TiVo has stopped selling DVRs and is leaving the hardware business
The TiVo box, which spearheaded television’s time-shifting viewership revolution in the early 2000s, is no more. The company confirmed this Variety that it officially exited the hardware business on October 1, when it stopped selling its physical DVR products. This means that the TiVo hardware and accessories, which until this fall were sold both online and through agents, are officially off the market.
“TiVo is no longer manufacturing hardware and our remaining inventory has now been depleted, although we will continue to provide support for the products in the future,” the company said. Variety. “We are very proud of the legacy of TiVo DVR and the great experience TiVo has always provided lives on in our TiVo OS for connected TVs, available on Sharp TVs in the US and multiple brands across Europe.”
The fact that TiVo still offers support for these now-outdated boxes likely comes as something of a relief to users who purchased “lifetime subscriptions” for the service.
TiVo’s most recent digital video recorder, called “TiVo Edge,” was unveiled in October 2019. That device featured 4K Dolby Vision HDR video playback capabilities with Dolby Atmos sound, and could be used to both record live TV and access a range of streaming apps. Versions include one for cable users (with six tuners and a 2TB hard drive) and cord cutters (with four tuners and a 2TB hard drive).
The TiVo Edge was the seventh generation TiVo DVR and was manufactured by Arris. The original Series 1 TiVo, launched in March 1999, was manufactured by Philips.
TV industry executives were initially concerned about the commercial potential of the then-nascent TiVo technology: “We’re in trouble, and we shouldn’t ignore the fact that it’s just around the corner,” then-Fox Entertainment prexy Gail Berman said at a 2003 Hollywood Radio & TV Society luncheon about the threat of DVRs. “This business is going to change, and it’s up to us to figure out how to do that.”
Ultimately, networks embraced TiVo and its rival DVRs when they saw how the devices actually helped increase the number of regular series. The Television Academy even awarded TiVo an Interactive TV Emmy in 2006 for “seamlessly connecting consumers to the digital entertainment they want, where and when they want it.”
But as cable operators began integrating DVRs into their own set-top boxes, TiVo struggled to sell its devices to the consumer market. It focused its efforts more on licensing TiVo-branded software and technology to cable operators and other third-party devices. Later, the streaming revolution changed the way people consumed TV, with audiences turning to cloud-based on-demand options instead of recording and storing their own libraries.
The end of the TiVo Edge had been in sight for a while: TiVo stopped selling the antenna version (“cord cutter”) of the device on its website in February 2024. According to users, that was followed by the TiVo Mini LUX and the TiVo Stream 4K, until the last product – the TiVo Edge DVR for cable – ended sales at the end of September.
The website Cord Cutters News was the first to notice last week that TiVo’s official website had removed references to its hardware DVR products, including the TiVo Edge. The website noted how streaming changed the game as cable companies focused more on proprietary cloud DVRs – and then “regulatory changes, including the phased-out support for CableCARD technology – essential to TiVo’s cable compatibility – further strained the viability of consumer hardware.”
TiVo’s website now offers users two options: one pitch for smart TVs that license TiVo technology, and one for the DTS AutoStage car video service.
