TiVo now will let you skip entire commercials with a single button while you are watching recorded shows on your device. This new feature comes with its new DVR, the Bolt, which will have a $300 cost, including one year of service.
“We’re not auto-eliminating commercials. The user does it. We’re giving users a tool to get through their content more quickly,” said TiVo Inc. Vice President Jim Denney, according to Sci-Tech Today.
The feature is called SkipMode, and it comes to improve the fast forward and 30-second advance buttons that previous TiVo DVR’s had.
According to Walt Mossberg, a journalist of The Verge who made a complete review on TiVo’s Bolt, “SkipMode invariably made all the commercials disappear and returned me exactly to where programming resumed. The box even prompted me when it was time to skip the ads. But it doesn’t work on every recorded show.”
He also highlighted another feature, called QuickMode. It allows you to watch the show with a speedup of 30 percent, maintaining the audio pitch. He said that this works just fine for watching sports, but it’s not recommendable to use it for another type of shows.
Nevertheless, there are some limitations on this new feature, “It only works with shows where the start and end points of the commercial blocks have been tagged, a process TiVo says is done by actual people. It also doesn’t work with sports or local programming — even when they are recorded. And it only works for other shows between 4 pm and midnight, because TiVo figures that’s when most viewing occurs,” said Mossberg.
TiVo represents an alternative for those who want to have cable and streaming shows in one device. Although streaming TV services like Netflix are ahead on the market, cable hasn’t died yet. The company’s idea is to have one “box” that offers you the best of both alternatives.
Among the technical specs that TiVo’s Bolt has to offer, it’s a smaller size compared with the Roamios model. It comes with 500 GB, and the possibility to double it for the price of $100. Also, it maintains the ability to record up to four shows at the time. Mossberg adds that Bolt supports 4K video, gigabit Ethernet, a faster AC version of Wi-Fi, and lets you stream shows to mobile devices and computers, features that improve the previous models.
“I have owned a TiVo for years and appreciate it. Despite the odd look of the Bolt, I found its new features attractive and reliable. But the fusion of linear cable and streaming internet video in one box is a big deal, even if it’s been around — quietly — for awhile. TiVo has finally got this right,” Mossberg concludes.
Source: The Verge