TiVo Streaming Apple TV App Will Be Limited to 720p at 30 FPS

TiVo's upcoming Apple TV app will limit streaming to 720p at 30 frames per second and won't support native MPEG-2 broadcasts or 5.1 surround sound, it has been revealed.

tivo app for third party devices like apple tv

TiVo's app is coming to Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and ‌Apple TV‌ later this year

During CES, TiVo announced it would release an app for ‌Apple TV‌ in the third quarter of this year that would allow TiVo users to stream live and recorded content to other televisions without incurring additional cost.

However, users hoping to enjoy TiVo content on their ‌Apple TV‌ at the same level of audio and visual quality are in for disappointment. The admission was made in a TechHive interview with Ted Malone, TiVo's vice president of consumer products and services.

Malone explained that the limitations, which will also apply across the company's forthcoming Amazon Fire TV and Roku apps, is a necessary compromise that has do with the TiVo's hardware resource allocation:

"I want 720p 60 [fps]," Malone told the publication. "I've done some internal demos proving that 720p 60 [fps] is actually noticeably better than 720p 30 [fps]. It's really a battle for resources and just getting it done."

[...]

Malone said the TiVo hardware can technically support higher-quality streams, but not without dialing back some other capabilities, such as streaming to TiVo Mini Vox boxes.

As it stands, TiVo users who want to view live programming and DVR content on additional televisions have to resort to a TiVo Mini. The first-party Mini costs $180 but includes support for high-quality streaming, which means it will remain the best solution for expanding the availability of TiVo content to multiple rooms.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: TiVo
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

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Top Rated Comments

2010mini Avatar
90 months ago
This is a joke for such an established company. Silicondust, a much smaller company can do this and Tivo can’t?!??
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maxfromdenmark Avatar
90 months ago
What the heck!? Not even the fullHD in 4K era where 8K is on the way? Nope, thank you.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
90 months ago
DOA
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
levitynyc Avatar
90 months ago
Nope.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EdT Avatar
90 months ago
DOA
Because of my wife’s desire to record shows and play them back later I was interested in this app. Was.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ted13 Avatar
90 months ago
For years now I have been playing TiVO recordings on the AppleTV with the fantastic Infuse Pro app:
Download the recording on my Mac with cTivo, and then play on AppleTV in its original format, with 5.1 sound on the AppleTV via Infuse Pro.

TiVO’s own software, has been getting worse: their iOS app was ruined completely a couple of months ago
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)