# Tivo set top box



## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

No dvr. 
Enough flash memory to pause live tv for an hour on it and 3 Minis. 
Streaming services. 
Playback of music/video from mobile devices.

Just a thought. Nothing I personally want. But I think a lot still don't use a dvr and something like this could have a lot of appeal if much cheaper than a dvr.


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

trip1eX said:


> No dvr.
> Enough flash memory to pause live tv for an hour on it and 3 Minis.
> Streaming services.
> Playback of music/video from mobile devices.
> ...


 would it have cable tv access or just OTA?


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

ajwees41 said:


> would it have cable tv access or just OTA?


I was thinking cable but an OTA version is a different shade of same idea.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Add to that the TiVo/ActiveVideo cloud DVR technology and you probably just described the next TiVo,


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

They do have something like that, so saw it posted here a few months ago but can't recall what they called it. It was geared for MSO's to provide a Tivo interface for a simple cable company solution.


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

For a couple of years, I used an unsubscribed TiVoHD controlled by Google TV which provided guide data. Other than only 30 minute buffer, that combo provided this functionality. Even though that was used with the third HDTV in house, I still replaced it with a subscribed TiVo to get the DVR functionality.

The box would have to be cheap, meaning unprofitable, and the demand would be minuscule. If there is already such a box, I haven't seen any reports here of anybody owning one.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

eboydog said:


> They do have something like that, so saw it posted here a few months ago but can't recall what they called it.


I believe it was the "TiVo Preview".


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## flashedbios (Dec 7, 2012)

You cannot use flash memory for a live tv buffer. there would be too many writes and the flash memory would become useless after a few days / weeks. a flash memory cell can only withstand about 100,000 writes, and with live TV changing constantly, that would happen very quickly. Plus flash memory is slow to write to. ever transferred something to an SD card?


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

wmcbrine said:


> I believe it was the "TiVo Preview".


I don't think the Preview can do any time shifting without a TiVo.

Didn't TiVo have an agreement to roll out TiVo DTAs somewhere too?

Edit:Zatz Article


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

flashedbios said:


> You cannot use flash memory for a live tv buffer. there would be too many writes and the flash memory would become useless after a few days / weeks. a flash memory cell can only withstand about 100,000 writes, and with live TV changing constantly, that would happen very quickly. Plus flash memory is slow to write to. ever transferred something to an SD card?


Yeah good point.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

SullyND said:


> I don't think the Preview can do any time shifting without a TiVo.


The Preview could not manipulate live TV at all. It was basically a cable box with the ability to watch recorded shows from your TiVo. It had no local storage and predated the Mini's ability to borrow a tuner from the TiVo itself. (it's tuner was internal and used another CableCARD)

They did have a deal to build the OPs suggestion into a TV at one time, but it never came to fruition. The idea was the TV would have the 30 minute buffer but no recording capabilities. Not sure why it fell through.


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