Tivotogo/Direct TV Noob question

[sameguy]

I hope I am posting in the right area. I am an ardent Mac user with a new video ipod and a lot of downtime at work. I have a Direct TV DVR (Tivo) that's about 2-3 years old. I have been using the DVR to record shows, then recording them onto the hard drive of my DVD recorder, editing out commercials, etc. then recording to DVD. Now the DVD's go into my mac where they are ripped and dropped into Itunes then to the ipod. Simple right? Yea that's what I thought, total PITA. I have read about Tivotogo with the series 2 Tivo box and understand that the newer Direct TV DVR units do NOT support Tivotogo. So I am wondering if I can buy a series 2 Tivo box, (used or new) and use Tivotogo to get the shows to my mac, then onto my ipod. Do I have to get a Tivo subscription for the new box, or can I use it as a dumb DVR and still use it's Tivotogo powers? I know there are other solutions to get video to my mac and ipod but Tivotogo seems like the easiest and cheapest. Any insight you all can offer will be greatly appreciated.

pete

[cwoody222]

No DirecTV boxes at all "officially" support TiVoToGo or any other method of getting video off the DTV DVR. However, google is your friend.

Series2 boxes (DTV or not) don't do anything without a subscription.

Some Series1 boxes will work as a dumb DVR without subscription but those won't do video extraction with hardware hacking.

[ForrestB]

If you have a series 2 DirecTivo (USB ports on the back), then you can use the Zipper http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=265929
You'll need a PC with IDE ports to install the Zipper, but this is a one-time thing and afterwards it's completely accessible from your Mac.

TivoToGo doesn't work on a Zippered DirecTivo, but there are simpler, quicker programs that DO !