TiVo has launched out-of-home streaming of live and recorded video via the recently launched TiVo Roamio Pro (pictured above) and TiVo Roamio Plus DVRs.
The addition “combines the functionality of a DVR, Apple TV, Roku and Slingbox,” TiVo said, noting that the new feature will come via an automatic software and mobile app update starting today.
But, unlike a Slingbox, out-of-home access via the Roamio Pro ($599.99) and Roamio Plus ($399.99) is limited to Wi-Fi for now. Sling, by comparison, can also shuttle video out-of-home via cellular signals. TiVo said out-of-home streaming over 4G/LTE is coming next year.
The initial out-of-streaming piece is currently available only to iPhones, iPads and iTouch devices that run iOS 5.1 or higher, with Android to join the mix in 2014, TiVo said.
TiVo’s mobile app also supports other elements, such as remote scheduling, and mobile search and discovery.
"Now with a TiVo Roamio DVR, whether it's a hotel in Denmark, the waiting room at the dentist office, when you're stuck at the airport, or at the gym, out-of-home streaming gives you the level of choice, control and freedom that consumers have come to expect from TiVo,” said Jim Denney, VP of product marketing at TiVo, in a statement.
The lower-end $199.99 Roamio does not inherently support out-of-home streaming, but can add that feature when the device is linked to the TiVo Stream, a separate transcoding device. Out-of-home support for the TiVo Stream is scheduled for release next month, TiVo said.
Atlantic Broadband, an MSO owned by Canada-based Cogeco Cable that serves more than 250,000 customers western Pennsylvania; Miami Beach; Aiken, S.C., and parts of Maryland and Delaware, is the first distributor to confirm that it will use an MSO-leased version of the Roamio Plus model. However, the operator has not announced whether it will support the out-of-home component.
