a full list of its biggest features.

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Although ads are the bane of many people's existence on the web and mobile, they are more or less a fact of life in the audio and video entertainment industries. That doesn't mean they're not that annoying for some viewers who wish they could just skip those commercials. Cord-cutting services like TiVo offer the opportunity to do just that and the popular DVR maker will be bringing the ability to automatically skip those ads soon. With some caveats, of course.

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TiVo is a household name that feels increasingly obsolete. In a world where thousands of movies and TV shows are available to stream on-demand, where live television is available over the Internet, and where DVRs exist in the cloud, one is justified in questioning whether any physical DVR can serve a purpose for modern consumers. With TiVo's Bolt OTA 4K, the answer is yes.

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Amazon's Fire TV Recast isn't just a DVR for cord-cutters, it actually cuts any physical connection between the set-top box and your TV itself. Instead, the newest addition to the Fire TV line offers up a wealth of free, over-the-air channels and the storage to record them, then beams that wirelessly to your TVs, smartphones, and Echo smart displays, complete with a splash of Alexa convenience. Sounds good, but has the Fire TV Recast missed the boat in this age of on-demand entertainment?

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This week the folks at TiVo revealed a new DVR set-top box that combines antenna-based television with streaming video services. TiVo BOLT OTA, it's called, and watching and recording local TV programming, national news, sports, and entertainment is its game. But it's also able to connect with services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

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Today Amazon tapped into the DVR business with Amazon Fire TV Recast. This is a device that connects to an antenna on one end and broadcasts TV networks through Amazon Fire TV devices on the other. It's simple, and it's about to do some real damage to companies like TiVo and Dish, quite likely.

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Amazon was tipped to be in the process of developing a device that would compete directly with TiVo and Slingbox from Dish. This device was rumored to have the ability to record live programming from television channels, store said content, and stream said content to smartphones, tablets, PCs, and televisions.

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AT&T's OTT streaming television service DirecTV NOW has expanded its DVR features, making them available for all subscribers despite the continued "beta" status. The features are being made available to iOS and tvOS users first, though AT&T promises that Android, Roku, and Fire TV users will get access to the DVR and other changes in coming weeks. Joining the DVR is a new interface and more.

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Online live television streaming service Sling TV has expanded Cloud DVR support, adding Chromecast, Chrome, and the Xbox One to the list of supported devices. As well, the company is also adding support for select smart TVs, enabling users to take advantage of the platform's DVR service. The support covers some older smart TV models, but new Samsung smart TV owners will be disappointed.

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The team behind Tablo has a new model for cord-cutters, the Tablo Dual Lite. This over-the-air DVR is a relatively inexpensive offering that records OTA broadcasts picked up using an HDTV antenna. This particular model offers two OTA ATSC tuners, as well as support for both WiFi and wired Internet connections. The model works as a "whole-home" DVR rather than one that delivers video over HDMI.

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Verizon customers using Fios Internet and TV service were given access to Netflix this week. Specifically those users with Multi-Room DVR Enhanced for Premium service - they were given said access, and were given said access with a single year free with the streaming service. Unlike most smart TV platforms, Verizon Fios users will find Netflix on a TV channel - in this case, that's channel 838.

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