Another Tivo

[Tivoman44]

Quick question here that I need input from (especially you Loadstar).  I may be getting another Tivo (an XL, already have a series 3).  For the first 6 months I was going to not get a cable card and TA right away and just use it with basic cable like 2-75.  If I do that I was thinking of switching the XL to the main room and the S3 into the second room, and if I did that I would want to use the cable card and TA on the XL (hence a bigger hard drive).  Does anyone know if since the card and TA is already activated to my account if it would be a simple plug and play type thing or would TWC have to come out and reactivate it to the Tivo, which in that case would might as well just have them install a second card and TA.  I know that the new XL would have to be activated to my tivo account and such, I donno if by having the cable card already registered to my tivo if that is good for any tivo under my name or if each individual Tivo needs to be registered w/ the same cable card.

Any help would be great?

[LoadStar]

You may have received an answer to this already, but as I understand, CableCards once activated are paired with a specific device. Removing them and putting them into another device will not work.

That said, I've heard some anecdotal reports of people doing exactly what you want to do, pulling the card from one TiVo and putting it in another TiVo, and having it work fine.

[Tivoman44]

I heard both of those as well Loadstar.  I am willing to bet though that more often than not the card and TA are "paired" or "married", I think I'll just go ahead and get another cable card, only 2.50, and when asking customer retention in october, he said that the second TA is still free.  

And so far I have not had an issue sharing recorded things between the tivos.  The only thing is most things on cable channels are copy protected, but not everything, and almost everything on OTA channels you can transfer.  

By the way Loadstar, do you use Tivo desktop at all?  I just installed it and think it's cool, and supposedly if you have roxio 2011, you can burn programs to DVD and it will retain the HD quality, as long as it is not copy protected again.

[LoadStar]

No I don't... don't really have a need for it.

And unfortunately, as you point out, the vast majority of content on Time Warner digital cable is flagged "copy never," meaning you can't transfer it to another TiVo, nor copy it off using TiVo Desktop.

The sad part? When I do need to copy something to my computer, it's easier for me to go on the internet and download it from usenet or torrents than it is to copy the program I legitimately recorded myself. *sigh*

[Tivoman44]

I know what you mean, something you legitimately recorded whereas you have to search to download.  The thing that surprises me is that some odd cable show is copyrighted, whereas the NFL games on Fox and CBS (potentially the playoffs and Super bowl) are not copy protected.  I have the Packer Viking game saved on Tivo desktop.  I am banking on getting roxio 2011 for Christmas in hopes to put it on a DVD in full HD.  Who wouldn't want to keep that as possibly Favre's last game as a Packer and the crowd chanting "fire Childress"

What I do though already is I also have a VCR/DVD Recorder.  I have outbound from Tivo using S Video and red and white for Audio, then going inbound to the recorder.  Yes it downconvert's HD to SD but it still looks pretty good.  And the quality improves when using XP or SP record speed rather than EP, so that is another thought.