Considering S2DT - exp. w/Cablevision (NY)?

[alubman]

My wife and I love our S2 single tuner TiVo, but we got a DVR provided by our cable company because we recently got an HD TV, wanted to consolidate the number of set top boxes and wanted dual-tuner capability. As you can probably imagine, nothing else lives up to TiVo. Now we're thinking of going back to TiVo, but would really want dual tuner capability. The series 3 is out of our price range, but the series 2 DT could fit the bill nicely (the fact that it won't record HD broadcasts is not that important to us).

My question has to do with the limitation that the S2DT has with recording one digital and one analog (or two analog) broadcasts. One representative that I spoke with at my cable company (Cablevision, Long Island, NY) said that the signal coming off the coax from the wall is analog, and the one from the cable box is digital. Assuming he was correct, I was thinking of simply running the coax from the wall directly into the S2DT TiVo. The next Cablevision rep I spoke with said that they are completely digital, and no longer offer an analog feed.

Does anyone have any experience with Cablevision and a S2DT TiVo? How do you hook yours up? If it is in fact only a digital signal, does that mean that only one show can be recorded at a time?

Thanks!

[colforbin13]

The best way to know for sure is to plug the coax directly into your TV, and see if you get a signal. If you do, then you're good to go with the DT.

[PeteEMT]

My girlfriend has Cablevision in NNJ and a S2DT plugged directly into the wall with no problem.

[crowfan]

I have Cablevision on LI and I have a single tuner S2 with coax plugged directly into the box. On that TiVo, I get channels 2 through about 65.

[rsnaider]

Most of the channels below 90 are still analog.

It will work fine as family members in the area (Nassau County) are using this box with no issue.

You do understand that it can only record one digital channel at a time, whereas the Series 3 although pricey has two digital tuners.

[alubman]

I think I'm understanding this a little better now. The wording on TiVo's site had me confused about the actual signal. Most likely, it just means that I can only record one show from the 100's channels (digital channels) at a time. I can however, record two lower-numbered channels simultaneously (or one from the lower, and one from the 100's). Does this sound right?

[rsnaider]

You are correct. With the S2DT you can record two shows - one Digital and one Analog, or one Digital from the lower analog channels and one Analog.

You will split your cable line before your cable box. One connection will go into the cable box and then into your TiVo - Digital, and the second will go directly into the TiVo for analog.

[alubman]

You will split your cable line before your cable box. One connection will go into the cable box and then into your TiVo - Digital, and the second will go directly into the TiVo for analog.

I thought I read somewhere that the DT TiVo had one input and was split internally...

[robaustin]

This picture of the back of the DT TIVO would seem to confirm that statement:

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000ER5G58.01.PT03._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

--*Rob

[atmuscarella]

The coax cable going directly into a Series 2 DT is for unscrambled analog cable only. If that is all you get then the TiVo DT will split it and record any 2 channels.

If you receive any digital and/or scrambled channels you need a cable box to decode them and send them to your TiVo.

Thanks,