Tivo To Go
In a fit of distraction I started poking around on the net looking for some way to download Tivo shows to my PowerBook so I could watch them on the road (I spend a lot of time on the road these days). Looks like things have changed quite a bit since I last looked.
There is now a networked version of Tivo MPlayer that can stream shows directly off of a Tivo over the network. It also looks like Tivo, Inc. has announced intentions to build a TivoToGo feature that will allow you to download shows and then play them (as long as you have a special USB dongle plugged in to prevent illegal sharing). And yay, both of these solutions are supposed to work with OSX (despite what Steve Jobs may think thinks about computers and TV). A third option might be to get a A-D converter or USB/Firewire tuner box and just record shows straight on to my laptop from the Tivo.
Options A and B are both going to give me a headache since I own a DirecTivo (still no Home Media Option for the DirecTivo box). Option B won’t be available for sale until Fall apparently (if that sticks). Option A could potentially work today, but requires hacking the Tivo which will both be a pain and take time (which I probably won’t have until fall anyways. Option C could work straight away but is quite a kludge.
Ideally, I would love to just be able to drag and drop shows off the Tivo and then take them with me when I’m gone. It would also be nice to use my extra screen real-estate as a remote TV streaming shows off the living room box when I’m working back in the office.
Oh well, guess there’s no perfect world yet.
