Plus, Bolt is the first TiVo to support 4K-resolution video (2160p) from YouTube and Netflix, with Amazon Prime 4K support in works. You didn’t know or care what time or channel they’ll be on. The box even prompted me when it was time to skip the ads. Virtually overnight, TiVo made old-school VCRs obsolete.
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The Bolt also has a new design-smaller and curvier than previous TiVo models, with a white finish-and it supports 4K video streaming from Netflix and YouTube. It still does all of that. But if you watch shows where not every word matters, this could be a binge-watcher’s best friend. “Everything’s available online; who needs a TV box?” Essentially, it’s an option that’s best used to speed up content like news or sports where you’re trying to get information, but not necessarily looking for the traditional, lean-back TV watching experience. It can also play music from Spotify, Pandora, Plex, and IHeartRadio. While the hobbies and interest feature is only for the YouTube app, customers can now customize by genre across other content sources. In a few regions, Comcast and Cox subscribers can view on-demand content from those respective cable providers as well.
The Bolt still does all the TiVo-y things you’re familiar with.
Note, of course, that only a fraction of the programming on any of those services is available in 4K, and that seeing the difference between 4K and “regular” HD programming is still overkill for all but eagle-eyed viewers with giant-screen 4K TVs. Apple Inc.is also coming out with an Apple TV update in October.
The most striking part of the new BOLT is its design.
Though they remain pretty much the same as they are on Roamio, TiVo’s search and season-long recording options are worth mentioning because they are integral to the package. It’s also dramatically smaller in size than the previous models, which means you can hide it a little easier in your lounge room.
One box to rule them all? It looks like a metal credit card and goes into a slot in a compartment under the TiVo.
The TiVO BOLT also introduces two new special powers to the DVR box. The 500GB Bolt will sell for $300, but that price includes a free year of TiVo service. Plus, starting in the second year, you have to pay a monthly $15 fee. But hey, if you got someplace to be, I guess. The first time you start it up takes about 3 to 5 seconds, but after that, opening is near instantaneous.
Later on this fall, TiVo will bolster its set-top boxes with a massive update.
The on-screen design is improved and streamlined, too.
And TiVo’s introducing a new remote that includes RF technology (eliminating the need for line-of-sight).
Instead, QuickMode lets you watch 30 percent faster, with pitch-corrected audio. It gets you through a 60-minute show in 46 minutes without turning the TV characters into chipmunks. But for sports, awards shows, and Kubrick movies, it’s fantastic.
It’s a spectacular feature.
Skipping commercials on DVR has become an art – waiting until one sees the first sign of a show’s return before quickly pressing play.
TiVo is wading into unsafe, network-baiting waters. The SkipMode feature gives consumers the ability to completely bypass commercials planted in recorded content.
The TiVo BOLT software, meanwhile, has also been refreshed. In TiVo’s case, the ad-skipping works only on shows recorded from 4pm to midnight, on the 20 top channels. But it doesn’t work on every recorded show.
So why not all shows, all the time? TiVo has finally got this right.
TiVo’s speeding up actually watching TV as well with two new options: QuickMode and SkipMode.
Dish semi-lost its legal battle with CBS, agreeing to make ad-skipping available only a week after the show’s broadcast; for ABC/Disney, three days after. In the brief demo I saw, the audio wasn’t the real problem with QuickMode-it was the awkward blocking as people moved just slightly faster than they should. The only heartbreaker is that it’s not available on all shows.
TiVo would like you to know that it doesn’t make DVRs anymore. OneSearch, as the name implies, finds content across all of the streaming services TiVo supports as well as TV and on-demand where available.
But that’s only the beginning. And the platform for apps like Netflix is now HTML5 only. You can record Live TV, set up a OnePass for your favorite shows, and most importantly, skip commercials.
That downloading business is great for times when you’ll be without fast Internet (a plane, a raft in the middle of the ocean), or when you’d rather not eat up your cellular data plan. You’ve paid to watch them, haven’t you?
Then early next year, you’ll be able to watch your TiVo recordings on the road, from across the Internet. Sadly, you can’t skip through live TV.
I’m a hardcore, long-time TiVophile, and I want this thing.
According to the company, the TiVo BOLT is all about speed, getting viewers to and through their content faster than ever.
Elsewhere in the Bolt is QuickMode, which looks for lulls in programming and allows viewers to speed on ahead to the good stuff.
TiVo is working on most of those limitations, of course.
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David Pogue is the founder of Yahoo Tech.
