$300 TiVo HD Officially Announced
TiVo on Tuesday confirmed the speculation: it is launching a $299 version of its high-definition digital video recorder that includes much of the same feature set found in its $799 predecessor. The new set-top box, dubbed "TiVo HD," goes on sale in August.
Instead of a 250GB drive, TiVo HD will include 160GB of space, which amounts to 20 hours of HD recording instead of 30 hours, and 180 hours of standard-definition recording as opposed to 280 hours. It also loses the original Series3's OLED display, THX certification, and glossy, backlit remote.
Instead of dropping features, TiVo appears to be largely cutting costs by taking advantage of newer technologies. The cheaper Series 3 will utilize a single chip for both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 recording instead of two, and include a smaller motherboard.
Everything else is pretty much the same between the $299 model and its pricey forbearer. Both DVRs support output up to 1080p and can record two channels at once using dual CableCARDs. Analog ATSC/NTSC/QAM inputs, as well as over-the-air HD are supported as well. The TiVo HD will have two M-Card (multi-stream CableCARD) slots, which the Series3 does not.
"TiVo HD is a perfect complement to the HDTV sets that are quickly becoming the standard for home entertainment," stated Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo. "With an affordable price and uncompromised quality, TiVo HD is an obvious choice for anyone with a passion for home entertainment and HD programming."
Like the original Series3, TiVo HD will feature an external Serial ATA port for expanding storage capacity, although it will ship deactivated. TiVo expects to activate the feature on both models sometime in the near future when it launches an add-on hard drive.
TiVo HD will also come without TiVoToGo, the portability feature that lets users transfer recorded shows to laptops and other devices. Due to concerns about copying high-definition content, the feature was never activated on the Series3, although TiVo now says TiVoToGo will be coming to both models shortly. The company promises portability for both standard and high-definition content.
TiVo is taking pre-orders for the TiVo HD, which will begin shipping in early August.