TiVo Premiere is ultimate 'one-stop shop' for entertainment
by Stevie Smith - Mar 3 2010, 08:08
One box to rule them all. Big words. Image: TiVo.
Crafting its set-top service into a more all-encompassing whole, TiVo has this week unveiled TiVo Premiere, which offers cross-platform access to cable programming, movies, Web videos and music in a convenient and affordable “one box to rule them all” set-top package.
Beyond taking a bold cue from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, TiVo claims its line of Premiere boxes are more powerful, compact and energy efficient than previous generations – and, more importantly for the media consumer, they’re the only way to unlock the real value of a HD television.
“The beauty of TiVo Premiere is that finding what to watch is just as fun as watching the TV shows themselves,” trumpeted TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers. “We accomplished it by using pictures and graphics to make the whole television guide experience come alive in a way that it never has before.”
“TiVo Premiere is your new cable box, it’s your movie box, it’s your web box, and music box; it’s the one box that can give you access to almost anything you want, whenever you want it,” he added. “We’ve taken millions of pieces of content and organized it for you in a way that makes so much sense you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.”
Offered up as a “one-stop shop for entertainment,” TiVo Premiere will essentially enable users to gather a wealth of multimedia content from multiple sources by simply inputting a basic search.
For example, searching for a specific actor will result in the return of all upcoming broadcast movies that star is scheduled to appear in, along with Amazon and BlockBuster listings of titles available for purchase or rental, and even online YouTube clips that contain the actor.
The Premiere XL set-top box, which is significantly sleeker and more aesthetically pleasing than previous TiVo boxes, will cost $499 USD and will have storage for around 150 hours of HD content on its spacious 1TB internal hard drive. The slightly less roomy 320GB option will store 45 hours of HD content in return for $299 USD.
Once purchased, the set-top unit works on a subscription package that ranges from a modest $12.95 USD per month through to $299 USD for an access period of three years. Customers can even splash a hefty $399 USD in order to secure complete service access without a timed subscription.
The TiVo Premiere XL and Premiere boxes will launch via Best Buy and Amazon this coming April.
Comment on this Story