TiVo, best known for its range of digital video recorders (DVRs) that let users save cable television and content distributed through streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, showed off a Network DVR (NDVR) cloud television prototype at CES today.
As its name suggests, the NDVR is built on a network of content, which is aimed at making cross-device viewing more efficient, and in turn easily enable social discovery and sharing. Media content is typically stored in a subscriber’s set-top box hard drive on DVRs, but an NDVR means media content is stored in the service provider’s servers, or in this case, the cloud.
The TiVo NDVR is therefore an extension of its DVR with a cloud service, which lets users easily find, consume and share content via the cloud through the TiVo user interface. Viewers can even share recorded programs with an authorized user.
TiVo is also intending to add new features, such as allowing for co-viewing experiences through social networks and recommendations across different content libraries.
The NDVR won’t only be beneficial for consumers. TiVo is planning to let operators and programmers manage content rights, come up with multiscreen policies and create various tiers of network personal video recording features. For example, operators using TiVo’s NDVR could offer a premium service with more catch-up and save options.
Headline image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.