DVR maker TiVo this morning announced, for the first time, its users will now be able to access their recorded content on their TV via Apple TV and AirPlay. Through an updated TiVo iOS application, TiVo customers can play content from TiVo Roamio or Premiere DVRs on their Apple TV using an iOS device on the same network. To do so, users enable AirPlay through the iOS control center, select Apple TV, then toggle the mirroring button, the company says.
The update follows the expansion of TiVo’s streaming capabilities last month, when the company rolled out support for web-based streaming of both recordings and live TV.
The new feature is a nice addition for TiVo customers, some of whom complained in the past about the lack of AirPlay functionality – especially given the fact that TiVo has for a long time supported streaming directly to iOS devices via its Roamio DVRs. While obviously, TiVo users could already easily watch their recorded shows and movies on the TV connected to their TiVo DVR, support for AirPlay to Apple TV means users now have the option to streaming their content to other TVs around the home which aren’t hooked up to the DVR.
Plus, for those who regularly do a lot of AirPlay-based streaming from their iOS device, it’s useful to have the TiVo iOS app support this option, too.
TiVo says the feature works with the TiVo Roamio Pro, TiVo Roamio Plus, TiVo Roamio with TiVo Stream and TiVo Premiere with TiVo Stream.
To use the app, after the initial setup, users simply navigate to the “My Shows” section, then pick the show they want to watch and choose to play it on their iPhone. This content is then mirrored on the big screen by way of Apple TV. The feature includes support for TiVo’s rewind and skip buttons, volume, toggling closed captions, accessing show info and more. However, AirPlay streaming only works with devices on your local Wi-Fi network, meaning you can’t stream from your own TiVo DVR to another Apple TV outside your home.
The rollout comes at a time when TiVo has been working to improve its streaming capabilities ahead of its plans for a “legal” version of Aereo – something the company has promised to reveal later this month. TiVo earlier picked up some of Aereo’s assets following the loss of Aereo’s Supreme Court case which shut down the innovative TV service which once allowed viewers to watch and record broadcast television on internet-connected devices. TiVo’s forthcoming service then, could involve working with pay TV providers to offer its streams and a cloud DVR, similar to Comcast’s newly launched Stream service, or Dish’s Sling TV, for example.
Last month, TiVo rolled out the ability for subscribers to stream recordings and live TV via the web ahead of the forthcoming news about its new service, and today’s expansion to include AirPlay in the mix could be related to what’s in store for the near future, too.
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