TiVo owners can control their devices via an iOS app on the iPhone and iPad, but -- for the moment -- can only watch shows on their television.
But that's all going to change in a few months. According to a report from ZDNet, TiVo is launching an external decoder box that would plug into the TiVo Premiere set-top box and would deliver content to an iPhone or iPad.
The unique part is that the company claims that the TiVo Stream is the first product to enable streaming (or downloading) shows simultaneously to multiple devices without interrupting what’s playing on the television. The Verge tested a prototype in January and wrote that it "streamed a show from the TiVo across the room without any hiccups."
TiVo says they will release the TiVo Stream box "in the coming months", but didn't share any details about pricing.
Top Rated Comments
I'm also in the UK on Virgin Media. I was frustrated that I couldn't control the Tivo better, and annoyed that both the Virgin Media and Peanut apps have serious issues. So I googled, and came up trumps.
Some clever person has created a bonjour script which fools your Tivo into thinking it's in the US. So combine that with the Tivo app from the US app store, and you've got all the control you need - from your iPhone or iPad (and yes, it's a proper iPad implementation - beautiful!). You need to plug your Tivo into your router as well - I've done this with homeplugs.
Here's a link to the VM forum where it's discussed. Click here (http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo/Want-to-try-the-US-TiVo-iPad-app-One-click-solution/td-p/901085/page/5) Page 5 (I think) contains a link to the .dmg. It's worth reading the whole thread before you start - there are some instructions to follow, and the conversation is a little confused, but work at it and you'll never look back (except when the app occasionally decides that it won't open and has to be reinstalled - small price...).
Once you've got it, it's much, much better than using the physical remote. You can do lots on the app without messing about on the TV, so while you're watching something full screen you can be managing recordings, setting up new ones, deleting old ones, browsing what's on, etc. It's great - and IF Apple launch a TV sometime, they'd do well to learn from this app.
Have fun with it!
Tiptopp
What would be awesome would be a quick way to transfer a TiVo recording from the box to an iOS device for later viewing. It can technically be done now but TiVo Desktop kinda sucks.
We still don't have the Tivo buddy app despite a VM ready version being ready for months.