Series 2 with OTA HDTV

[pcharrig]

Since I'm not a regular here, I checked the FAQ first, no luck, so here's my question:

We have a Humax series 2 Tivo. We only receive an OTA signal, but we live in a major city and have a rooftop VHF/UHF antenna, so the picture is very sharp. We want to buy a HDTV. I know that the Tivo series 2 cannot record HD signals, but could we view them at all on the Tivo? Where we live, all of the networks have both a digital channel and an analog channel (e.g., 2.1 and 2). Could we get the Tivo to record the analog channel and watch live sports in HD?

Thanks.

[gastrof]

Your TiVo has only an analog television tuner.

It can't decode the digital broadcasts and turn the signals back into picture and sound.

It can't do this any more than an oldstyle analog TV would be able to.

If you want to watch HighDef/digital television, you need a device with a digital tuner.

Your TiVo has an analog tuner that will work with OverTheAir television.

If you want to continue recording analog channels, naturally you're free to do so.

If you want to watch HD television, again, you're going to need a digital tuner.

TiVos haven't been made with the ability to control the channel changes on digital tuner boxes.

The one exception is certain Voom satellite boxes with digital OverTheAir tuners. Some TiVo owners have been able to get their TiVos and Voom boxes to play nice, but even then the TiVo records a downconverted version of the digital signal.

Any digital channel (Over The Air or cable) that's recorded by a Series 1 or 2 TiVo has to be downconverted first, so it's no longer HD, and the TiVo won't play it back in true HD quality.