Upgrading to HDTV, please help!

[spanky8]

Hi everybody. I apologize in advance if this is a simple and or oft-discussed topic. I know very little, so please bear with me.

I just got a new tv with HD capability and have a new HD cable box from Comcast coming tomorrow. I have a non-HD tivo. I dunno what model, but I got it about 2 years ago and it has 40 hrs of storage.

I dont care if I cant record HD shows on my Tivo, but can I even use the HD cords that HD tv users recommend with the old tivo? My tivo doesnt have the newer slots for the 5-colored component cables, it just has the 3 spots for the red, white, and yellow cable. Will this affect the picture quality?

Also, would it be a good idea to upgrade to an HD Tivo? I paid for the lifetime service on my old box...It doesnt carry over does it?

Please help me out here with your input and suggestions. I'd really appreciate any responses. Thanks!

[SeanC]

I dont care if I cant record HD shows on my Tivo, but can I even use the HD cords that HD tv users recommend with the old tivo? My tivo doesnt have the newer slots for the 5-colored component cables, it just has the 3 spots for the red, white, and yellow cable. Will this affect the picture quality?

As you say, your old tivo doesn't have the correct inputs to accept the HD component cable. Yes picture quality will be affected your picture will not be HD.

Also, would it be a good idea to upgrade to an HD Tivo?

Well that depends on how much it is worth it to you to see HD.

I paid for the lifetime service on my old box...It doesnt carry over does it?

Worst case, yes it does but you have to pay 200 dollars to transfer it to the new box. Best case, you may be able to do it for free but that depends on when lifetime was applied to the box, if it was before Jan 2000, you're golden.

Please help me out here with your input and suggestions. I'd really appreciate any responses. Thanks!

Your cheapest route is certainly to take the HD box and hook it up to your current tivo with the RCA jacks (yellow, red, white). The new box may have a serial port, if it does, use the serial cable. Your Tivo will be able to record anything your HD box receives, it will be downrezzed of course but it will probably be the best looking pic you've ever seen from your tivo.

The very expensive route is to get an S3 and pay for the transfer but then you'll have true HD to use with your new TV.

[Amnesia]

You might consider hooking up the Comcast DVR and the TiVo to two different inputs on your TV. For the DVR, connect using HDMI or component. For the TiVo, connect using composite (yellow cable).

Then connect your Comcast DVR to your TiVo using the composite cables.

[gastrof]

You might consider hooking up the Comcast DVR and the TiVo to two different inputs on your TV. For the DVR, connect using HDMI or component. For the TiVo, connect using composite (yellow cable).

Then connect your Comcast DVR to your TiVo using the composite cables.


But will a digital cable box be able to feed a TiVo and an HD television at the same time?

Won't the box have to be set to downconvert the HD into SD so the TiVo can accept the video signal? And won't that downconversion affect ALL the outputs on the cable box? Not just the one leading to the TiVo?

[Amnesia]

If the Comcast DVR has a composite output (and I think it does), then the only possible thing to send over it is SD.

It might not be able to send downconverted HD over the composite cable, but it should be able to send SD shows over it. Isn't that what the OP wanted to do?

[classicsat]

Most HD cable or satellite boxes can have their SD output connected to a TiVo.