TiVo Adds Much Needed Streaming Feature to Its Android App

TiVo has made it possible to stream TV shows and movies that have been recorded with your TiVo DVR to any Android device via the TiVo app for Android. The update makes it possible for Android users to enjoy their recordings from their home's WiFi connection. It is indeed a long-awaited feature that was already given to iOS users last October. Most of us are surprised it took them this long to implement this on Android, considering it has been 11 months since the feature hit iOS.

Announcement of Android Streaming Feature

TiVo announced the new feature on its blog on September 30th, 2014. The post title began with “To the One Billion Android Users, ” indicating that the Android app itself is certainly not new or unpopular. Within the announcement, TiVo described the new features implemented in the update, detailed how the streaming service works, and discussed equipment compatibility requirements.

The new feature is designed to facilitate streaming from your TiVo DVR to your Android mobile device over your home's local WiFi network. Thus, most content cannot be streamed outside of your home network, so it is more of a local streaming feature than an online streaming feature. However, it is possible to stream some types of content from your DVR to your device remotely, depending on copyright restrictions.

What Else Can the App Do?

For those of you that have TiVo, a Roamio DVR, and an Android device, we strongly suggest you check out the app for yourself – it makes a very useful addition to your home DVR setup.

In addition to streaming recordings to mobile devices, the app also lets you schedule future recordings remotely. So you can arrange for your home DVR to record a particular show or movie in a much more convenient way. However, keep in mind that most recorded content can only be streamed through the same local WiFi network that your DVR is connected to.

Furthermore, you can also use the app to search for shows/movies that are shown on TV, or available within the media libraries of Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, and Netflix. Other key features of the app include displaying cast and crew information for shows/movies, and doubling as a remote control for your DVR.

TiVo Android App Streaming Compatibility Issues

In addition to making streaming available on Android devices, TiVo has made the app available on Amazon Fire phones and tablets via the Amazon Appstore.

The new streaming feature will work on any mobile device that is running Android 4.1. or newer. However, there is an exception – it won't work on devices that run on Intel or AMD mobile chips, at least not yet. So before you get excited about streaming to your Android device, you might want to check to make sure your device doesn't use an Intel or AMD chip.

Also, if you have a 4-tuner TiVo Roamio DVR then you'll need to purchase the TiVo Stream accessory for the new streaming feature to work.