[Deanq4]

Hello,

I have a series 2 TiVo right now and I love it, I upgraded to a 380 hour TiVo and enjoy all the aspects of a TiVo. I have been looking into an HDTV and a new TiVo but I had a few questions.

Will TiVo work with out the cable cards and just basic expanded cable? I have a friend that uses this on his TV and gets allot of extra channels through a QAM? tuner.

Will TiVoHD work fine on a non-HDTV for now? I know that sounds crazy to upgrade, but I have to do things one step at a time.

What about using the old "Save to VCR" option on the TiVoHD? Is that still an option? I mean it would take less time to do that than to transfer it over a network for some HD content? It would be easy to plug in a computer and have the S-video cable through a capture device then encode it. I use my camcorder as a pass through, but would this work for an option if you "Had to" transfer something?

 

[lickwid]

Hello,

I have a series 2 TiVo right now and I love it, I upgraded to a 380 hour TiVo and enjoy all the aspects of a TiVo. I have been looking into an HDTV and a new TiVo but I had a few questions.

Will TiVo work with out the cable cards and just basic expanded cable? I have a friend that uses this on his TV and gets allot of extra channels through a QAM? tuner.

Will TiVoHD work fine on a non-HDTV for now? I know that sounds crazy to upgrade, but I have to do things one step at a time.

What about using the old "Save to VCR" option on the TiVoHD? Is that still an option? I mean it would take less time to do that than to transfer it over a network for some HD content? It would be easy to plug in a computer and have the S-video cable through a capture device then encode it. I use my camcorder as a pass through, but would this work for an option if you "Had to" transfer something?

Simply put, YES to all 3 questions.

But not sure why you would want to upgrade to an HD unit now when you aren't going to at least be taking full advantage of it's basic capabilities.

You're better off waiting until you got the right equipment and making the jump. By then, better units MAY be out, or at least prices will have dropped.

 

[Deanq4]

Simply put, YES to all 3 questions.

But not sure why you would want to upgrade to an HD unit now when you aren't going to at least be taking full advantage of it's basic capabilities.

You're better off waiting until you got the right equipment and making the jump. By then, better units MAY be out, or at least prices will have dropped.

I might do it now mostly because I have a connection at Best Buy taht might be willing to use their employee discount, but they are moving (and quitting) in a few weeks. Might just wait though too.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jfh3]

I might do it now mostly because I have a connection at Best Buy taht might be willing to use their employee discount, but they are moving (and quitting) in a few weeks. Might just wait though too.

Thanks for the help.

And note that the analog encoding on the Tivo HD is better than that on a Series 2 box, so, all other things being equal, the picture will look better on the Tivo HD than the Series 2.

No real good reason to wait now, unless you think the retail price will drop below what your friend can get the box at their employee discount for (probably about $230).

I don't see the TivoHD price dropping to that range for quite some time. I suspect that even if there is a Christmas promotion, we'll see $249 rather than $199.

 

[rainwater]

But not sure why you would want to upgrade to an HD unit now when you aren't going to at least be taking full advantage of it's basic capabilities.

If the TiVo HD is anything like the S3 it has a much better picture for analog recordings than the S2.. So even for analog cable, the HD unit will give a better picture than the S2. If you can get the box for only a small price difference from the S2, the choice is pretty simple.

 

[classicsat]

You can manually record the QAM channels. To use guide data and guide based recording features, you need cablecards.

You can use "Save to VCR" to any device that can record the TiVo output, but will be limited to SD output, as there are no HD input recorders. And it will be in realtime.