gdgt

I am not sure it it too little too late as much as a great way of getting new users. If you look at the feature list of this product, combined with a TiVo Preview, this really is a great product for folks getting their first cable subscription. I started paying for cable for the first time last June when I graduated from school and RCN provided a Tivo Premiere box with my subscription. It was really great, though slow to get software updates(iPad support 2 weeks into June). When I moved after 1 year to a better apartment, I switched to Comcast(no choice), lost all my recorded content on the TiVo and got stuck with a less than satisfactory Motorola box. My roommate and I only have the one cable box but with our nerd tendencies, we both have HDMI enabled monitors that could each be hooked up to a Preview to allow us to pay Comcast for 1 digital TV subscription but enable separate viewing of time-shifted content in additional locations. 4 Tuners also solves the different watching habits in the same primetime slots issue that roommates may have much better than 2 tuners did. Assuming the preview boxes, when made available for purchase, don't require a TiVo Subscription, I will be replacing the Motorola box with an Elite, some Previews, and a cablecard rental from Comcast.

I think DirecTV already licenses some elements of TiVO for their HR series DVR's. I forgot where I read that but I definitely remember reading it.

As for too little too late, I think definitely yes. There is the core group of dedicated TiVO users but I think TiVO is past getting more people on board. I think as technology advanced for home television it also pushed out services like TiVO from mass consumers. Especially when you add in loss of OnDemand and the need for cable cards it just something a lot of people don't want to deal with.

Here is a good article by Ed Bott describing the decline of TiVO and Windows Media Center: www.zdnet.com­/blog­/bott­/the­-decline­-and­-fall­-of­-ti...