Two TV's with one HD XL?

Just beware that many HD channels are copy protected so transfers don't work. It varies wildly by cable company so unfortunately the only way to know for sure is to record and see if it's blocked

Lifetime is with the box, not the hard drive and that's what fails 99% of the time in a Tivo. Between InstantCake and other ways to recover from a dead hard drive, I wouldn't worry about it. I just picked up a floor model HD from Sears for $50 - so far it's working fine (the case was filthy and looks like it had liquid spilled on the outside of it). If the hard drive goes, I'll replace it. Actually, I will probably replace it ahead of time to put a bigger drive in anyway. I'll keep the original drive for a backup.

As for the lifetime, people have had a generally positive experience when dealing with Tivo for dead Tivo's. Being polite and flexible is the key.

I dunno, but when my new LCD TV for the bedroom arrives later this week I'm going to try something similar - HDMI to one TV and component out to another. I don't think it's gong to work, I'm pretty sure it only outputs to one set of outputs at a time.

Also, the only thing the XL has is a larger hard drive. You can add an external hard drive with the drive expander or upgrade the hard drive yourself. It's fairly easy and I personally wouldn't pay the premium for the XL, but can understand the convenience factor if you aren't comfortable doing the upgrade yourself.

 

See this current thread where a user is doing exactly what you are talking about. There are complications due to the handshaking aspect of the HDMI, as you will see.

Maybe if you never switched the input of the HDMI-connected TV (?)

 

Advertisements

No. All the outputs are active.

However using HDMI simultaneously with another output can cause an issue related to the HDCP handshaking. With many TV's, the handshaking is turned off when the TV is set to standby, and with some TV's even when you switch to a different input. When this happens, the TiVo stops all video output. Normally this would not cause a problem, but when the TiVo is outputting to two TV's it becomes an issue.

 

He'll have less issues because he says he's not using cable, just OTA. In the past I've run HDMI to one television and component to another. Or HDMI to one TV and component to a Slingbox. All outputs are active simultaneously.

 

As info, I have a tivo hd connected to two tv's, one via hdmi and the other via component, and have had no issues.

Jim

 

You could get the AVCast media kit which can transmit one Tivo's shows from one location to TVs in different rooms. There's also a Radio Shack wireless solution that does the same.

 

Just be aware that it will output the same format over HDMI and component. You can't make it output differently to each output.

 

We use only the component output to a whole house video distribuion amplifier that sends component to 6 users. HT room, kitchen, bedroom, exercise room and slingbox all get the same HD signal. I will not put up with the DRM issues of HDMI.

Oh, and for OTA HD programs, you will have no diffeculty with copy protection when you go to transfer to your PC. There are no restrictions on OTA broadcasts, that is only a cable company construct to prevent the use of the programming you paid for.

 

Years ago, I did one of those wireless distro systems. It sucked, wasn't usable. Is AVcast HD capable?

 

The wireless system worked fine for us-- Series 2, basic quality recordings-- although phone calls on the cordless phone would interfere with it.

The AVcast system is fantastic! We have a Tivo in the basement and it "broadcasts" to the TV in our 2nd floor bedroom without any glitches! Now, again, we're not HD, so I don't know what happens, but I'd imagine it would work fine. The AVcast people are incredibly responsive, so anyone thinking about this could shoot them an e-mail and ask them.