Lifehacker has published a rather lengthy howto which covers converting video files for playback on your TiVo. Unlike my TiVoGoBack howto, this one is written specifically for Windows and instead of using TiVo Desktop plus, lifehacker has instead decided to use a free program called Videora. Check out the review if you are interested in transcoding video files for playback on your TiVo.

Bijan of bijansabet.com has published a mini review of his newly arrived Comcast TiVo DVR. According to the post, Bijan has only been using the DVR for a couple of days now however, thus far he is extremely happy with how it works.

I heard from a few other friends to expect some bugs. But right now I’m quite happy.

Feels good to be home again with TiVo.

Check out Bijan’s post if you are interested in getting a Comcast TiVo DVR….

Gear Live has posted a video which shows how easy it is to add additional storage to a Series 3 or TiVo HD using the Western Digital My DVR Expander. Check it out if you are interested in adding more storage to your TiVo HD or Series 3.

Spotted on TiVoLovers.

G4 has put together the following review of the Series 3 TiVo. Before you watch it, you probably should hear about what I found wrong with the review. First of all, in the review they kept on saying that the device costs $600 however, they’ve neglected to mention that TiVo is offering a $200 rebate so you can get the Series 3 for $392.91. Also, at the end of the review they mention that it would be nice if the TiVoHD were expandable. I don’t know where G4 gets their information from however, the TiVo HD is in fact expandable via the same external drive that the Series 3 can use. Other than those two things, it’s a decent review :).

If I were in the market to buy a HD TiVo, I probably would go with the TiVo HD instead of the Series 3 mainly because the TiVoHD costs only $259.98.

A recent comment turned me onto a OS X Dashboard widget which allows you to transfer shows from your TiVo using TiVoToGo.

Configuring this widget is extremely easy. Basically all I had to do was enter my TiVo’s IP address and my media access key which I was able to get from here.

One of the nice features of this widget is that you can configure it to connect to multiple TiVos. In my case, I have it configured for both my Series 2 & Series 3 TiVos.

Here’s a screenshot of the widget connected to my Series 2 DT TiVo. As you can see, my S2DT is pretty much my son’s TiVo :).

Now the widget is displaying everything that is stored on my Series 3.

The best thing about this widget is that it can transfer shows off of your TiVo using TiVoToGo. To transfer a show, all you have to do is click on the program and then click on the download link.

Transfer speeds were pretty good however, I haven’t compared it to TDM or Roxio’s TiVo Transfer to see if there is a difference. Transferred shows are automatically converted into a MPEG using the TiVo File Decoder.

For some reason, I wasn’t able to play any of the shows that I transferred using QuickTime. Instead, I ended up using VLC.

Overall, I am really impressed with this widget. It definitely is nice to be able to browser your TiVo and ultimately transfer a show via a “simple” Dashboard widget. That being said, I honestly don’t think this widget will replace Popcorn as my main TiVoToGo client. For some reason, I like having a “thick” TiVoToGo client like Popcorn or TDM. In any case, if you don’t want to pay for Popcorn or if you aren’t happy with TDM, you might want to download this widget.

B&H has published a rather detailed review of the TiVoHD up on YouTube. Normally, I would embed this type of video directly in this post however, B&H disabled the embed option (why would they do such a thing?). In any case, it’s definitely worth your time to watch the video especially if you are thinking about buying a TiVo HD.

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As a side note, I would like to thank Brad for putting me down as his 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 Brad. It really is appreciated!

Ben Drawbaugh has posted a wonderful review of TiVoToGo and MRV (multi-room viewing) on the Series 3. Overall, the review is rather positive however, Ben did say that his transfer speeds are rather slow.

Granted, the transfers were pretty slow — in fact, they were about twice real time — and our understanding is that the hardware is the bottleneck, so upgrading to a gigabit network probably won’t help.

My transfer speeds aren’t as slow as what Ben is experiencing. For example, a 30 minute HD shows takes around 43-45 minutes to transfer. I don’t know why there is a difference between what I’m experiencing and what Ben is. At first I thought it was because both of my TiVos are wired but than I noticed that Ben’s TiVos are wired as well. Whatever the case may be, I’m happy that my transfers are faster :).

How fast are your transfer speeds? Are they more in line with what I’m reporting or are your recordings transferring at a speed similar to what Ben is reporting?

CNET has published a review of the Rhapsody on TiVo HME application which TiVo recently launched. Overall the review is rather positive and it definitely has me interested in trying Rhapsody on TiVo once my S2 & S3 receive the update.

Despite all these gripes, Rhapsody on TiVo shows a lot lot of promise. When it was working smoothly, it was great to extend the Rhapsody experience to my living room and the service certainly has the TiVo “touch.” While Apple TV is great for bringing your purchased iTunes music collection to your home theater, Rhapsody on TiVo effectively brings millions of songs to your home theater. I’m definitely not ready to give it my full recommendation–it’s much too glitchy in its current state–but if TiVo and Rhapsody can smooth the kinks out, they might have a killer service on their hands.

So far I’ve been extremely happy with my $44.99 purchase of Roxio Popcorn 3. I purchased Popcorn mainly because I wanted an officially supported TiVoToGo solution for the Mac and also because I wanted to review the product.

Click on each of the following screenshots for some additional information…

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As a side note, I would like to thank Fred for putting me down as his 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 Fred!