Well, what do you know? TiVo's delivering as promised with this one, as Desktop Plus 2.6 is indeed going live in March -- just like we were told back in January (and nary a week after TiVo promised YouTube access later this year). Truth be told, there's not a whole lot here that you didn't already get a taste of in our hands-on at CES, but here's the skinny. As of today, TiVo users can grab hold of the latest version of Desktop (Windows only, we're afraid) and "enjoy a broad range of web entertainment available directly from their TV." More specifically, these customers "can choose web videos downloaded on the home PC using web browsers, RSS video clients such as iTunes podcasts, or other video download software to automatically copy to their TiVo DVR's Now Playing List alongside recorded broadcast and cable TV shows." In case you couldn't tell, Desktop Plus 2.6 can be downloaded today for a one-time fee of $24.95, but consider that waived if you're upgrading from an earlier version. Click on through for the full release.

There's no question that the we love TiVo around here, but that doesn't mean we're afraid to point out its faults. Currently one of our biggest gripes is that TiVo doesn't always get HD and this isn't anymore true than with the TiVoCast feature. Thankfully that is about to change as TiVo Desktop 2.6 (Windows only, due in March '08) finally fills the missing pieces to make getting HD on your HD TiVo, drop dead simple. This update will work with any podcatcher software you have, -- you know like iTunes Miro -- all you have to do is point TiVo Desktop to the directory where your HD content is downloaded and it will parse all the sub folders and create corresponding folders on your Now Playing List. And just about every video codec and resolution under the sun can be transcoded before it is automatically transferred to your TiVo -- no word on what happens to AC3 audio, but we'd guess it gets converted to 2-channel. If this is all too complicated for you -- which we doubt -- you can also browse select podcasts just like you can Amazon UnBox content.