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TiVo update brings new Netflix, YouTube apps, parental controls

More than just your Instant Queue and an ugly interface, the new apps allow you to search and discover content.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
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Joshua Goldman
TiVo

TiVo's been on a roll with keeping its promises lately (though I probably just jinxed it by saying that). First, it updated large sections of the HD interface in January, and then it actually started rolling out Comcast Xfinity On Demand support, and now comes a software update with shiny new apps for Netflix and YouTube.

Well, new to TiVo users anyway; they're very similar to the apps you'll find on other streaming-media devices.

Each one takes several seconds to launch and connect. However, they're no worse than the previous versions, and you get much more functionality and an HD interface, like the one for Hulu Plus.

There's no news on updated Amazon Instant Video or the addition of Prime Instant Video. (Blockbuster yanked its app last month.)

Also in the software update is the completion of another section of the HD interface: parental controls. These can now be turned on without sacrificing the rest of the HD interface. (No new KidZone, though.)

Lastly, that rollout of Xfinity On Demand support I mentioned up top, it wrapped up for San Francisco Bay Area users and is now headed to Boston.