HD TiVos Can Now Share Content

As expected, TiVo Series3 and HD units are beginning to see support for the DVR's TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing features with the arrival of software update 9.2. The capabilities had been disabled due to concerns about sharing copy-protected HD content.

Multi-Room Viewing also TiVo boxes to share recorded content back and forth. HD content is not available for playback on standard-definition Series2 TiVos, however. TiVoToGo enables subscribers to transfer shows from the DVR to the PC using the TiVo Desktop software or Roxio on the Mac.

HD content is supported with TiVoToGo, but only content not marked with a copyright flag can be copied. In any case, transferring HD content over the TiVo's 802.11g network may not prove too practical, and TiVo says the boxes are not able to convert HD content into standard definition.

TiVo had to obtain permission from CableLabs, which licenses the CableCARD technology used by the high-definition TiVos. The delay stemmed from CableLabs not approving TiVo's digital rights management that would protect HD recordings from being pirated. CableLabs recently certified the DTCP encryption standard, which may be what TiVo has chosen to employ.

TiVo and Western Digital have additionally announced the first external SATA drive that can be used to expand the DVR's storage capabilities. WD's My DVR Expander offers 500GB of space for $200, which can be filled with 65 hours of recorded high-definition content. A number of other drives also work with the feature, but are not officially supported.