DVR heavyweight TiVo has been relatively quiet at CES this year, making only one announcement of note. It’s a pretty big deal, at least to TiVo users. TiVo is planning to let its customer base make use of RSS feeds to pull down Web video content for view on their DVRs. The company plans to roll out this service addition in March.

TiVo said specifically customers who upgrade to TiVo’s newest pay for desktop software will be able to use the DVR’s Season Pass functionality to schedule and automatically download new Web video across a variety of categories.

As the screenwriters’ strike drags on and those without TiVos are forced to watch reruns, TiVo owners and those of other DVR style devices provided by the likes of cable companies can take stock in the fact they can stretch their original programming a little further than others. This of course does not include viewing commercials, according to a new survey from ABI Research.

The research firm found that DVR technology has reached a point in the market where anyone with this type of gear is getting used to blasting through on-screen ads. Numbers from this survey find four out of five TiVo and 82% of other DVR users skip all or most commercials. Both types are also both likely to record significant amounts of TV per day.

TiVo has had to rethink its online photo access strategy in the wake of Yahoo earlier this year shutting down its photo service to focus instead on Flickr. To that end the DVR company announced today TiVo owners who use Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums will now be able to view photos through their TiVo boxes.

TiVo is shooting for letting its broadband connected DVRs access increasing amounts of Web based content and this updated feature certainly reflects that trend. TiVo says users also “will be able to customize their photo viewing capabilities by searching community photos of interest by keyword” so they can create custom slideshows of favorite categories of photos.

TiVo and Nero, a technology developer which produces ways for the “creation and distribution of content between people, devices and locations,” are teaming up to further integrate the DVR experience into your PC. The agreement between the two was announced today.

TiVo and Nero said the latter will eventually offer software which brings non-mentioned TiVo features to your computer. The two companies see this as a way to capitalize on those who want a better PC-based-DVR like experience. A report published earlier this year suggests an estimated 50.8 million PC TV tuners will be sold worldwide by 2011. No word was given on when this would be made available.

Oh Canada…how we stand on guard for thee! TiVo is now part of that guard rotation as well, announcing today its DVR product will be available for the holidays for shoppers. The priced will be set at $199 CAD plus your standard TiVo subscription fees.

The 80-hour TiVo Series2 DT DVR will bring many of your standard TiVo functions to our northern neighbor. TiVo says these include “SeasonPass recordings, WishList searches, Online Scheduling, TiVoToGo transfers, Multi-Room viewing, and TrickPlay functionality, which enables users to pause, rewind, instant replay and slow-motion live TV.” The DVR will be able to record two shows at once. TiVo lovers in Quebec are unfortunately out of luck for the moment as the service will not be available there.

TiVo kicked out today a service update for TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD users which offers, among other new features, external storage support. The first verified external hard drive product to support this update is Western Digital’s $120 500GB My DVR Expander.

The new TiVo update is designed to work with E-SATA drives, specifically at the moment the Western Digital My DVR Expander. This 500GB hard drive can store up to 600 hours of standard-definition (SD) or up to 65 hours of high-definition (HD) television programming. It can also store broadband content that TiVo makes available through TiVoCast partners, including movie and TV downloads via Amazon Unbox on TiVo. The drive itself is available now.

Reports have surfaced that popular DVR company Tivo is getting ready to release a major update to its Tivo Desktop software. This release, which perhaps might occur today, is version 2.5.

A posting on a Tivo user forum by a person known to be a Tivo employee reveals the software will offer “new features & improvements you’ve asked for.” The listed features include support for Windows Vista, support for DixV (DivX?) and Xvid formats for web video conversion and conversion of individual shows from the software’s new playing list to any profile.

Tivo today unveiled a new, lower cost high definition digital video recorder (DVR) in its quest to make HD recording a more economical option. The Tivo HD is priced at around $300 and should be available in early August, though pre-orders are being taken now.

The Tivo HD operates in a similar capacity to the older Tivo Series 3 HD Digital Media Recorder, allowing consumers to record and playback HD television programming as part of a home entertainment setup. This particular DVR allows you to record up to 20 hours of HD or up to 180 hours of standard definition content. It is compatible with digital cable, analog cable and digital antenna (ATSC), furthermore acting as a digital cable ready set-top box which works with many cable providers via its dual CableCard slots.

TiVo and Amazon.com have announced a new service that will allow TiVo Subscribers to watch Movies and TV Shows downloaded from Amazon Unbox on Their TVs.

With “Amazon Unbox on TiVo”, subscribers will have the ability to rent and purchase movies and television shows. Television shows will cost $1.99 per episode and most movies will range between $9.99 and $14.99 for purchase with movie rentals starting at $1.99. The current list of supported major studios includes CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros.

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