I think I found a puddy cat...

[Soapm]

I think I found the unit I want to purchase. I hope you don't mind me asking my questions here but for $50 it is hard to pass up this deal.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/TiVo-...Detail.do#tabs

Under the specification tab it says this unit is not dolby compatible. Does this mean it won't do 5.1? What does that mean?

I also don't see ethernet, will it have ethernet connection?

It says it is capable of HDTV reception. What exactly does that mean? I didn't think the series 2 were HDTV compatible. Will it record HDTV? Will it play back HDTV at least 720?

Under auto commercial skip it says no. I thought series 2 had the auto commercial skip. Is it an easy mod to add this feature back?

I plan to go trough weakness for my harddrive upgrade kit, will this unit work ok? I would hate to buy the only TIVO your upgrades don't work with?

[WK-Michael]

Did you click the "rebate details" on that page? They show a $150 rebate - same as us. I think the final $50 price is just a mistake.

Right - this unit won't do 5.1. It only has L-R audio out.

It does have ethernet on-board.

It can't do any HDTV.

It doesn't have auto commercial skip. It does do the 30 second skip.

Yes, our kits work fine with it. But considering the rebate issue, doesn't it make more sense to get an already-upgraded unit from us?

[Soapm]

I took the plunge and am now a TIVO owner. CC had two rebates. One for the $150 and another for $50. That made the cost $49. I have 30 days to return it if you want to match their price and providing the subscription I just bought will transfer.

I will also have to give it good thought on how to blend it in with all the other stuff I have (DVD, VCR, XBOX, Home Theatre) etc... The way it was set up, the sound normally came from the TV but via the audio jacks on the cable box I had the option of making it play through the home theatre. I wil have to figure out how to give the TIVO the same flexibility. There are second RCA outputs I just need to figure out how they work.

I have one last question, the wife wants one now (hint hint). Will I have to pay for a second subscription? Do they give discounts for dual boxes in one home? Can I get her a box, record shows on mine but she can stream them to her box when she wants to view them. In other words, two boxes but only one has the paid service. Is this possible? Are their any hacks to make this work. You can email me if necessary...

[WK-Michael]

Sorry - we just can't match that deep of a discount.

For the second unit in your house, the subscription is typically $6.95/month. There's no way to do it for free.