Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

TiVo has won their patent infringement lawsuit against Dish Network.  The DVR service provider claimed victory after the Supreme Court refused to hear Dish Network’s request to invalidate the 2006 Texas District Court ruling that Dish was indeed guilty of violating TiVo’s patent for the technology that allows a TV viewer to tape a program while watching another.

TiVo filed suit in 2004, saying Dish (then known as EchoStar) was violating its patent for the technology, known as “time warping.” The court agreed and awarded them a settlement totaling nearly $74 million.  Dish immediately filed an appeal but lost.

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Think of how many people have become very used to the ease of having TiVo.  And now, it’s going to be available for your computer as well.  Nero and TiVo are working together to launch LiquidTV, which basically is TiVo, just for a computer.

You’ll still get many of the same basic functions you know and love on regular TiVo.  You can watch live or recorded TV. You are able to burn videos to DVD if your PC has a DVD burner.  As long as your LiquidTV is networked with other TiVo boxes you have in your house, it even plays nice with those.

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After years of DVRs with less than aqueduct hard drive space (first for analog video and most recently for HD). Well I am excited to let you know that as of today TiVo is walking the walk. The TiVo HD XL box offers more recording capacity than any other DVR available, be it satellite or cable—150 hours of HD recording capacity. Dual internal tuners allow you to record two different shows in HD at the same time, while watching a third pre-recorded show.

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Some of you may remember the DirecTiVo that was introduced three years ago.  It didn’t quite work out, and it left many DirecTV users quite disappointed. 

It appears that an attempt at redemption is at hand as DirecTV plans to release a TiVo powered, high definition DVR.  This DVR is able to receive (and presumably record) all of the DirecTV digital and high definition channels. 

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The direct-to-TV movie/video rental market is heating up with each of the major industry players coming up with their own proprietary movie rental services for the movie-watching public. The latest news that we have is coming courtesy of TiVo which has just sealed an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow to a offer direct-to-TV movie rental service. Under the said agreement, TiVo subscribers can now download their favorite Disney movies from TiVo for a 24-hour rental period.

This deal will boost TiVo’s lineup of movie offerings coming from major movie studios as well from Amazon Unbox, Music Choice and other movie content providers. If things go well with the Disney tie-up, TiVo is even planning to make the service available to its broadband-connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers.

Although pricing for this service has not yet been announced, we are hoping that it would be competitive enough to match up with related offerings of its competitors such as Blockbuster’s planned set-top boxes for movie streaming and DirectTV’s still undisclosed movie rental-related offerings. In the meantime, parents we suggest that you don’t let your children know about this service as you might find yourself being forced to partake too much of what TiVo has to offer because your kids won’t stop bugging you until you rent them that old Cinderella animated classic.

Via [Crave]

In an effort to lure more customers, TiVo has brought back its Lifetime Service offer for good. TiVo’s service offer used to be limited, but customer feedback has prompted the company to extend its service and make it a permanent offering. Current DVR subscriptions run at $12.95 a month or $129 a year; therefore, it would take about 2.5 to 3-years before you would really benefit from the $399 Lifetime Service fee.  Something else to keep in mind is that the Lifetime Service is box-specific, which means the you will be required to keep the box that you sign up with in use. The service is essentially the lifetime of the box and not your lifetime, so if you are they type to upgrade often this may not be the best option for you.

Read [Zatz Not Funny!]

TiVo just announced today that downloaded video content can now be viewed directly on TV sets. As the leader in digital video recorders or DVRs, TiVo continues to deliver a broader range of entertainment from Web that can be easily accessed from the tube.

TiVo updated their Desktop Plus PC software to enable the users to search for new video content easier. TiVo users can now check the newest video content available through RSS feeds. You know, like RSS the website way. But making the TiVo now better than satellite and cable channels is the app that allows users to access niche and specialized video content. 

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It looks like TiVo will be ending their current TiVo rewards program as of May 28, 2008 with the last day to earn any new reward points being one month earlier on April 30. As of May 28 the program will officially end and any remaining reward points that are unused will expire, make sure you take advantage of any that you may have before they go away.

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TiVo currently has a new special going for the TiVo HD DVR. For a limited time you can now get a refurbished model for just $199.99. That price does require a one year service obligation which will run you an additional $12.95 a month or $129 for the full year. As we mentioned this is just for a limited time and the offer will end on April 2.

Read [TiVo] Via [Boy Genius Report]

Like the idea or not, TiVo does keep track of just what we are watching on a “second-by-second” basis. With that information, based on approximately 10,000 households they were able to provide us with this great Top 10 list of the most TiVo’d commercials from the big game.

1. E-Trade: “Baby”
2. Pepsi Co: “Justin Timberlake”
3. Doritos: “Mouse Trap” (user-generated)
4. Coca-Cola: “James Carville and Bill Frist”
5. Ice Breakers: “Carmen Electra”
6. Bridgestone: “Headlights”
7. Bud Light: “Cavemen”
8. Vitamin Water: “Horse Race”
9. Cars.com Plan B: “Witch Doctor”
10. Life Water: “Thriller”

Noticeably missing seems to be Toshiba’s HD DVD commercial.  In case you missed any of the commercials you can check them out over on Spike.com.

Read [TiVo]