New 180hr, dual-tuner TiVo set to drop soon
It's always great to see new TiVo hardware released and especially when it is dual-tuner with a ton of storage space. Though it's not HD, and you'll likely just be able to do analog cable on one line while using your digital cable box for the other, it is good to see a dual tuner standalone TiVo finally released. Now cable users can enjoy the benefits the DirecTiVo has offered for years.
I wonder if the device features tuner priority so I can force network TV to always be recorded on the digital tuner?
Does the TiVo software not allow you to exclude channels? My first gen ReplayTV does that and theoretically I could just exclude the standard def local channel and include the HD equivilent. (Of course, my ReplayTV can't handle HD so this is merely a theoretical discussion).
Posted by: Mark Mascolino | March 28, 2006 at 07:48 PM
Yes, TiVo software does allow to exclude channels on their single tuner SAs, but I'm not sure if it would manage separate exclusions based on each tuner...
Regardless, this particular new box from TiVo won't handle HD signals anyway, so it really wouldn't matter, unless you think the SD quality would be better in some way.
Posted by: d_anders | March 29, 2006 at 02:30 PM
We have a few channels on our cable system that are available in an analog and pure digital formats, but not HD. So yes they look better even though they're SD.
Posted by: Grover | March 30, 2006 at 06:24 AM
Is this the Tivo that they tried to float the $800 price tag on a few weeks ago?
Posted by: Ian | March 30, 2006 at 10:18 PM
What TiVo did they try to "float the $800 price tag on"? I'm assuming you mean the Series 3 -- if so, then no, this isn't the Series 3, based on the rumored specs in that TiVoCommunity thread. This is another Series 2 SD box.
Posted by: Dennis | March 31, 2006 at 08:06 AM
Personally since I regularly have trouble with the Tivo tuning my MOT DCT 5100 incorrectly and recording the wrong thing, I would want it to use the analog tuner whenever possible...
Even a simple one-time preference to analog or digital checkbox would give us both what we want I would think.
Posted by: Glenn | March 31, 2006 at 01:00 PM
Is TiVo owned by Microsoft? They both are very, very adept at releasing vaporware.
Posted by: patrick | April 12, 2006 at 11:59 AM
Patrick, just where is this TiVo vaporware? The S2DT was just announced with a May 1st ship date - that's next Monday.
The Series3 was shown at CES with an announced 'late 2006' ship date. Is it late 2006 yet? No? Then it isn't vaporware.
In fact, Cable Labs just last week put out a press release about the Series3 passing CableCARD verification tests. So it is definitely moving through development.
Posted by: MegaZone | April 25, 2006 at 03:23 PM
I have a lump sum prepaid tivo account. Will I be able to transfer my account to this new dual tuner recorder?
Posted by: William Chagares | April 27, 2006 at 12:55 PM