Do I need a converter for HD?

[sieglinde]

I have a new Tivo HD and there seems to be a way to tell it to save the broadcasts as 480. Does this mean I can use it to get over the air HD programs, tell it to save them as 480 and watch it on my conventional TV? This would be great.

[CrispyCritter]

I don't believe you can save the broadcast as 480i, but you can definitely play any OTA HD program that you have saved (or are watching live) and watch on your conventional TV. TiVo converts to SD on the appropriate outputs (eg S-Video or composite video), and all outputs are active at all times.

Basically the same thing as you are asking for, except TiVo is doing the conversion when it outputs the signal to the TV instead of when it records the signal to disk.

[bkdtv]

The TiVo always records digital signals directly to the disk, as is, without any conversion.

The TiVo will downconvert and output HD channels as 480i through s-video for viewing on any standard TV. Under Settings -> Display, you can set the component connection to output all SD and HD channels as 480i for viewing on any standard TV. If using the TivoHD on a standard TV, also be sure to set the correct aspect ratio (i.e. 4:3) of your TV under Settings -> Display; once you do that, the aspect button on the remote will toggle between letterbox and crop mode on HD channels.

Just be aware that recordings from high-definition channels will consume a lot of disk space. If you plan to do a lot of recording from the HD channels, you may want to upgrade the Tivo's internal drive or buy the 500Gb Western Digital My DVR Expander external drive.

[Laserfan]

I have a new Tivo HD and there seems to be a way to tell it to save the broadcasts as 480. Does this mean I can use it to get over the air HD programs, tell it to save them as 480 and watch it on my conventional TV? This would be great.Almost, but not quite: you can watch ANYTHING your Tivo records on your conventional TV, by connecting to the Composite or S-Video outputs. But if you record an HD broadcast, it records it as bkdtv says "as is" i.e. it records as HD, taking-up HD sized space.

Good news: when you get a new TV all your HD recordings will appear in glorious HD!

[sieglinde]

Cool. I have the extension hard disc so room is no problem. (actually it is but just not a horrible problem that huge disc only adds about 60 hours of HD)