Late last week I received the following questions from a TiVoBlog reader. Instead of just replying to the email directly, I thought it would be a good idea for me to post my reply here since others may have the same questions.

Hello Alex. Just discovered your site. Nice work. Alex I have a chance to get a Tivo Series 2 80 hour dual tuner DVR as a gift. I receive Comcast digital cable in Howard County Maryland. My questions to you are,

1).Can I record all if any of my digital channels?.

2).What do I need to do or buy to be able to burn movies or programs from my Tivo to a DVD, or transfer to my PC, or directly to an external DVD burner via USB or Firewire connection. My ultimate goal is to be able to turn my Tivo’ed programs into DVD’s. Thanks for any and all help.

Steve M.

Before I get into the response, you might want to check to see if you can get the TiVo software on your Comcast DVR. I know that you don’t live it the Northeast but, it’s worth a try…

1.) A dual tuner TiVo will allow you to record digital cable however, you are still going to need a set-top box in order for it to work. TiVo’s website has a great tutorial and video on how to setup a dual-tuner TiVo with a set-top box. If you don’t want to keep the set-top box, you might want to look into a TiVo HD or a Series 3 since both of these DVRs take advantage of the CableCARD technology. A CableCARD will eliminate the need for a set-top box.

2.) Burning TiVo recordings to a DVD is really simple. The easiest way is to do it is to go the “official” route and use Roxio Creator 9 on the PC or Roxio Toast on the Mac. Transferring shows to your PC is pretty straight forward. All you need to have is TiVoDesktop (free) from TiVo.com. On the Mac, you can either use Roxio Toast, Roxio Popcorn or TiVoDecode Manager.

I hope that answers your questions. Let me know if you need help with anything else…

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As a side note, I would like to thank both Richard, Jeffrey & Jonathan for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Charles. It really is appreciated!

Comcast has published a new webpage where you can get more information about the Comcast TiVo DVR. The webpage doesn’t provide a lot of information right now but, I suspect that more will be added to the page sometime in the near future.

Spotted on ZatzNotFunny.com.

According to this rep, the TiVo Comcast DVR costs an additional $2.95/month.  Can anybody verify this?

My blogging buddy Dave Zatz, was lucky enough to snag some screenshots of the Comcast TiVo DVR in the wild. Just like TV Squad, I’m honestly a little surprised that the interface hasn’t changed much from what we saw at CES ‘07 (video).

In any case, I’m happy to see that the Comcast TiVo partnership has in fact launched. I’ve said all along that TiVo should partner with a cable company and the partnership with Comcast is a great move for TiVo especially since Comcast is the largest cable television provider. I wonder how many Comcast customers will switch over to the TiVo DVR? I know from personal experience how horrible a cable company DVR can be. At one point in time I had a SA 8300 from Time Warner and other than it being “free”, there was nothing good about the DVR.

Digg it here.

Here’s some great news for anybody who has been waiting for a Comcast TiVo DVR. According to a recent AP news story, Comcast has started to rollout DVRs with the TiVo service to customers in the New England area. At this time there really isn’t a lot more information available. If you have a Comcast TiVo I’d love to hear about it.

In my opinion this is great news for TiVo. Ever since 2004 I’ve been saying that TiVo should establish a partnership with a cable company. Now if only we could get a Time Warner TiVo DVR :).

SAN JOSE, Calif. - After more than two years of promises and delays, Comcast Corp. has finally begun rolling out its first set-top boxes that run TiVo’s digital video recording technology.

As expected, New England is the first market to get the long-awaited Comcast-TiVo offering. The rollout started in the last few days with test customers only, TiVo spokesman Whit Clay said in a statement Thursday.

The boxes will be commercially available “in coming weeks,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. Pricing has not yet been disclosed.

The Comcast-TiVo deal was first announced in 2005 and is considered a key part of TiVo’s future as it works to attract more customers and become profitable. TiVo pioneered the DVR and is the best known brand name but has struggled amid cheaper offerings by rivals, including Comcast.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV provider, has said it will continue to offer its basic DVR service; the TiVo-based offering will be a premium service.

Shares of TiVo gained 3 cents to close at $7 Thursday.

As if we didn’t know that the Comcast TiVo partnership is behind schedule…

NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. digital video recorder company TiVo Inc (TIVO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday the roll-out of its services is a “little behind” schedule.

TiVo is making its technology and services available to Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) cable customers. The service, built into Scientific Atlanta cable set top boxes, is currently being tested by Comcast employees and was expected to be available to some customers by September.

“We’re waiting for word any time now that the first non-Comcast employee will begin to get the service,” TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers said at the Natixis Bleichroder conference.

TiVo Inc. really seems to be making some strides on the international front. Yesterday we received some news about TiVo in Australia and today TiVo sent out the following press release about TiVo in Mexico City. Now if only we could get TiVo on Comcast, Cox & Time Warner :).

ALVISO, Calif., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO - News), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), and CABLEVISION, S.A. de C.V. (CABLEVISION), Mexico’s largest digital cable operator, announced that beginning today TiVo® DVRs and the TiVo® Service are available for the first time to CABLEVISION’s digital cable subscribers throughout Mexico City.

CABLEVISION subscribers can now access the first Spanish language version of the Emmy® award-winning TiVo user interface, which includes internationally recognized TiVo features like SeasonPass(TM) recordings, WishList® searches and TrickPlay functionality, which enables users to pause, rewind, instant replay and slo-motion live TV.

Chief Executive Officer of CABLEVISION Jean-Paul Broc said, “The combination of TiVo’s state-of-art technology and breadth of services with CABLEVISION’s superior digital cable programming creates an unmatched television viewing experience for our subscribers in Mexico City. We are extremely enthusiastic that the opportunity to bring the TiVo service to Mexico City has come to fruition and are confident that the TiVo brand will not only increase customer loyalty but serve as a driver of new cable subscribers.”

“TiVo continues to make sustained progress across international markets and CABLEVISION in Mexico is another example,” said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo. “Growing our business with the right partners is critical and our strategic distribution relationship with CABLEVISION, and its parent Televisa, is proof of that. TiVo will enable CABLEVISION to further differentiate its pay television service and maximize its programming packages. The combination of TiVo and CABLEVISION will offer the best entertainment experience for subscribers in Mexico.”

CABLEVISION is introducing the TiVo service to Mexico City consumers through a broad-based media campaign including cross-channel and broadcast television, print, online, radio and outdoor advertising. In addition, CABLEVISION plans to leverage its extensive programming assets and celebrity spokespeople to promote TiVo capabilities on air.

TiVo service is being offered to CABLEVISION subscribers as a package with a monthly charge covering both service and box rental.

Here’s a summary of TiVo’s latest financial numbers. More detailed information can be found here (TiVo press release).

Technology Update

• During the quarter ending July 31st, TiVo released the TiVo HD.
• Comcast services is progressing. Comcast has agreed to fund development work to bring TiVo to additional set top boxes including Scientific Atlantic boxes.
• Comcast has said that they, “we will commence the TiVo rollout process shortly, which will continue rolling out throughout the fall in Comcast’s New England Division including metro Boston, Southeast Massachusetts and New Hampshire”.
• During the quarter DIRECTV announced a deal with TiVo to develop a software upgrade to enhance the user experience for DIRECTV customers who have DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo service.

Financial Numbers

• Second quarter net loss of $17.7 million, which included a combined inventory write-down and inventory purchase commitment charge of $11.2 million, as compared to TiVo’s net loss guidance of $5 to $8 million that didn’t contemplate the inventory related write-down.
• Net loss per share was $0.18.
• Service and technology revenues increased 7% to $56.5 million ($52.8 million for the same period last year).
• Service revenues were $53.4 million (compared to the year ago quarter when service revenues were $49.4 million).
• Technology revenues were $3.1 million, which was lower than expected due to timing of development work related primarily to DIRECTV and international opportunities

Subscriptions

• TiVo-Owned subscription gross additions for the second quarter were 41,000, compared to 74,000 gross additions for the year-ago period
• Overall, TiVo-Owned subscriptions totaled 1.71 million, up 136,000 on an annual basis compared to the year ago-period
• Net decline in DIRECTV TiVo subscriptions during the period as DIRECTV is no longer deploying new TiVo boxes
• Cumulative total subscriptions as of July 31, 2007 were 4.2 million
• Monthly churn rate was 1.2% compared to 1.1% in the prior quarter

Obviously the financial numbers aren’t that positive. That being said, I still think TiVo’s future is looking bright. The Comcast and Cox partnerships should produce a lot of new TiVo subscribers. Once this occurs, TiVo will be able to straighten out its financial situation.

Don’t forget that tomorrow TiVo is going to release financial results for the second quarter ended July 31, 2007. I’m plan on listing to the conference call so stay tuned for an update on.

Hopefully we’ll hear more about the Comcast & Cox partnerships. I know there are a lot of people out there who are anxious to get TiVo on their cable company DVR.

Todd Spangler has posted an interesting analysis of the catch-22 that TiVo has found itself in. In his article, Todd has come up with a couple of ways that TiVo can survive this dilema. Read on for more information.

Ever since the start of this blog I’ve been saying that TiVo needs to partner with a cable company. Hopefully the upcoming Comcast & Cox partnerships will help bolster TiVo’s position as the number one DVR on the market.