Hulu Plus on TiVo Premiere hands-on

As rumored, Hulu Plus is now officially available on the TiVo Premiere, and according to TiVo, this "further extends its lead as the only one-box solution that integrates in one easy-to-use user interface." We supposed this is technically true, but it depends on your definition of "integrates" -- we'll discuss why after the jump. Hulu Plus of course comes at a monthly premium, but the other news is that new TiVo Premiere owners will get the privilege gratis for six months, while existing Premiere owners get what is described as a "free trial" which we assume is the standard one month risk trial -- as opposed to the variety that doesn't require a credit card.

Hulu Plus on TiVo Premiere

Love it or not, TiVo's interface has helped make it the best consumer DVR for over 10 years -- although much of the interface looks as old as the company itself -- so last September when we heard TiVo was integrating Hulu Plus, we obviously had high expectations. Since then we've seen Hulu Plus implementations on everything from TVs, to game consoles, to portable tablets, and we're sad to say the TiVo implementation is right on par. What we mean is that Hulu Plus on the TiVo is exactly like the others, and nothing like a TiVo. Launching Hulu via the TiVo My Shows menu is almost as jarring as switching inputs on your TV, with the exception of not switching remotes, obviously. The scrub bar changes, the menus are different, even the info view looks different. So while Netflix, Blockbuster, and all the other TiVo add-ins carry on the TiVo experience, Hulu Plus does not. Now we admit this complaint is mostly superficial -- the real failure is the lack of unified search, making TiVo Premiere's universal search feature not so universal. That's right, when you search for The Office on your TiVo Premiere with Hulu Plus, you'll see results from your DVR, the guide, Netflix, and Amazon VOD; but you won't see results from Hulu Plus. TiVo tried to reassure us by saying "we are working on integrating the content into TiVo Search and plan to update with that functionality soon after," but we have a bad feeling this will be right after the rest of the Premiere UI is converted to HD.

Unlike switching inputs though, you don't have to switch remotes, but in some ways it feels like you did. The transport buttons obviously work as expected, but hitting the TiVo or Guide button takes you out of the Hulu app without warning, which can be a real drag considering how long it takes to launch and the fact that the Hulu videos won't resume. Even more odd though is that the zoom button is the browse button.

All of this reinforces our biggest fear of the future of video entertainment; a world where every content provider has their own interface and we are forced to bounce in and out of countless apps to evaluate our viewing options. This is the opposite of our vision where we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, on any device we want, using the interface that we want. What makes this hurt the most is that TiVo was one of the only companies that seemed to share our vision, even originally touting the Premiere as the device that can bring all your viewing options "together into one unified and simple experience." So while the Hulu Plus experience is every bit as good as it is on TVs and other set-top boxes, it isn't as integrated with the TiVo Premiere experience nearly as much as, say, Hulu Plus is integrated with the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

If you were just hoping to get Hulu Plus on your HDTV without buying a new TV or another set-top, mission accomplished, but if your hopes were for a truly integrated media experience, you'll have to keep searching and waiting.

Comcast's next generation Xfinity Spectrum DVR shows off quad tuners, new menu and apps

It's been about six months since we heard Comcast was running tests of a brand new set-top box platform but now thanks to one of our tipsters we're able to see it in action and find out what's on the way. From the remote to the box to the menus it's all new, and appears to be a major step forward for the company and already includes familiar apps like Facebook and Pandora. The look of the new guide mirrors what we'd seen in the manual received by the FCC in December and demonstrated on Samsung HDTVs at CES earlier this year, intended for 16x9 displays and moving the main navigation elements to the top. The redesigned remote has a few new buttons and while it hasn't gone the QWERTY route, the software and hardware are designed around T9-style access for searching and messaging, with a button and microphone icon suggesting voice control is a possibility as well. The DVR itself is the Pace box we'd seen previously, although there was differing information on the number of tuners and hard drive space available, suggesting these details may still be up in the air. Check after the break for more details and our tipster's first hand account of the new TV experience.

Comcast Xfinity Spectrum DVR hands-on

"Major step for Comcast/Xfinity. The old guide was obviously very dated, and Spectrum offers an updated, modern and user friendly guide. There is a full TV guide that lets you search for programs/times/actors/genres/you name it, and there is a mini guide that keeps half the screen as the current program you are watching. Channel logos are more prevalent throughout the guide with detailed information about each show as it's highlighted. Every option is available from here as far as recording options, upcoming shows of the same title, similar/suggested shows, etc. A cool feature is a last 9 channels watched list that allows switching between multiple channels a breeze. Imagine 9 different football games on and being able to go to each game very quickly, as the boxes are labeled with what program is on that channel. A much more connected feel with plenty of visuals, data, and options as compared to the old guide."

"I haven't delved into the DVR much, but I did test it out. The installer said it is a 4 tuner DVR allowing me to record 3 programs while I watched a 4th. However, the user guide said I could only record 2 and watch a 3rd. Didn't test this out, but either is enough for me. It appeared to be the standard DVR functions that you would expect. I asked the installer the size of the hard drive, and he said 1 terabyte with around 160 hours of HD recording. Again, the book said 500 GB, so not sure what is correct here."

"The apps section is pretty cool. As of now, weather, traffic, Facebook, Randora, and Twitter are the apps available. Traffic and weather data sync automatically, but you have to go to spectrum.comcast.net to sync Pandora, Facebook, and Twitter."

"The weather app is great. It offers real time forecasts, 5 day forecasts, and a nice radar map showing any rain on the way. You can choose multiple locations to view weather all over the country. The traffic app is also handy. Not so much for me living in North Augusta, but I changed the location to Atlanta and saw multiple traffic warnings and accident indicators. This is all done over a road map overlay with a key showing what the traffic incidents are. Accidents, congestion, road work, delays are all indicated on the map. You can also set up a destination route if you were going out of town. Set starting and finishing points, and the app tells you of any road warnings for that route. Pretty cool stuff."

"The Facebook and Twitter apps are what you would expect. Your feeds are displayed on the screen, so you can check your profile and any updates your friends have made. It's very similar to a mobile app and doesn't offer too many editing options. I don't see myself using these much, as my mobile apps (iPhone) for these clients are much faster and easier to get to. The Pandora app is something I see people using a lot. Very similar to the computer and mobile apps with the same thumbs up/down ratings we are used to. The user created channels automatically show up on the right, as well as a mix option that randomly selects channels. I was told by the developer there is no cap on usage for this pandora app. Album art and song data are displayed on the screen as well."

"The remote has some very intriguing pieces to it. It's a new Xfinity labeled remote that uses an IR blaster. According to the developer, the remote can be updated wirelessly when new updates are available. The standard circle of buttons with the OK button in the middle dominate the remote, with an Xfinity button above to take you to the guide, dvr, on demand, settings, and apps. What's also neat, and very useful, is the numbered buttons double as T9 text input. For instance, if you want to watch Tosh.0, type 867 and immediatly Tosh.0 appears, along with a list of any other programs, actors, channels, genres, teams, etc that match that T9 combination. I used this multiple times to search for programming for my DVR. You don't have to go to a special location for this. Just type it in as you were dialing in a new channel. Can't remember where HBO is? Type 426 and channel 426 will show up first on the list, but HBO will be second. Very handy tool and kudos to Comcast for thinking of this."

"Now, look at the picture of the remote closely. There is a curious microphone icon at the top of the remote. On the side of the remote, there is a button that is not labeled, nor mentioned in the user guide. I called the special Spectrum phone number, and the specialist had no idea what they were for. On the back of the remote, there is a small speaker above the battery compartment. The only thing I could think of was some sort of voice guided control for the guide using the side button, similar to a walkie talkie. Either that or they are listening in on me (scary thought).

The developer warned me about some kinks that are being worked out, and I have already experienced some. The apps section worked perfect through the first part of yesterday, but stopped working last night (which is why there are no pics of the apps). Tried to reset the box, but it didn't help. Also, I paired the controller with my pioneer receiver, but it only works for 5 minutes or so, then quits working. Apparently, this is a known issue and they are working on it."

SOURCE: Engadget