The world's first THX-certified, dual CableCARD DVR has finally arrived in the form of TiVo's Series3. It doesn't come cheap with a price tag of $799 (don't forget service!), but it's a fine cable company DVR replacement if your budget allows it. What are you waiting for, click on for the full rundown and lots more pics!

Engadget columnist and correspondent Dave Zatz caught up with TiVo's VP of Product Marketing, Jim Denney, to ask him few questions about TiVo's new lawsuit bait, their Desktop 2.3 software announced yesterday. Check it out!

As we reported yesterday, TiVo Desktop 2.3 has been released for Windows with a few new tricks up it's sleeve. Enhancements include scheduled series downloads and MPEG-4 to MPEG-2 video transcoding for a variety of  portable devices. While we've been using unsupported methods for massaging video onto the iPod and PSP, official support is now provided at a cost of $24.95. TiVo's going with the soft sell and won't be issuing a press release, so we hit up Vice President of Product Marketing Jim Denney for the details.

Pricing
We'd prefer TiVo didn't charge for the new conversion features, but recognize MPEG codecs don't come cheap. For example even Apple will sell you (partially-working) MPEG-2 playback in QuickTime for $19.99 and Microsoft offers zippy MPEG-2 decoding, free or otherwise. When asked about TiVo Desktop's $24.95 price point, Mr. Denney responded that they have attempted to find a sweet spot -- balancing TiVo's "real costs" including software development, "royalties for technology," and support with providing "value to the end user."

Piracy
Mr. Denney clued us in to the "proactive steps" TiVo has taken to prevent piracy. In addition to the already existing (and easily bypassed) PC .tivo file encryption, Denney confirmed the unencrypted converted video includes a watermark "embedded in the file" (you can't see it) that references a subscriber's account. Additionally, TiVo feels by limiting transcoded files to a low resolution of 320 x 240, they further protect the rights of content owners while providing appropriately sized video for portable devices.

TiVo's rumored HD model seems almost as good as vaporware these days, so it's a good thing your existing Series 2 still has a few tricks left up it's sleeve. For example, your PC can broadcast audio from the Sirius web site and then stream it to your TiVo. The beauty of this hack is that you can actually transmit any audio playing on or through your PC, such as those DRM-encumbered tunes provided by Yahoo!, Napster, or other PlaysForSure services.

You'll need a few pieces of software to pull this off. Winamp will monitor your sound card and pass the audio to SHOUTcast server software. The SHOUTcast server then rebroadcasts the audio from your PC to TiVo. In theory, TiVo's Desktop software can stream MP3 broadcasts to your TiVo. In reality, TiVo's recorder isn't very fault tolerant and your TiVo server software may crash while attempting to pass networked streams. Therefore, you'll use Galleon's proxy to serve audio to the TiVo. Click to read the rest of this week's How-To!

Ken Grey turned us on to Quick Macros as an economical X-keys Pro alternative. QM is a supercharged, yet lightweight automation environment which supports multiple input devices. It provides the ability to create custom toolbars, automate repetitive or complex tasks, and cheat at online poker. There's a bit of a learning curve, but numerous canned functions and the ability to record actions help ease you in. QM goes beyond that, though, by offering a COM interface and common scripting support. With that in mind, I created an iTunes remote control using an extra wireless mouse and just a few snippets of code from Apple's SDK.

Apple may have sold a million videos, but if you're running Windows Media Center Edition you're sitting on a gold mine of free content. The good news for MCE users? It's ridiculously simple to move your content onto a video-capable iPod.

Videora iPod Converter is my current tool of choice for massaging video into an iPod-friendly format. Like many conversion applications you'll encounter, free or otherwise, Videora simplifies the process by providing a front-end for the command line ffmpeg. Videora iPod Converter and her older brother PSP Video 9 are good choices because they've canned common settings, offer batch conversions, and cost exactly zero dollars.