TiVo Brings Photo Sharing to Your Living Room with Photobucket, Picasa

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

My mother-in-law, for one, wishes she could look at her pictures on a larger screen than on her PC. Well, Picasa and Photobucket users, at least those with a TiVo connected to broadband, can now view their photos on their TVs.

In a press release, TiVo went on to emphasize that the pictures will be viewable at the highest possible resolution on each TiVo box. What this means is that photos on TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD subscribers will be able to see their pictures in high definition.

As you can see from the image, TiVo users will be able to search in various ways via the TiVo user interface. The service is offered at no additional charge.

“At TiVo we’re focused on the entire entertainment experience, from movies to music, and in this case — memories. By working with these well-respected and popular photo-sharing partners TiVo enables families to share their pictures in new, fun ways. TiVo continues to show our commitment to differentiated product offerings by allowing subscribers to share their memories on the best picture frame in the house — their
television.” Source: Tivo Press Release via PR Newswire

We Say: Differentiated product offerings = TiVo needs to separate itself from the glut of alternative DVRs. Two things I wish they would do:

• start working with DirecTV again. Integrated control boxes whether cable (as their still to roll-out nationally deal with Comcast) or DirecTV are much easier to deal with.
• give their integrated boxes full functionality. Usually these integrated boxes, as with the old DirecTiVo, don’t have all the functionality of their stand-along boxes.

As part of their differentiated offerings, TiVo continues to make deals with partners. Readers will recall that in early October TiVo and RealNetworks’ Rhapsody finally launched their integrated service.