TiVo Update Will Integrate Streaming And Recorded Content

TiVo today announced a planned update for the TiVo Roamio DVR that will more tightly integrate streaming and recorded linear content. TiVo’s popular Season Pass feature will soon be replaced with an improved and rebranded OnePass with options to include episodes available through TiVo’s multiple video streaming services. The result? A comprehensive view of all available episodes for any TV series. Just started watching Big Bang Theory and want to catch up on old episodes? Create a OnePass to record episodes when they’re available and include streaming videos in your OnePass. My Shows will then show you all episodes, by season, integrating the streaming videos with those you’ve recorded.

The streaming videos are essentially bookmarked in TiVo’s integrated video services and include Amazon Prime and Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Hulu, and VUDU. Select a streamed episode in My Shows, and you’ll be prompted for which service you’d prefer to use (if it’s available from multiple sources). You’ll also see rental and purchase prices if the show is not available for free through one of the subscription services.

But the new capability will not just be limited to TV series. TiVo will soon also let you bookmark movies or individual episodes of any series you discover through recommendations, browsing, or TiVo Search. By bookmarking items, you can create a collection of shows you want to watch that crosses services, so you don’t need to remember where you found one show or the other.

The TiVo updates will be accompanied by revisions to the TiVo apps for iOS and, shortly thereafter, Android. The updated apps will introduce a number of improvements, including support for OnePass and bookmarked programs.

TiVo’s universal search capabilities have always been best of breed, integrating content results from all available sources. With the Roamio’s advanced processing speeds, TiVo finally became a viable primary device for streaming services, and this may be the best attempt that anyone has made to date at integrating your recorded shows with available online programming.

TiVo Roamio (and subsequently connected TiVo Mini) owners should expect to see these updates in February, with app updates around the same time or shortly thereafter. It’s expected that other Series 4 devices (i.e., Premiere units) will see similar updates later in the year.

Read the press release from TiVo.