TiVo will be available for sale in Australia next week with a price of AU$700, after being beaten to the punch by Foxtel's new HD+ service by almost a month.
TiVo is expected to go on sale on 1 July 2008.
Harvey Norman executive director, David Ackery, told industry publication Current.com.au that the TiVo box will be available for sale on 1 July, beating media speculation of a mid-July release.
Ackery was unable to reveal the price of the box — which no longer attracts a monthly subscription — but the Australian Financial Review has quoted "insiders" as saying it will sell for AU$700.
The release of Seven's TiVo box is just in time for the company's HD coverage of the Olympic Games in August.
Seven originally planned to charge around $10 a month to cover licensing fees from TiVo and charge around $500 for the box, though this appears to have been scrapped. Seven will reportedly now pay a commission per box sold.
Foxtel's HD+ service officially launched on Sunday and is seen by many in the industry as the main competitor to the TiVo box.
The TiVo HD DVR box is available in the United States on a number of different plans, but the equivalent platform (lifetime service) is available for US$399. The model available locally likely differs from the States in that it won't be able to decode cable services like Foxtel.
Features of the Australian box are believed to include dual HD tuners, around 250GB HDD space (based on its ability to record 20 hours of HD content), HDMI connection and eSATA.
An Ethernet connection is expected to form a significant part of the box's capabilities with the ability to record remotely, port files across to a PC, and download additional movies and TV channels from the internet.
Representatives from Seven and Harvey Norman were unavailable for comment.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
putto
24/06/2008 07:13 PM
Can you fast forward through the adds ?
Report offensive content
bob
24/06/2008 07:33 PM
See australia is being ripped of again. not only are we paying 300$ more, we are being ripped of with our pay TV prices, where in america it is about 20$ for a cable service with more channels than we get here for 100, and we must buy foxdtels own boxes and cant use Tivo and other boxes to decode the pay TV. this means that we are paying 700 dollars for a DVR. Foxtel HD rquires a special box and if you want tivo, you need to use it ontop of that. so what is the point exactly?? to answer the above persons question, you can not fast forward anything if you are watching it straight of the air, but if you are watching recorded or paused tv you can.
Report offensive content
menotyou
24/06/2008 08:38 PM
i dont see this as anything better than a hard drive tv recorder. If youve got a tv capture card in your computer the same features can be had for less than $100
Report offensive content
charlie gardener
25/06/2008 01:23 AM
what a load of bollox, $700 to record freeview tv - forget it
Report offensive content
Auscan
25/06/2008 08:00 AM
TIVO in australia is a total waste of time. You don't have enough channels to make it worth while. Waste of money 7. Guess that is why they are charging so much, they already know it is a white elephant.
Report offensive content
hinigugmaBob
25/06/2008 08:18 AM
Why can't all those television broadcasters CO-OPERATE together for a change and give the poor television consumer a break from all these individual set top boxes, etc??
Report offensive content
John Vomicil
25/06/2008 12:39 PM
Why is it Microsoft can't get legal rights to display the Australian TV Guide on their Media Center (Microsofts version of Tivo) yet Tivo can legally display the TV Guide. Australia is the only country that claims the TV Guide data is copyright otherwise we would have much better PVR systems already. This will totally bomb in Australia you can already by HD PVR Boxes a lot cheaper than $700
Report offensive content
Joey Jojo
25/06/2008 01:06 PM
Why is is people feel the need to double post? Kids have no patience these days ;)
Report offensive content
Corsair
25/06/2008 01:32 PM
Song hang on ...this will only work with Channel 7? And it costs that much? No thanks. My parents already have foxtel digital and are getting the HD+ box since they have a Full HD tv (Sony Bravia). I'll just stick to using my computer watch TV shows.
Report offensive content
salamander
25/06/2008 03:53 PM
Can you say rip-off?
Report offensive content
spersephone
26/06/2008 11:47 AM
If this can record HD (ie 7HD/9HD/10HD) and has a 250 GB hard drive, it is only about $200 more than a similar DVR available now (of which there just aren't that many). It will have additional tivo features which I'm excited about, so I'm going to be one of the first standing in line.
Report offensive content
fiddickc
26/06/2008 03:41 PM
Well spersephone it doesn't seem from reading the comments that you'll have a long line to wait in!! In fact, you are the only one in the line so far. I wouldn't start a queue too early - seems pointless. Oh, for the record, I ain't getting one either.
Report offensive content
kristo
26/06/2008 06:59 PM
this is a far more attractive product than most people seem to realise -- I can only imagine these people all either got sucked in to paying thousands every year for Poxtel and they have to continue to fool themselves that they're getting value for the hard-earned cash, or they watch it free at their parent's house). in the USA Tivo is unbeatably popular, even for pay tv subscribers, primarily because it can record cable / satellite (some versions)/ and free-to-air tv. the new version is HD, like the FoxtelIQ2, but also can access internet and stream or transfer files to and from you networked PCs / iPod / portable media players / even your mobile phone, and converts the files for you. the firmware is updateable online, so they can continue to improve and add new features so this box will not become obsolete anytime in the next decade, and you can be pretty sure Foxtel will never allow any of these features on their boxes anytime soon... and with Foxtel, face the fact you will NEVER stop paying big $$$ every month, even while you continue to get the same tired old crap repeated over and over. at least the Tivo can use the internet to download or stream payperview films or free/ripped online content from the web. there are cheaper network media players like the Tvix5130 / PopcornHour / HTPCs with similar capabilities, but none are as easy to use or reliable as the Tivo. if you go to the US tivo.com site, you can check out some of what it will be capable of in Australia (minus the monthly fee :-)
Report offensive content
clintondean
27/06/2008 05:26 PM
I don't see how Foxtel's HD+ could possibly be the main competitor to the TiVo. Actually... they don't even compete at all. If you have Foxtel you have the IQ, that's it. No competitor. If you have free-to-air you can't use the Foxtel IQ. Surely the main TiVo competitors would be Beyonwiz, Strong, Topfield or a PC running Windows MCE?
Report offensive content
jscotth
28/06/2008 11:20 PM
As a long time user of the Series 1 Tivo I've been eagerly awaiting the Australian launch. Over at http://www.incompletegamer.com we've just published 'Ten Reasons to Skip Next Months Tivo Launch in Australia'. On Monday we'll redress the balance with 'Ten Reasons to be First in Line'.
Report offensive content
steve
29/06/2008 04:12 PM
who wants to record crap on tv anyways? maybe if i was 70 years old an did nothing but stay home an watch tv
Report offensive content
Joey Jojo
01/07/2008 04:14 PM
"Australians won't enjoy the ad-skipping features found in US TiVo, confirms Phil Dobbie - chief marketing officer of engin, an Australian consumer VoIP provider part owned by the Seven television network. Seven will sell TiVo in Australia next year through engin, to be available before the Beijing Olympics in August." SEE HERE FOR MORE.... http://www.tivo.com.au/resources/press/07-09-13%20TiVo%20confirms%20high%20definition.pdf
Report offensive content
Joey Jojo
01/07/2008 04:16 PM
ALSO......."Australians will be able to fast forward through ads, but not totally skip. It will be a fast scan - you should be able to get through an ad break in 30 seconds,"..........This is BS! No way will i be getting one!
Report offensive content
Apollogod
01/07/2008 04:52 PM
May I say to some of the earlier posts you are WRONG. All the features mentioned such as interface and in home streaming will not be features offered up front. They may and I stress may be offered some time next year. So for $700 you basically get a PVR and thats it! No add skiping thanks Kerry. No conectivity for movies because the Studios are concerned with piracy and no downloading. Don't waste your time with this product. As for Fox HD which I do have installed I must say it has exceeded my expectations. As for next year when the new satelite goes up all the extra features that Fox hd offer will begin to work , cant wait.
Report offensive content
jim
01/07/2008 06:53 PM
Rip off, Bloody goddamned rip off. Whats that, Yeah Seven are stupid, especially if IF not even the ads are gonna be cut from the programs. FAIL lol
Report offensive content
bushman
14/07/2008 11:51 PM
Definately a waste of time for me! Where I live we can't even get digtal or HD yet! I'm a pensioner & can't afford the ridiculously high prices for pay t.v even b/band is a struggle! I guess Tivo is right out!
Report offensive content
samway
25/07/2008 12:03 AM
foxtel is a waste of time and money their not giving the customer any choice with their hd 5 channels and free to air in hd for an extra $25.00 a month with the remaining channels resoluting at 575 cmon fox wheres the value in that
Report offensive content
spersephone
25/07/2008 01:04 PM
Well I bought mine yesterday from Harvey Norman after hearing about everyone buying them before they officially go on sale. I LOVE IT!!! It's exactly what I've been looking for, I'm exactly the demographic they are catering for, and I think it's wonderful. I'm recording shows I wouldn't normally bother setting up my video for, because I'm used to carefully rationing out my 3 hour video tapes. I love the fact that I can record 2 things at once, although I cannot watch a 3rd live channel as there is no loopback aerial to the TV. I'm working on a way around this but it's not that big a deal. As I've loaded up the TiVo with more stuff, I can just watch something else I've previously recorded. I am ecstatic with my purchase, I can't speak highly enough about it. The setup was easy, although I had to set up our network to read the MAC address of the wireless adaptor, but it didn't take too long at all.
Report offensive content
spersephone
25/07/2008 04:31 PM
Well I bought mine yesterday from Harvey Norman after hearing about everyone buying them before they officially go on sale. I LOVE IT!!! It's exactly what I've been looking for, I'm exactly the demographic they are catering for, and I think it's wonderful. I'm recording shows I wouldn't normally bother setting up my video for, because I'm used to carefully rationing out my 3 hour video tapes. I love the fact that I can record 2 things at once, although I cannot watch a 3rd live channel as there is no loopback aerial to the TV. I'm working on a way around this but it's not that big a deal. As I've loaded up the TiVo with more stuff, I can just watch something else I've previously recorded. I am ecstatic with my purchase, I can't speak highly enough about it. The setup was easy, although I had to set up our network to read the MAC address of the wireless adaptor, but it didn't take too long at all.
Report offensive content