Now that cable operators are required to separate access and security from the tuner(s) in new set-top boxes, you have the opportunity to buy a digital video recorder that's potentially more stylish and capable than the one you might be leasing. The new TiVo HD DVR is timed to appeal to TV addicts who are either dissatisfied with their leased box or have heard about TiVo and are curious to see what all the fuss is about.

TiVo HD is also timed to the new Multistream CableCARD (M-Card), the next-generation access card that supports multiple tuners from a single card. You rent it from your cable company at a fraction of the cost of a leased DVR. But like its more expensive predecessor, the award-winning TiVo Series 3 Digital Media Recorder I reviewed last year, TiVo HD has two CableCARD slots in case the M-Card isn't available. Either way, you'll be able to record two programs at once, including premium channels, and they can both be in high definition.

TiVo HD is similar to the Series 3, the big difference being the price — $300 instead of $800 list. Though TiVo HD retains the Series 3's essential features, it doesn't display program titles or time on the front panel. Also, storage capacity has been reduced from 250 to 160 gigabytes, THX certification is gone, and the original non-backlit TiVo remote is included instead of the premium Series 3 version.

SETUP
Included in the box are composite-video/stereo-audio and component-video cables and, in case you don't have broadband access, a phone cord. (TiVo still builds in a dial-up modem for antediluvian viewers who download guide information and software updates the old-fashioned way.) I supplied my own HDMI cable. There's also an optical digital audio output for connecting to a surround sound system. The TiVo Wireless G Network Adapter ($60) plugs into one of two USB ports. I attached my own Ethernet cable to the RJ45 jack instead.

It takes a few minutes for TiVo to boot up, but the onscreen prompts guide you through the setup, including video resolution. I chose the fixed 720p video output option to match my two-year-old plasma TV, though the TiVo HD does 1080i as well for 1080i/p displays. TiVo's onscreen list of TV manufacturers gave me the code I needed to punch in on the remote so I could control the TV's power, volume, and designated input. In setting up the program guide, I was able to combine over-the-air analog and DTV channels and cable channels, but actually receiving all my cable channels required a visit from a cable installer packing CableCARDs.

TiVo HD's CARD slots are located under a lid on the front. Time Warner Cable of New York City wouldn't have M-Cards available until the end of my review cycle, so the installer slid a regular CableCARD into the first slot. He called in a series of numbers that appeared on the TV screen to activate service. Channels tuned in as they should. But things didn't go as smoothly with the second slot. In trying three different cards, the picture on the majority of channels was either black or consisted entirely of colored mosaics. After several hours of trying, the cable guy and I concluded it was probably a TiVo problem. I had him leave cards in both slots. During the next month the TiVo downloaded several revisions of its operating system with varying degrees of success — unfortunately, a not uncommon experience for reviewers playing with sophisticated, just-released products. It took a while, but eventually we got it all working. Buyers should be able to avoid similar trouble by making sure to download the latest TiVo firmware version immediately after initial installation.

PERFORMANCE
TiVo offers some features that I've yet to see in a cable-leased box. One is remote scheduling by computer. For example, one day at work I realized I had forgotten to record the AMC series Mad Men, and I knew I wouldn't be home in time to do it. By logging onto MyTiVo, I was able to view my program guide and set the recording. TiVo even sent me a confirming email.

What I find most intriguing is that unlike the proprietary boxes leased by your cable company, TiVo HD isn't just for cable. It enables you to tune and record over-the-air analog or digital stations, download content from the Internet, and serve as a media receiver to stream photos and music from a networked computer. Considering that both cable operators and broadcasters may overly compress programs in order to squeeze in more channels, it's enlightening that TiVo's ability to buffer or record a cable and over-the-air source simultaneously lets you see for yourself who delivers the better-looking pictures. Incidentally, just because a DTV station is multicasting channels doesn't guarantee your cable system carries them all. In that case, TiVo's inclusiveness makes you less dependent on cable.

Another convenience feature I haven't seen on cable-leased DVRs with dual tuners: When you call up the info screen while watching either tuner, you can see what program is being buffered or recorded on the other. That's a nice touch, especially if you've accepted the default setting of letting TiVo record its suggestions and you're wondering why one of the red front-panel LEDs indicating recording-in-progress is lit up. (If you're not familiar with this classic TiVo feature, you can set any TiVo box to temporarily fill up the hard drive with programs based on types of shows you've instructed it to record or by rating shows using the thumbs up/thumbs down buttons (up to three presses each to express intensity of feeling). I've never been a fan of what I liken to a demon recorder, and I usually shut it off, but occasionally I unleash the feature and TiVo grabs something that I'm glad I didn't miss. In a multi-person household, he or she who applies the thumbs will most likely be pleasantly surprised by the genre of programs recorded automatically. (My wife never presses them and as result spends more time playing Wordsmith, a Scrabble-like game that comes with TiVo, than watching the sci-fi fare that TiVo has assembled on its own.)

Another great feature of special interest to extended families is home-movie sharing. Rather than burning a DVD of your son's home run and mailing it to your parents, for example, you can share home movies with them via the equivalent of a private TiVo channel. You upload your videos from a computer to TiVo partner One True Media (www.onetruemedia.com). Anyone with a broadband-connected TiVo whom you'd like to make part of the audience will find your videos ready to watch on his or her Now Playing list. One True Media memberships start at $3.99 a month.

The Short Form

Price: $300 plus subscription / tivo.com / 877-289-848

Snapshot

With capabilities that go beyond those of a cable-leased box, the attractively-priced TiVo HD offers a strong case for getting your own DVR, but it's not without its foibles.

Plus

•$500 cheaper than TiVo Series 3 •Aggregates cable TV, over-the-air, and Internet programs in one box •Easy to use program guide •Schedules recordings over the Internet

Minus

•TV picture obscured by guide •Can't surf guide while watching recorded show or see list of recordings while watching TV •Mushy directional diamond and rocker buttons on remote •Incompatible with satellite and cable video-on-demand services

Key Features

•Record two HD cable or over-the-air channels at once while watching a previously recorded show •Store up to 20 hours in HD or 180 hours in standard definition •Download to rent or buy Amazon Unbox movies •Stream photos or music from networked computer •Inputs: Cable, antenna •Outputs: HDMI; component-, S-, and composite-video; stereo analog and optical digital audio; Ethernet; phone line; 2 USB connectors (for optional Wi-Fi adapter); e-SATA (for hard-drive expansion) •16.5 x 12.6 x 3.4 in; 12 lb

Even though you can get your cable company's video-on-demand services only through its set-top box (CableCARDs, including the M-Card, are incompatible with VOD), TiVo's partnership with Amazon Unbox puts many of the same movies at the tip of your remote. Once you register your TiVo box with Amazon, you can order TiVo-compatible movies from your TV or your computer that are downloaded directly to your TiVo's hard drive, and thousands of titles are available. Prices are competitive with cable, but in the case of certain titles (mainly old ones), Amazon lets you download the movie to keep permanently. So, for example, 300 was available only for rental at 99 cents (most new rentals are $3.99), and you have 24 hours to complete viewing it once you press play. Even if you don't watch it, your Amazon Unbox video is automatically deleted within 30 days of when you download it. But a library title, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth, can be bought for $9.99. Each Amazon Unbox Video purchase allows you to download multiple versions at different quality levels. They include a 2.8-megabit-per-second version (highest quality) for playback on a TiVo Series 2, Series 3, or TiVo HD, a 2.5-Mbps version suitable for playback on a PC, and a 600-kilobit -per-second version meant for playback on a Windows Media-compatible handheld device. Unfortunately, titles are not available in high definition.

Access to Amazon Unbox movies is via a menu called TiVoCast Downloads, which includes content from other TiVo's partners that would otherwise be available on the Internet from a computer. These include video shorts from The New York Times, The Onion, and CNET that are free to TiVo subscribers. Since these are mainly series, you can set up a Season Pass as you do with TV shows. That way, they'll be downloaded ahead of time automatically as they become available, and they're listed on the Now Playing screen along with recorded TV programs. Also, TiVo has a new feature called Swivel Search that works across both TV programs and TivoCasts. So, for example, creating a Wish List for comedy not only brings up The Office but also The Onion videos.

TiVo offers a separate audio podcast menu with such partners as NPR, Scientific American, and ABC's Lost. Or you can enter the RSS feed for a particular URL. These programs only stream, though, and you can't even pause a podcast once it begins. So, while I loved the idea of sharing with my wife a particularly poignant and funny segment of This American Life, an NPR show, there was no way to fast-forward to the last two sections that I cared most about. Having been spoiled by TiVo control over TV, I found sitting through a 59-minute podcast just to hear the last 12 minutes incredibly frustrating.

TiVo HD has a hidden talent, and that's being a media receiver for streaming photographs and music from a networked computer. That makes it a little like Apple TV, though it doesn't play video from your computer, and it can't play music and photos at the same time. Still, I love the fact that TiVo HD combines the functions of a high-def cable and over-the-air DVR, an Internet content aggregator, and a home network media receiver in one box. It saves space on my A/V rack and uses up just one set of inputs on my TV, not to mention just one outlet in my power strip.

At the same time, aspects of the TiVo experience can be a little disappointing. Some eight years after TiVo helped put DVRs on the map, I was struck by how little its interface has changed. While competitors have introduced picture-in-guide (PIG), shortcuts to get a list of recorded shows or to jump 24-hours ahead in the guide, or the ability to peruse the guide while watching a recorded show or see your list of recordings while watching live TV, TiVo still can't do any of those things. It's grid-style onscreen guide (one of two guide options offered) is completely opaque; having gotten used to my big-screen TV accommodating both my cable company's guide and a decent-size picture of what I'm watching, I find TiVo's cover-up intrusive and its inability to multitask lame. Also, if it's Thursday and you bring up the guide intending to check out Sunday night's offerings, you have to screen down through every listing from now until Sunday — no 24-hour jump ahead/back command.

I especially missed the meatier remote that came with my cable company's leased box. I prefer its discrete buttons for navigation (as opposed to the cramped, mushy-feeling four-way rocker on the TiVo remote that I often mis-hit), and I find the TiVo's volume and channel rockers clumsy as well. On the plus side, a 30-second quick-skip command can be programmed into the remote from instructions readily available on the Internet. Though never officially sanctioned by TiVo, previous models allowed the same option. However, you may find that insistently pressing the 30-second button to get through a commercial block more of a pain than simply hitting the fast forward button a few times to scan through at top speed. (And TiVo auto-backtracks about seven seconds when returning to play.) Programming the remote for 30-second skip also misappropriates the very useful advance button normally used to toggle between the beginning and end of a recorded show or the live TV buffer.

In some ways, TiVo HD and Series 3 models are actually less capable than the older, standard-definition TiVo Series 2. Missing from both newer models is the Series 2's TivoToGo function, which enables you to transfer a recorded program over a home network to your notebook computer to take with you or to a desktop or notebook PC to facilitate copying to a handheld player or a recordable DVD. Also missing is the ability to copy programs from a TiVo in one room to a TiVo in another via an Ethernet or Wi-Fi link. TiVo has announced that it expects to implement TivoToGo features on Series 3 and TiVo HD models in November with a new software release, however.

BOTTOM LINE
My wish list for the next version of TiVo HD includes a PIG, a clock on the front panel so I know something as basic as when to turn on the TV or change channels, an improved remote with big discrete buttons, more navigational shortcuts like jumping the guide ahead in 24-hour increments, and being able to use the guide while continuing to play a recorded show and watch it in the PIG. I had all those things with my cable-leased DVR, plus VOD, and I miss them. If TiVo is to attract cable's best customers, it must offer all the convenience features that come with their cable-leased boxes and more.

Still, TiVo goes further than any cable box in aggregating content from cable, over-the-air analog or digital TV, the Internet, and your networked computer.

And by offering most of the features of the higher-priced TiVo Series 3 for only $300, TiVo HD finally starts to be competitive with the cost of operating your leased cable box. My cable company currently charges me $16.69 a month for my leased dual-tuner DVR: $8.95 for DVR service (including the cable company's interactive guide), $7.49 for the box, and 25-cents for the remote. Over 36 months, that works out to $603. The monthly cost for TiVo over the same period (assuming you pay your TiVo subscription three years in advance) works out to $362 ($8.31 for the TiVo service and $1.75 for an M-CARD). Alas, you'd still have to add $300 for the initial TiVo HD hardware purchase, but that's a one-time, non-recurring expense.

So the bottom line is that while TiVo HD represents an up to $500 savings over the TiVo Series 3, you're still going to pay a premium to own it compared to a box you lease from your cable company in which there are no upfront costs. After that, and assuming you pay your TiVo subscription three years in advance, you will save a little money each month versus renting a cable DVR. After three or four years your TiVo HD unit might actually start to pay for itself. Of course, you can drive yourself crazy thinking in those terms. For users who hold TiVo in high regard and their local cable monopolies in low esteem, paying the difference is worth every penny.

TiVo Series 3 Digital Media Recorder
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