Flingo’s Launchpad on TiVo® by Jennifer Ruggiero

Confession… I am a TiVo® fangirl. In my opinion, the best DVR interface is that which belongs to TiVo®. However, old media/television content is becoming a tad “old school” these days. Therefore a few years ago, I cut the cord, purchased an HD antenna, and have been using my TiVo® Premiere to DVR local stations. Remember TiVo® from years ago? Well, it is not what it is today. Say hello to NEW MEDIA (web content). I am able to use my TiVo® Premiere box to access an assortment of new media content. This is why cutting the cord works so well… new media access. TiVo® offers an assortment of great web content services. I am also able to view my personal content on my TiVo®, but I’ll save that for another post. (Fangirl needs to get back on track.)

On Valentine’s Day, TiVo® gave the gift of even MORE streaming content. TiVo® put out a press release stating that Flingo’s Launchpad, an assortment of web apps/content, was coming to TiVo® Premiere boxes. Being that I happen to be a TiVo® Premiere box owner and subscriber, I decided to try out their new Flingo offering for myself.

To access, follow one of the following paths on your TiVo® Premiere Box…

  • TiVo® Central > Find TV, Movies, & Videos > Web Video Launchpad
  • TiVo® Central > My Shows (scroll down to bottom & Web Video Launchpad will be listed)

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At first, I was pretty excited about the new Flingo content offerings on our TiVo® Premiere boxes. I am “all about” new media and know that is our future when it comes to media consumption. So I say KUDOS to having as much web content as we can get! On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed in the type of content that was offered. I saw a lot of “clips” rather than full shows. When it came to the “NEWS” category, there was barely anything newsworthy that was offered. There was one local news station (that wasn’t local to me), and the quality was very poor. However, the rest of the web apps’ quality for other clips was quite clear.

I counted a total of 51 Flingo Web Apps as of 3/11/13. The channels/web apps are listed in the images below…

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The Flingo Web Video Launchpad navigation is simple to learn and use, but a bit laggy for me. I don’t know if this is because my TiVo® Premiere box is a few years old, or if it is laggy to all users. I do have extreme internet service with decent speeds, so I don’t believe that has anything to do with the lagginess. It feels similar to using a slow computer when I’m using the Flingo Web Video Launchpad service on my TiVo® Premiere Box, but does work eventually.

All in all, I like the idea of Flingo bringing this new media content to our TiVo® Premiere boxes, but do wish that there were more content offerings with longer segments and full shows rather than clips. I know this is a step in the right direction, and am pleased to see their embracement of new media grow. I look forward to seeing what comes next!

If you have a TiVo® Premiere Box, be certain to try Flingo’s Web Video Launchpad. If you don’t have a TiVo® Premiere Box, you certainly should look into getting one. It is worth every penny spent for all that it offers!