[mokume]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice and direction as far as equipment and plans. I am a techie but not with A/V. I personally do not watch TV but my wife has "her shows" and with the new season being upon us... I'm doing this for her.

I was looking at the current special, which ends today, on the Tivo site, that includes an 80-hour Series2 DT and a free factory renewed wireless adapter (which I will need to get on my network). There are times when 2 of her shows come on at the same time so this box with the dual tuner seems to fit the bill in that regard.

I was also looking at the 3 year plan, for pricing reasons. We have Comcast basic analog cable in Philadelphia with no plans to change that. I did just read about the anticipated conversion to all digital in 08. I'm not sure what ramifications that might have on equipment (cable box and Tivo box) or the wiseness of paying 3 years upfront.

I will continue to do research but with the pending special ending today I figured I'd ask for help here to expedite my figuring this all out and if that special is indeed good for my needs.

Thanks!

PS Will I still need a cable box?

 

[MickeS]

The 3 years prepayment can be transfered to a different TiVo box if you need to do that later on.

The digital conversion is only mandated for Over The Air broadcasts, so it's hard to say how analog cable will be impacted. Likely, many cable systems will keep moving analog channels onto the digital tier, regardless of the OTA conversion. Worst case scenario, with a Series 2 DT, you will have to use it as a single-tuner recorder with a cable box. Best case scenario, they will keep many channels analog for a while longer.

You will not need a cable box for analog basic.

If you have the money upfront, you might want to consider getting a TiVoHD. It will give you dual tuner, and is digital cable ready, should you decide to go that route. However, it can NOT control an external cable box (it uses CableCARD to receive digital channels instead).

So to sum it up: if you don't want to pay for the TiVoHD, a Series 2 DT will let you record analog channels on two tuners, with no cable box. You can transfer the subscription to another box later on, if you're still under contract.