# Netflix promo implies TiVo Series2 can stream movies



## DZeckhausen (Feb 10, 2004)

I've been enjoying nearly trouble-free Netflix on my TiVo HD for about two weeks now. The other day, I started seeing the following Netflix promo at the bottom of the screen:

*It's Netflix on Tivo!*I clicked on the promo link and the screen showed a Netflix banner ad and when I scrolled to the second menu item:

*How to download movies now*

the banner at the top of the screen displayed the following text:

Movies and TV episodes you place in your instant queue are automatically listed in a menu on your TiVo DVR. Find out more.

I clicked the link to "find out more" and got to the following screen (again with a big Netflix banner at the top):

*"Did you know that any broadband-enabled TiVo Series2(TM), TiVo(R) HD, HD XL, and Series3(TM) enables you to watch over 30,000 movies ..."*

Wow! Thinking they had expanded the Netflix service to include the Series2 models, I ran upstairs to see if I could get it to work on my non-HD TiVo. There was the video on demand menu there, but no Netflix option. I thought, perhaps I just needed a service update. I forced a few connections, but still nothing. So I checked the TiVo forum to see if others had been able to make it work. Not a peep on the forum about it. Damn! Fooled by a poorly placed, poorly worded paragraph describing the high-level capabilities of *all* networked TiVos that someone thought made sense to reach by clicking on a link that was supposed to describe how to learn about Netflix on TiVo.

I know I should have come here first, before wasting time at the lowly Series2 TiVo in the exercise room. But the wording and context made me sure they had enabled the feature on the non-HD models.

Was anyone else fooled by this wording, even for a minute? Drat!


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

You can watch over 30,000 movies via Amazon. Netflix only has 10-12,000 titles available for streaming.

The banner on that page has a Netflix logo but the main part of the screen says nothing about Netflix.


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## DZeckhausen (Feb 10, 2004)

pdhenry said:


> The banner on that page has a Netflix logo but the main part of the screen says nothing about Netflix.


The point is, the way one gets to that screen is to drill down through a Netflix promo. It's not unreasonable for someone following a link that says "click here for more info about viewing your Instant Queue on Netflix" to be confused when the results of that click mention the Series2 DVR. What were they thinking?


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

View attachment 11293


Just like this, which is wrong. Series 2 will not get the netflix streaming. But you can listen to music, get amazon's movies and everything else except Netflix and Youtube.


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## berkshires (Feb 22, 2007)

I saw the same thing. It is very sloppily written/placed. If you know alot about TiVo and think it through, you know what they really mean, but it is not clear right off.


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## mpetrini (Sep 21, 2008)

Ok, there has got to be a way to do this. Ever since TiVo came out people have been hacking the crud out of it. Is there really no way to get the Netflix app onto the Series2? It seems so close, so close, but if it was capable, I am assuming TiVo would have offered it so they could have a wider customer base for the service.

Has anyone made any progress at all?


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## FrodoB (Jan 3, 2005)

mpetrini said:


> Ok, there has got to be a way to do this. Ever since TiVo came out people have been hacking the crud out of it. Is there really no way to get the Netflix app onto the Series2? It seems so close, so close, but if it was capable, I am assuming TiVo would have offered it so they could have a wider customer base for the service.
> 
> Has anyone made any progress at all?


No, and that's because they can't. Netflix uses technology (MP4 streaming, I believe) that the Series 2 hardware doesn't support. No TiVo's CPU is fast enough to do software decoding, so it's basically impossible.


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

FrodoB said:


> No, and that's because they can't. Netflix uses technology (MP4 streaming, I believe) that the Series 2 hardware doesn't support. No TiVo's CPU is fast enough to do software decoding, so it's basically impossible.


Right. NetFlix use MP4 streams. The Series3 Tivos have MP4 decoding hardware. The Series2 don't. Game over for the Series2.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

It would be nice if they'd TiVo would extend video streaming to the Series 2, even though they could only do it for MPEG-2. At least HME/VLC would work...


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

Netflix uses a unique MP4 stream format for TiVos (discussed in the threads describing issues within specific titles) so it it were practical to stream Netflix as MPEG-2 they might have done that from the get-go.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Actually Netflix uses WMV.

When I say it would be nice to extend video streaming to the S2, I just mean in general, not specifically Netflix, nor YouTube, nor all those "Watch Now" RSS feeds. It would still be useful even if none of those worked (and indeed, they wouldn't).

Edited the previous post for clarity.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

wmcbrine said:


> Actually Netflix uses WMV.


Even in, say, a Roku box?


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

As far as I know... There are at least two different systems that Netflix is using, but neither of them is MP4.


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## mpetrini (Sep 21, 2008)

Too bad. We've since moved on and gotten a Blu Ray that streams netflix. But I just feel like my TiVo is getting out of date here, but where I live we can't get HD, so what's the point of upgrading. We have lightning fast internet though, so I just feel bad for our HD TV just sitting there and never reaching its full potential.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

mpetrini said:


> where I live we can't get HD


Where is this barbarous place?

I suspect there is some available, and you just don't realize it.


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