Dual tuner TiVo pic spotted?

See? We were right -- nothing much exciting here (if this shot is, in fact, real), just a plain lookin' TiVo Series 2 box. Oh, sure, it's got a little more black than usual, but the 180-hour TCD649180 and 80-hour TCD649080 aren't going to win any awards for radical (re-)design. Nope, this thing is all about the integrated Ethernet, four USB ports, and the ability to record as two cable channels or one cable / one digital simultaneously -- if it does all that stuff, that is. Frankly we'd just wait it out for the Series 3 (which is due out any year now), but hey, we know how fiendish some TiVo users are.

[RA @ Mar 27th 2006 10:21AM]

I'm a huge tivo fan, but the montly cost to do dual tuners is going to be very high:

Tivo service: $20 (approx new pricing)
Cable box 1: $5
Cable box 2: $5

$30 for dual tuner on this!

My cable company offers an HD box w/ DVR functionality for $10 / month. Of course it is some crappy Scientific Atlantic device, but it has the tuners integrated.

[khamel @ Mar 27th 2006 10:25AM]

if i never planned to get a hdtv then this would be awesome. think of your parents. do they even know what the difference is? somehow my mom can't even figure out the tivo i just bought her a few weeks ago. but as it is im waiting for the series 3 to finally go out and buy an hdtv. the longer it takes, the bigger tv i can get.

[kuwan @ Mar 27th 2006 10:27AM]

Yippee

[Eric J @ Mar 27th 2006 10:37AM]

Why would you need more USB ports? Unless Tivo's getting ready to release the external drive they showed a while ago.

[Gary T @ Mar 27th 2006 10:41AM]

Yes, $20/month if you choose the 1 year monthly bundle, plus there will be better prepay and monthly options. The Service Only deal is the same if you buy the box outright.

You can opt for only one cable box and use one tuner for analog cable.

[Samuel McConnell @ Mar 27th 2006 10:51AM]

I'm with Eric - the only thing people use the USB for now is Ethernet adapters, so with integrated Ethernet, the only thing people will use the USB for is Wireless. You only need one USB port for that...

[Moe Green @ Mar 27th 2006 11:06AM]

As noted, what's with the USB ports?

It would be interesting if there was a way to have seperate channel listings for the different tuners. For example, if I were to run regular analog cable to one and hook the second to my digital box, would it know to record Sopranos on the digital tuner and say Aqua Teen Hunger Force on the analog? If not, adding a second box would be a PITA.

[Galley @ Mar 27th 2006 11:33AM]

Dual-tuner support is $6/month for every unit in your home with DirecTV/TiVo's (not incuding $5 mirroring fee for multiple units). Why on earth do people still subscribe to cable TV?

[Jesse @ Mar 27th 2006 11:58AM]

Why would someone ever get one of these when cable companies are putting these out for 10 dollars a month. For my extra 10 bucks a month i get an 80 hour dual tuner HD DVR, plust HD programming. why on earth would i ever subscribe to Tivo?

[TiVoTim @ Mar 27th 2006 12:10PM]

You can't understand until you've used a TiVo. The cable companies raise the price after a few months anyway.

[Bogey @ Mar 27th 2006 12:27PM]

It's not just $10 a month for a cable company supplied DVR... My local company (ComCast) requires me to subscribe to their full digital package ($40 more than I pay now for basic) in order to get a DVR...

[Jesse @ Mar 27th 2006 12:47PM]

I have had the thing for over a year now with my cable company. It does the same thing as a tivo. It records shows when i want to watch them, and does it in HD and has a dual tuner. How is this worse than a tivo box?

[warrenpeace� @ Mar 27th 2006 1:05PM]

The cable company box does not do the same thing as a TiVo! I just sent back my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD 'cause I grew tired of having no search functionality and it's bugs. The thing would miss shows, stutter on playback and stop responding to remote commands unless you turned it on and off a couple times.

I'd get one of these in a second. Where and when? And the Series 3 when it comes out 'cause I can't stand the poor interface and functionality of the cable boxes. I use my TiVo to stream music around my apartment and enjoy the games and pod-casting options. You can't do that on any old box.

[Jake @ Mar 27th 2006 1:23PM]

If you ever used the Tivo interface, you'd see why anything cable co's do is crap. I had a TimeWarner PVR and it sucked, badly. Listing the functionality proves that they've just gotten the base featureset. I have the HD DirecTivo (2 Sat tunners and 2 Over the air tunners) That is the best of both worlds -- and until Series 3 its the only tivo that's really worth owning. And I'm with Galley giving money to cable co's is down right stupid. If you can get DirecTV -- get it.

[Bruce R @ Mar 27th 2006 1:49PM]

RA, why would I need two cable boxes?? You are assuming there are two inputs in order to record two digital channels. I don't thats the case and don't see how this would work?

[Walter @ Mar 27th 2006 2:04PM]

The tivo interface is just better than any other PVR I've tried. Couple of examples:
I watch the Formula One races, but they are never on at the same time since they are in different countries and timezones. I had forgotten when the first race of the year was, and thought I had missed it. But since it was on my Tivo wishlist, it had recorded it and it was sitting there ready for me to watch it. Try that with any other PVR.
Another exsample, When fast forwarding through commercials (I use it rather than the builtin 30sec skip), when you press the play button to go back to regular speed, it automatically backs up a small amount of time depending on the speed you were fast forwarding. It takes into account the amount of time it takes you to reach to the scene you want and press the button. How cool is that?

As was stated before, unless you have used a tivo, you do not know what you are missing.

[R @ Mar 27th 2006 4:19PM]

Media Center is a great interface an alternative to the pay as you go PVR solutions. It combined with a home network and Xbox 360 is the most serious threat yet to my desire to not become a couch potato

[JR Martinez @ Mar 27th 2006 4:40PM]

I'm excited about this new TIVO. Dual tuner? Thats great. I've been thinkin about buying a TIVO and now I will.

[dave lewis @ Mar 27th 2006 6:34PM]

We have had a Tivo for a couple of years, but we don't get digital cable. I wanted to see the Tour de france on OLN, which ment I had to get digital. Got the time warner dvr, tried to set it to record the tour. The interface on it is a real mess. With help from a friend who has the time-warner dvr, I set it up, next day we left on vacation. when we got back, no shows recorded. I have to say the interface really, really sucks. When I go to friend's houses, I see
they don't really use them. With Tivo, we never watch live tv.

[franko @ Mar 28th 2006 12:05PM]

I would like to use the 4 USB ports for easy hard disk storage upgrade without having to screw up the warranty. Most people don't want to break the seal on the tivo to open it up to add more storage. With the USB ports, you could buy a USB external drive and add that much storage.

[JJ @ Mar 28th 2006 3:00PM]

Are they still USB 1.1?

[Juan @ Apr 28th 2006 10:20AM]

I have had a tivo for the last 6 years or so, Its about time for the two tunners. I also have a Cable DVR. I feel the Tivo interface is soo much better. But most of that I think is the fact that I have been using it soo long. I don't like the delay in the cable DVR for some fo the fast forward and rewind. Time Warner has a new prodcut out do soon to replace the current interface with Item number 18 in the list bellow.

http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6287785.html

From the what I have seen this will be very nice. Aslo with a PVR from cable company you have the beenifit of 2 way cable. Digital Cable, PPV, VOD, SVOD. However that being said the main tv in my house has the Tivo hookedup. The DVR from my cable company is upstairs. Tivo with a Gen 2 cable card now that would be nice.