# TiVo's inability to work with Sling TVs services



## Mark E Brodie (Feb 7, 2018)

I have read both inside and out of this forum that Sling TV's services won't work with the TiVo platform.
I have also learned that TiVo works with the Roku platform. And since Sling TV works with Roku and that TiVo works with Roku, is this a workaround making it possible for us seeing everything from Sling TV on our TiVo Bolt VOX? Please confirm! Thanks, Mark


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

No, and you appear misinformed about TiVos and Roku, at least at present.

p.s. TiVo doesn't develop the apps; you'll want to contact Sling TV to get an app made for the TiVo platform. (Though it would certainly require TiVo participation to achieve optimal integration of such a service ... into the channel guide.)


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Sling is owned by Dish Network, TiVo and Dish have a very rocky past...

TiVo doesn't have a big enough market share to drive the business decisions for Dish to invest in developing an app for the TiVo platform and their history certainly doesn't do anything to make Dish feel charitable.

I have said for years that the two services rather compete with each other rather than compliment - but I have softened that stance. Ultimately, it needs to make financial sense for Dish to invest the time in the TiVo platform - and they obviously do not at this point in time, indicate that is the case.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

And this article doesn't give me any hope...

Sling TV Pulls Support for Channel Master's DVR+ | Multichannel


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## dslunceford (Oct 19, 2000)

What is this mythical TiVo/Roku integration?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dslunceford said:


> What is this mythical TiVo/Roku integration?


Possibly related -> Roku Signs TiVo License Pact Covering 6,000 Patents


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

dslunceford said:


> What is this mythical TiVo/Roku integration?












Works just like this camera phone except the camera is a Tivo and the phone is a Roku. Just be careful not to cover any IR ports with tape.


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## dstoffa (Dec 14, 2005)

Mark E Brodie said:


> I have read both inside and out of this forum that Sling TV's services won't work with the TiVo platform.
> I have also learned that TiVo works with the Roku platform. And since Sling TV works with Roku and that TiVo works with Roku, is this a workaround making it possible for us seeing everything from Sling TV on our TiVo Bolt VOX? Please confirm! Thanks, Mark


SlingTV is IPTV. Video is delivered via IP packets over the internet.
Tivo records ATSC / encrypted QAM / Clear QAM linear video.

Tivo does not have the capability to capture / record content delivered by SlingTV. Yes, there are Tivo apps which allow access to IPTV content (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), but there is no way to record this content.

When is your end game? Using your Tivo to access SlingTV and record content? Or just be able to use your Tivo to WATCH SlingTV delivered programming?


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

People need to get away from this expectation that TiVo will record any of these OTA services. The providers do not want their content recorded, their content contracts mandate security to prohibit recording of content and they would never allow an app on a platform that attempts to record content.

Content owners and cable companies want to move to the more restrictive streaming / IP models so they can get out from under the supreme court fair use "Betamax" case: _*Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc - 1984 *

Recording content is a sunsetting technology_


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

OTT services are going towards Cloud DVR's, recording streams to hardware dvr violates most Terms of Services agreement, so even if you could do legally you can't.


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## dfreybur (Jan 27, 2006)

bradleys said:


> People need to get away from this expectation that TiVo will record any of these OTA services. The providers do not want their content recorded, their content contracts mandate security to prohibit recording of content and they would never allow an app on a platform that attempts to record content.
> 
> Content owners and cable companies want to move to the more restrictive streaming / IP models so they can get out from under the supreme court fair use "Betamax" case: _*Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc - 1984 *
> 
> Recording content is a sunsetting technology_


When I bought my first Tivo Series 2 Humax, the DVD burner was the killer app but there was no streaming IP video. I remember being able to "rent" a video by downloading it will an automatic deletion date. For a very long time my network could not maintain streams and it's still iffy (read Hulu threads). Download to cache to be ready to play from disk remains the desired answer.

I know why it's never going to happen. I don't have the expectation because of that. I'll never stop wanting it, though. Without it the Tivo is just much better than cable company DVRs and does okay at merging several streaming applications. This makes Tivo to "better app" rather than the "killer app".

SlingTV is just another IPTV application. It could be ported and merged into Tivo. There are several reasons it won't be. They are competitors much more directly, rather than cooperators like Netflix. SlingTV has a huge database with rapid change so it would greatly increase the daily download for anyone with SlingTV active and that would be a large cost on the Tivo server side. I could probably continue to think of reasons SlingTV won't be merged into Tivo as an application any time soon.

Now our smart TV has Roku built in with SlingTV. Having easy outside access makes me less interested. In the end we tried SlingTV and discovered it's not different enough from Tivo to be worth a paid subscription.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

bradleys said:


> People need to get away from this expectation that TiVo will record any of these OTA services. The providers do not want their content recorded, their content contracts mandate security to prohibit recording of content and they would never allow an app on a platform that attempts to record content.
> 
> Content owners and cable companies want to move to the more restrictive streaming / IP models so they can get out from under the supreme court fair use "Betamax" case: _*Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc - 1984 *
> 
> Recording content is a sunsetting technology_


That's what they want, sure, but as long as the demand is there someone will provide it. With or without court challenges, someone is going to enable streamed recordings on a device. Sports are a perfect example, there will always be a demand for recordings that generally don't exist today.

PlayLater (now PlayOn) does this on a PC or phone today, frex. And those recordings can be streamed to DLNA-enabled devices, phones etc (there are native PlayOn apps/channels for some devices). Also includes ad skip, don't know how accurate it is. Wonder why they haven't been sued?


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

slowbiscuit said:


> That's what they want, sure, but as long as the demand is there someone will provide it. With or without court challenges, someone is going to enable streamed recordings on a device. Sports are a perfect example, there will always be a demand for recordings that generally don't exist today.
> 
> PlayLater (now PlayOn) does this on a PC or phone today, frex. And those recordings can be streamed to DLNA-enabled devices, phones etc (there are native PlayOn apps/channels for some devices). Also includes ad skip, don't know how accurate it is. Wonder why they haven't been sued?


Yeah, PlayOn certainly runs on a very fine line.. The terms of service for most of the streaming services are very clear, you cannot download videos for personal use. PlayOn skirts the law and the terms of service by never directely integrating with anything... It is the user that takes a legal product and uses it in a way that violates the terms of service they, as a user, have with the content provider.

If TiVo were to try and integrate this type of functionality directly, the response would be very simple - Netflix, et al would just pull the service from the platform - no court proceedings needed.

You can often get away with things as a small, loosely integrated service that simply does not scale up.

Until TiVo or some other service, signs a contract with an major IP provider to allow copying - it isn't going to happen or scale.

Much more likely, as in your example, cloud recording of that sporting event that will allow you to keep it for some specified amount of time before it automatically falls off...


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

bradleys said:


> Yeah, PlayOn certainly runs on a very fine line.. The terms of service for most of the streaming services are very clear, you cannot download videos for personal use. PlayOn skirts the law and the terms of service by never directely integrating with anything... It is the user that takes a legal product and uses it in a way that violates the terms of service they, as a user, have with the content provider.
> 
> If TiVo were to try and integrate this type of functionality directly, the response would be very simple - Netflix, et al would just pull the service from the platform - no court proceedings needed.
> 
> ...


I thought the Tivo mobile app allowed copying of shows from the DVR to the mobile device.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

shwru980r said:


> I thought the Tivo mobile app allowed copying of shows from the DVR to the mobile device.


It does but those are recordings on the TiVo which cannot record streaming services.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

lpwcomp said:


> It does but those are recordings on the TiVo which cannot record streaming services.


Netflix allows shows to be copied to a mobile device too.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

shwru980r said:


> Netflix allows shows to be copied to a mobile device too.


Only to walled garden environments and compressed. It is not a bit for bit copy

Those are offline viewing strategies not DVR / archive strategies.


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