It is no secret that we have a love hate relationship with TiVo. Many of us use them everyday and could easily fill your ear with gripes. It is one of the reasons we've had TiVo on a deathwatch for almost half of the company's 10 year life. Now we do believe it is the best HD DVR set-top on the market --which isn't saying much -- and because we believe that there is something here to salvage, we try our best to offer some constructive criticism. So when our optimistic side saw news about the $50 price break on the current models, we started to think, dream, that this might be a closeout and that a new TiVo might be imminent.

Here are the facts. TiVo hasn't released a new DVR since the TiVo HD in the Summer of 2007. The last major TiVo announcement was September of 2008 when a new DirecTV HD TiVo was revealed. The chip that makes the TiVo magic happen just got a big upgrade when Broadcom announced the super feature rich BCM7125. A new 802.11N WiFi adapter was submitted to the FCC, even though the current TiVos can barely utilize all of a 802.11G connection. Add all of this in with the fact that 2010 is supposed to be the big year for a real tru2way launch, and we officially have our hopes up that TiVo has a big announcement for 10th CES in January. Now before you get too excited, we should point out that TiVo hasn't made any big announcements at CES since 2005, and has even told some that TiVo won't make big announcements at the show because they tend to be overshadowed. Now we'd argue that if you have something big enough to be a highlight of the show, then there is no better time, otherwise yeah, wait for a slow news day. All that being said, the original DirecTV TiVo HD (2004) and the Series 3 (2005) were both announced at the big show. Of course we will have to wait to find out, but in the meantime click through to see our personal wish list.

We'll let the analysts make sense of TiVo's new projection that it will lose $8 to $10 million in the third quarter, larger than Wall Street expectations while projected revenues are lower -- we're too busy adding Verizon and AT&T to the patent battlemap. Today it filed complaints against both for violating three of its DVR-related patents -- Nos. 6,233,389 B1 ("Multimedia Time Warping System"), 7,529,465 B2 ("System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams"), and 7,493,015 B1 ("Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System") if you must know -- seeking damages for past infringement and a permanent injunction. We'd assumed it would wait until settling things with DISH to push forward against other companies, but it looks like we're not the only ones getting impatient. Beyond the legal slapfight there's a few nuggets for the bleep bloop faithful, with the Comcast TiVo on-line scheduler beginning to roll out in Boston plus further expansions on the way and the due-in-2010 DirecTV HD TiVo still on track -- we'll need a few seasons of Law & Order queued up before this mess ever gets resolved.

Read - TiVo Swings to Loss, Files Infringement Suits
Read - TiVo Reports Results for the Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Ended July 31, 2009
Read - TiVo Files Complaints for Patent Infringement Against AT&T and Verizon Communications in United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas; Seeking Damages and Injunction

We got pretty excited last week when we saw that the DirecTV Twitter feed indicated that the DirecTV HD TiVo was still on track for the second half of 2009 -- as promised. But shortly after the feed was once again updated and the gem isn't due this year after all. We're not sure what caused the mix-up, but it looks like another year of waiting for those TiVo fans who prefer satellite over cable.

We can't believe it, but Twitter is really taking over the world. We mean, first celebrities found it and now it seems to be the source of some solid gadget news: like confirmation from DirecTV that the new DirecTV TiVo HD is on schedule to be released by the end of this year. It's been over six months since DirecTV and TiVo announced plans to once again work together, but after the announcement that DirecTV suspended its Media Center tuner project, we had fears that whatever put that project ice, affected the TiVo project as well. Don't get too excited just yet though, as there is still no word if the new DirecTiVo will be missing key features like TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing, like the old one.

We had to pinch ourselves and check to see if it was April 1st, because after three years of hearing TiVo fans complain that DirecTV killed off the HD DirecTV TiVo on its move to MPEG4, the satellite company has finally listened. TiVo and DirecTV announced today that sometime during the second half of 2009, a new HD DirecTV TiVo will be available and will include "the latest TiVo and DirecTV features and services" -- there is however no word if this will include favorites such as TiVoToGo or Multi-Room viewing. Like the previous TiVo models made specifically to work with DirecTV, it will be sold and marketed through DirecTV -- at a yet to be announced price -- and as we've seen in other recent TiVo deals, DirecTV will continue to market and support its own DVR as a "primary offering" which is just fine with us, just so long as we have a choice in the matter, we're cool.

[Thanks, Brad]

DirecTV TiVo owners won't give up on having TiVo and DirecTV together -- no matter how many HD channels DirecTV adds -- at least they received a little consolation recently as DirecTV pushed down a long awaited update (6.4a). All the new features included in the update are an old hat to stand-alone TiVo owners, but appreciated all the same as DirecTV subscribers can finally take advantage of having a Recently Deleted folder, Overlap Protection, and DirecTV Remote Booking. As for the rest of the cool features missing like Multi-room viewing, TiVo To Go, and Internet content, we figure they have about as a good of a chance of being added as there is that DirecTV will release a new MPEG4 DirecTiVo, so don't hold your breath.

[Via GizmoLovers.com]

We can't count the number of times we've gotten to work and remembered we forgot to schedule that night's American Idol football game to record on DirecTV, and wished we could do it using just our cell phone. Well, the satellite provider is adding the capability to do just that: with the DVR Scheduler (previously known as Remote Booking), you can log onto the mobile site at m.directv.com, and bounce a record signal from DirecTV's satellite down to your DVR in minutes. The soft launch has HR20-700 DVR models going live right about now, with more models and an official rollout scheduled for February. Even the venerable TiVo HR10-250 is scheduled to get this feature, and it's sure to be a big hit with commuters, travelers -- and the rest of us who don't properly set up our season pass recordings.