TiVo

Background

TiVo is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by TiVo Inc. (which was later bought out by Rovi (formerly Macrovision), later to rename themselves off of the acquired company) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList" searches which allow the user to find and record shows that match their interests by title, actor, director, category, or keyword. TiVo also provides a range of features when the TiVo DVR is connected to a home network, including film and television show downloads, advanced search, personal photo viewing, music offerings, and online scheduling. Since its launch in the United States, TiVo has been made available in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Newer models, however, have adopted the CableCARD standard, which is only deployed in the United States, and which limits the availability of certain features.

Contents

1st Logo (March 31, 1999-2004)	2nd Logo (Welcome to... The TIVOLUTION!) (2004-2006)	3rd Logo (September 12, 2006-2008)	4th Logo (September 12, 2006-2010)	5th Logo (March 28, 2010-2016)

1st Logo (March 31, 1999-2004)

Used on startup.
Used on promotional material.

Visuals: In what seems to be a factory filled with colorful spheres rolling down a bunch of ramps and slides, the "TiVo Guy" (a black television with legs, the word "TiVo" (the lowercase letters serve as eyes) and a white smile) jumps on a big green button. He jumps into the screen and latches onto a giant funnel, which swivels into place to allow many spheres to come through. It then cuts to him on a checkered platform pushing part of a slide into place, allowing more spheres to come rolling down. He then descends by swinging on a giant magnet hanging from a chain, which releases more spheres. He finally slides down a slide past several others, and the camera pans to the right as the "factory" is superseded by the background for "TiVo Central", and the "TiVo Guy", on a hook attached to his top antennae, swoops past the screen and "screeches" to a halt on the far top left menu bar, as the menu options appear a few seconds later.

Variants:

A sizzle reel of all of the animations made can be seen on YouTube under Synthespian Studios' YouTube channel. It starts off like the natural startup, but the platform scene is missing. When the background for TiVo Central is meant to appear, the screen cuts to the platform scene, but when the balls hit, they bounce back to see the "TiVo Guy" juggling them. Then he blows some away like a leaf blower, then lassoing one with an antennae as a lasso, and then he gets hit by one, then two spotlights are seen moving around balls. After a few seconds, the camera pans and the spotlights reveal the "TiVo Guy" using his antennae as spotlights. He winks when the camera reaches a comfortable distance. The latter animation also appears at the end of a setup guide VHS for the TiVo Series1.
On Philips-manufactured Series1 boxes, the Philips "Shield" logo, colored blue, flips in with "Philips Presents..." fading in underneath. The logo and text shine. The screen zooms out as it shrinks and gleams in the "TiVo Guy"'s eye. He winks, then leaps to the right of the screen and the rest of the sequence plays.
On Sony-manufactured Series1 boxes, the Sony logo appears on a black background, then fades out, then fades to the animation.
There has been another version where the "TiVo Guy" is smirking, then a yellow ball rolls up and hits his foot. He then kicks it toward the screen.
Before the animation begins, there are two screens.
- Screen 1 varies:
  - On Sony-manufactured Series1 boxes, the "TiVo Guy" appears in a spotlight with balls, similar to the end of the animation used on promotional material, with the words below: "Your Recorder is starting up. Please wait a moment..."
  - On Philips-manufactured Series1 boxes, it is the same as the previous screen, but "PHILIPS Presents..." (with "PHILIPS" in the logo's font) appears above the "TiVo Guy", and "Recorder" is replaced by "PTV Receiver."
  - On early Series2 boxes, it is a gray-black gradient background with text saying "Welcome. Powering up..."
- Screen 2 also varies:
  - On Sony-manufactured Series1 boxes, it is a gray-black gradient background with text saying "Almost there... A few more seconds please..."
Depending on the manufacturer of the box, different backgrounds are used when the animation ends:
- On most Series1/early Series2 boxes, the background is green with a curve. Outside of the curve, is the factory along with moving text that says "TiVo Central".
- On Philips-manufactured Series1 boxes, the text says "PHILIPS Presents... TiVo."
- On Sony-manufactured Series1/early Series2 boxes, the background is purple with a starburst effect on it.
- On the Thomson PVR10UK, the background is replaced with a blue sky with "as recommended by Sky Digital" (featuring the 1999-2001 Sky Digital logo) on the top right, which disappears when the "TiVo Guy" screeches into his spot.

Technique: CGI animated by Pittard Sullivan, who worked closely with Jeff Kleiser and Diana Walczak of Synthespian Studios. They're also the animators behind the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo on Wavefront Advanced Visualizer.

Audio: A light, "cartoony" synth tune, with sound effects, ending in a 7-note jingle.

Audio Variants:

A portion of samba-inspired music ("Street Music" by Dr. Didg) is heard on the sizzle reel. However, as of recent, due to copyright reasons, the song is replaced by a portion of jazz music ("Busy City" by TrackTribe for the YouTube Audio Library) on the original upload, even though you can still hear the original song for a split-second at the start.
On Philips TiVo boxes, a drumroll, a dramatic synth chord, and an orchestrated hit, and a ding is heard before the rest of the sequence.
On the "spotlights" variant, the 7-note fanfare is played on a trumpet, followed by an audience gasping (from "The Premiere Edition Vol. 1" by Hollywood Edge Sound Effects Library, but high pitched).

Availability: Seen when a TiVo Series1/2 (pre-2004) is booted up. Scenes of the animation that you can see from the sizzle reel were also seen on a instructional VHS distributed to TiVo customers.

2nd Logo (Welcome to... The TIVOLUTION!) (2004-2006)

Visuals: On a blue background, there is a cartoony "Evolution" animation, of a "lizard" TV, a 50s TV, a tube TV and a flat-screen, all with legs, and the "TiVo Guy" appears on the right, smiling and posing, as the orange and white words, "Welcome to... The TIVOLUTION!" appear above. He stretches, then leaps up offscreen and the camera pans up to see him on top of a large radio antenna mounted to the Earth (parodying RKO Radio Pictures), looking around, behind a sunset glow. He then leaps off the tower and jumps to to the right. It then cuts to him on an old radio's tuning dial, where he tunes in country music, then "horror" music, before he goes back to country and briefly "dances", before smirking and doing a back flip offscreen. He then lands on an old, 50s style TV (probably a Predicta), and as he jumps on the dial, trying to tune the TV, the camera moves to center, as a graphic saying "Look, Now In... COLOR!" (with "Look" in a tiny green box and "COLOR" in a big white "bow tie" shape with a blue underlining curve) appears. It "rolls up" to reveal the "TiVo Guy", in the 50s TV shape, with a gold base, on a blue stage with a red curtain; he then turns to "normal" and poses, then jumps up, ending up in a catapult that is activated as electricity crawls up the TV's "bunny-ears", which flings the "TiVo Guy" off right. He lands on a little platform, connected to a gear, so it pushes a small pointing hand forward to hit a button. This causes a late-90s style HDTV to appear from the floor, and onscreen is a "square" version of the "TiVo Guy". He returns to normal and leaps out of the screen, and as giant speakers descend and vibrate from the fanfare they play, he leaps off the screen and into a ring of light bulbs, where he bows a couple of times, before leaping up onto TiVo Central.

Technique: CGI by Mondo Media, except for the evolution animation which is hand-drawn.

Audio: More "cartoony" synth here, with lots of TiVo noises (the "bolop" noise), as well as assorted sound effects, "horror" music, "country" music, an orchestra fanfare, and applause.

Availability: Seen when a post-2004(?) Series2 TiVo (excluding DIRECTV TiVo boxes) is powered on.

3rd Logo (September 12, 2006-2008)

Visuals: On a black background, a white spotlight appears. The "TiVo Guy" slides in the screen, following the spotlight, and then he tilts his head, causing his antennas to up and down posing like before, and again before cutting into TiVo Central.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A whoosh with a boing sound (accompanied by some ambient theater sounds and applause), followed by a drum extending to a full orchestral tune with the "bolop" noise as the TiVo Guy tilts his head, and then the sequence ends with five drum notes.

Availability: Seen when you boot up a Series3 TiVo, preceded by the THX Zeigfeld trailer on THX-certified TiVo systems, which are no longer manufactured.

4th Logo (September 12, 2006-2010)

Visuals: The screen fades in to a cape cod-styled house with a 2nd generation Toyota Prius driving away from the house. There is a mother speak "Buckles on! Time to go!". As that happens, the screen cuts to a close up of one of the house's windows, where the "TiVo Guy" pops up and peek through the window, assuming that the mother has gone. The screen then cuts to the interior of the house, with the "TiVo Guy" looking out the same window. Next to the other window, there is a Beagle. It runs off and the "TiVo Guy" looks away from the window, then following the dog by making big leaps. Cutting to the living room, there is an entertainment center rack holding a television nearly filling up the screen space. As the "TiVo Guy" leaps to the table, he lands on a TiVo remote, powering on the TV. The Beagle dog jumps up to a sofa. The screen then cuts to a close-up of the "TiVo Guy" wink and smirk at the camera. The screen then cuts to the Beagle barking (at this angle the DVR, a TiVo HD, is seen). Cutting back to the living room, the "TiVo Guy" leaps towards the TV and "enters" it. The screen then cuts to a colorful, playful atmosphere. The "TiVo Guy" goes down a long slide. Cutting to another angle, he rides past multiple screens previewing multiple films and shows (including Top Chef and Teletubbies). "TiVo Guy" can be seen riding the slide. The screen cuts back to the "TiVo Guy" at a face-to-camera POV. More screens appear as the camera slides down. The screen cuts to a still angle with its perspective on the screens again (this time a clip of a nature documentary plays, followed by football game, a clip of Clifford The Big Red Dog). "TiVo Guy" then leaps at a screen which leads to a clip of North by Northwest on Turner Classic Movies. In the clip are three men (Robert Ellenstein, Cary Grant, and Adam Williams) sitting in what might be a 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood 75. The screen cuts to the front view of the car with the "TiVo Guy" sitting in the front passenger seat. Next to him, on the ledge of the car doors, there is a red button. The "TiVo Guy" looks towards the men, smiling. Grant gives him a confused look, then looks towards away from him. The "TiVo Guy" nods and touches the red button with one of his antennae. It then suddenly cuts to an episode of Season 1 of Top Chef on Bravo. As the four judging chefs make their decision on which chef will move forward into the competition and who will go home, the "TiVo Guy" lands on the table, with the red button next to him. The screen cuts to the chefs. There is Tom Colicchio speak "All right. We... we have to figure out who is going home-". As that happens the "TiVo Guy" jumps on the button, it cuts to a photo of Earth from space (probably a space show on National Geographic Channel). As the "TiVo Guy" (in a full body helmet) rises up, a meteor can be seen in the background. The screen zooms out further, causing the meteor to catch on fire from the Earth's gravitational pull. The "TiVo Guy" kicks the button next to him, then it cuts to a clip of Exploring Our Universe on Discovery Channel, where a photo of multiple small icebergs is seen. On one of them is the button. The "TiVo Guy" leaps on three of the icebergs and then he jumps up. The screen cuts to a football game on NBC Sports. There is the "TiVo Guy" pop up on the left of the screen. The button is on the right of the screen. As the game continues, many of the football players get tackled. During the tackle, a sports commentator speaks "Fumble! Ball is loose! Kicked around!", and during that the "TiVo Guy" uses his antennae to shock the button, therefore triggering it. Then it cuts to a clip of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS, where Greg Sanders uses a flashlight to investigate a tire. In the background of the crime scene the "TiVo Guy" jumps on-screen. He looks towards the camera and uses his foot to press on the button. The screen then cuts to another shot of the "TiVo Guy" riding the slide. At another angle he slides down over a blue outlined circle (which holds the button) with the letters "KZ" (standing for "KidZone"). The screen then cuts to the "TiVo Guy" falling down on a cloudy day background. He falls onto the ground with a television screen with the Teletubbies (from Teletubbies) waving at the viewer. The "TiVo Guy" looks back at them, then the camera pans out to reveal a tree and a sun as the "TiVo Guy" hops to another television screen with a TiVo menu that reads "TiVo Presents E/I Programming" with the E/I symbol below the text. The menu screen then fades to 2 polar bears walking through the Arctic. He then hops to another screen with a menu on it. The camera zooms in on the screen more. This menu screen reads "KidZone now playing" with various show names (The Backyardigans, The Berenstain Bears, Between the Lions, Blue's Clues, Connie the Cow, Jack's Big Music Show and JoJo's Circus) below the text. This screen fades to a clip from Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. He then jumps on a big button, which opens up like a trapdoor as he jumps again. He then falls into the hole and falls onto the slide, which he starts to ride down on again. He rides past screens with clips of some other TV shows. He then slides past screens with "HOME MOVIES" and "Movie & TV Downloads" on them. It then shows him (with the camera facing him) riding past even more screens. He rides past a Podcaster menu screen and a screen that says "Online Scheduling" on it. Then, for a split-second, he runs past a screen with the Beagle from before barking. The "TiVo Guy" then reaches the end of the slide, which he goes flying off of. The screen then cuts to the living room scene from before where the "TiVo Guy" pops out of the TV onto the table. He looks back as he sees a menu screen reading "Now Playing List" with the names of almost all the shows featured below the text. The screen then cuts to a full view of that menu screen. The door opens as a girl (with only her legs visible) runs in the house (as the mother's legs, which can be seen for a split-second, enter) and says "Hey! Let's see what's on TiVo!" as it cuts back to the living room where the "TiVo Guy" looks at the viewer, nods to the viewer, and jumps to the top left of the screen as the startup screen zooms in to take up the whole screen. The "TiVo Guy" lands in his usual spot, scandimated.

Technique: A blend of live-action, CGI and footage of the featured shows and movies.

Audio: A cartoonish theme with different sound effects corresponding to the environment or show featured in the logo. Some of the shows featured also have their original audios.

Availability: Seen as a demo clip on the Series3 TiVo models and as the startup on TiVo HD DVR.

5th Logo (March 28, 2010-2016)

Visuals: The sequence starts in the setting of a 1930s-esque monochrome animated rubber-hosed film, which includes a road, a grassy plain, smiling trees, three dancing birds, and flowers. There is the "TiVo Guy" walking across the road, with the trees, birds, and flowers dancing in sync with the walking movement. He later jumps, causing the atmosphere to cut to a 3-dimensional puppet show, with the "TiVo Guy" dancing while hanging on strings. In the background are multiple homes, a road, a sidewalk, and a fire hydrant. It then abruptly cuts to a form of 2D abstract animation, where the background changes into multiple unique shapes and colors. In the same setting, peace signs and colorful egg-shaped ovals (possibly implying candy) fly around the place. The "TiVo Guy" walks towards the screen with his legs stretched and the bottom edges of his feet showing. The screen then cuts to another 3D setting (with somewhat high color saturation), this time resembling King Kong, whereas the "TiVo Guy" is of humongous size, walking by a city (or, in this case, "shaking a city") full of skyscrapers. A jet flies towards him; however, a lightning strikes the jet, forcing it to another direction. After that happens, the screen cuts to a 3D game. The "TiVo Guy" is all pixelated, and the setting looks like that of a 32-bit game. As the scene progresses, the "TiVo Guy" starts picking up the pace, and as that happens multiple shapes (some outlined and some filled) flying around the background. Then it cuts to a current-day street setting, with a stop sign with two street signs above it, saying "WEB" and "T.V.", respectively. Multiple miniature "TiVo Guys" follow the protagonist "TiVo Guy" across the street. In the background there is dancing buildings that are filled with TV screens, which contain shots of certain films/shows/videos (WALL-E, Hugo, a shot of Tyra Banks from America's Next Top Model, etc.). The screens start to glow, eventually covering the whole screen. Finally, it transitions to the "TiVo Guy" in his normal appearance, running across a white background, towards the camera (but not that close). The screen zooms out to reveal that the white background is actually a chroma key wallpaper against a brick-walled studio. Lighting stands can be seen on the far left and right of the background. The text "Welcome." is hung down below the "TiVo Guy", as he smiles towards the camera, then winking.

Variant: There is a shorter version used on the TiVo Premiere line of DVRs where the retro segment has a light from the top left corner of the screen flying to the center. It flashes and takes up the whole screen. A different "TiVo Guy" (which looks as he did in 1999, but with thicker legs) runs up next to the text "is here" in black. The background is also completely white.

Technique: Traditional animation, live-action and CGI. Produced by Brand New School.

Audio: The theme changes as the environment changes. The 1930s segment has a lighthearted, cartoonish theme with a clarinet. The puppet segment has a static but upbeat jazz fanfare. The abstract segment has a jazzy fanfare with a piano. The King Kong segment has a dramatic fanfare. The retro segment has a techno theme. The street segment has an upbeat video game-like theme. The ending has a lighthearted theme with an electric guitar and bells.

Audio Variant: The end of the Premiere variant has a synthesized techno theme with a choir.

Availability: Can be seen when you boot up a Series4 or Series5 TiVo DVR, which includes the Premiere, the Mini, and possibly some early Roamio models. Starting from the Bolt series onward, no bootup animation is played, and it was later patched out of earlier models following a 2016 firmware update.