Ah, so my lifetime Tivo on my Series 2 will still record and work, just in SD?

I bought the series 3 during a period where there was a lifetime subscription switchover (with premium, natch), and apart from the limited number of shows I can store I have no regrets. I had my series 2 upgraded with an additional drive, but for some reason I'm more nervous about tweaking this one.

I should go look at weaknees and see if it's as easy this time round.

lori, good question. I currently have my Tivo set up to record my non-HD Comcast cable box. I watch HD directly through the tv, as the tv has a digital tuner and I've found that the HD signals are not encrypted (Comcast Oakland). I don't know about Series 2 Tivo working with an HD cable box.

Ah, so my lifetime Tivo on my Series 2 will still record and work, just in SD?

Yes--I have the TiVo hooked up to my (unlike javachik, *HD*) cable box and TV via the component cables, so the HD channels and SD channels both come in just in standard. Then I have the cable box and TV hooked up to each other via HDMI. The TiVo can control the cable box, but if I'm watching something on the cable box input on the TV, I'll be lalala changing channels, and watching, and then if I realize "Oh, I want to pause" I can just hit pause (since the input to the TiVo is from the cable box too) and flip over to TiVo input to keep watching until it catches up or whatever.

I can't get rid of TiVo because I'm gone too much.

I figure at some point I may upgrade to the HD TiVo, but not yet.

ISTR that omnis_audis has AT&T U-Verse.

Oh, my. I could just buy an external TB of storage for my S3. That's easier than what I went through for S2.

Or I could ship it off for an internal upgrade, but I couldn't bear to be without my baby.

I've found that my dependence on Tivo has greatly decreased with Comcast's Video on Demand. But I understand that what is offered via VoD varies greatly from one Comcast region to another.

So, if I blow off paying for TV entirely, I should be able to hook up the Tivo to the HD TV, watch broadcast HD and SD, and record all of those in SD on the Tivo. After getting some kind of internet service also.

I guess I should mention that I bought a new house, so now have VERY little budget to go around.

Congrats on the house, Lori!

If the HD channels aren't encrypted, yes. I don't know what comes through on "broadcast" anymore as a standalone. I have a cable line that is split; half goes to the tv and the other half to the Tivo. I had always been wrongly told that a digital cable line could't be split.

Thanks!

Yeah, there are several over-air HD channels that I can tune with my old antenna on the new TV. Nothing fancy, like Discovery or anything. But sacrifices must be made. I had a split like that set up on my old TV, and I think I can still do that. Will give it a shot.