TiVo Bolt Vox has voice control remote for easier video discovery

Believe it or not, TiVo is still around and kicking, even if the ancient DVR isn't what it used to be.

To prove it's still got some fight in it, the company's releasing a new version of its DVR, the Bolt Vox, with a remote control that supports voice controls.

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The new Bolt Vox looks identical to the previous Bolt and Bolt+ DVR box, complete with the same quirky, bent design on its all-black exterior.

Inside's the same, too. It comes with four tuners and the same three storage models: 500GB ($200), 1TB ($300), and 3TB ($500). A TiVo Service plan is also still required and works out to $15 per month (with a 1-year contract), $150 every year, or $550 per year for the all-service plan.

The box itself is nothing special. It's the smarter software and new pack-in remote with voice controls that finally bring TiVo into the modern era.

If you've ever used a Fire TV with Alexa Voice Remote or an Apple TV with Siri Remote, you'll be right at home with the TiVo remote's voice commands.

Unlike Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, the proprietary TiVo voice controls are designed to help you find and launch content quickly, not tell you the weather, or trivia stats, or control your smart home.

Voice control everything

Press and hold the voice search button and say something like "Show me action movies" and the Vox will display all that are available. But a good voice search understands context. If you follow up the first request with "only movies with Clint Eastwood" and then maybe "only westerns," the Vox will understand the context in relation to action movies.

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I tried this out on a pre-production Vox and it worked. Vox's voice remote also knows how to find movies with two actors and actresses (i.e. "Show me movies with George Clooney and Julia Roberts") and when sports games are playing ("When do the Jets play?").

You can also jump to a TV channel by saying its channel name or the number (if you still remember them) and can launch internet video streaming apps like Netflix, HBO Go, or Amazon Videos, which are built-in.

Credit: tivo

By far the best thing about the voice search is looking up a movie by a quote. Yes, really. For example, when I said "Say hello to my little friend" into the remote control, the Vox instantly recognized that as a quote from Tony Montana and displayed the option to watch Scarface.

It was pretty neat. At launch, there are only about 100-150 movie quotes supported (and who knows which ones those are), but TiVo says it's looking to add more. Right now, the quotes are manually programmed into its software, but the company's exploring the possibility of crowdsourcing the quotes in order to include more.

Better predictive content for you

Credit: tivo

The other big addition to the Vox is its smarter predictive software. Whereas TiVo's known for its usually spot-on recommendation engine, the company's now turning into AI to better suggest content.

So you'll a new "Smart Bar" on the interface that starts to predict what you watch in more nuanced ways. Like if you watch a lot of cartoons every day at 5 p.m., it'll suggest cartoons during that time, but not during the mornings when you watch news.

More personalized and intelligent software is a necessity when you look at video services like Netflix and Amazon and how they get you to binge watch more videos than you really have time for.

Voice control remotes for everyone

Credit: tivo

I'm not a TiVo owner myself (I've switched to YouTube TV and its unlimited cloud DVR), but there are millions of customers who still are. For them, voice controls will finally help take out the complexities of discovering content.

Which is why the company's not only blessing Vox owners with the remote, but existing Bolt and Roamio DVR owners will be able to purchase voice remote controls for their boxes. Bolt owners will need to pay $40 for the voice remote and Roamio owners will pay $45. Customers with Roamio DVRs will need a Bluetooth USB receiver dongle, though.

It's easy to dismiss TiVo in the age of YouTube TV and Sling TV, both of which offer cloud DVR, but none are as robust and feature-packed. The price for the box and service isn't cheap, but if you really, really love watching TV, a TiVo's still a great companion.

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