Right on! It took long enough, but those of you that own TiVo series two will soon be getting that software upgrade that is going to allow for movies and TV shows to be moved from your box and onto your other box; your PC!
We’ve waited and waited and waited for this, and the day has finally come: it’s a few months later than they had wanted to, but TiVo is launching TiVoToGo today. Here’s the scoop: if you have a Series2 TiVo you should be getting an automatic software upgrade that’ll make it possible for you to copy shows stored on your digital video recorder to a PC over a home network (burning to DVD is coming later). You have to install special TiVoToGo-enabled software on your PC (a version for Macs is coming, too) and the files are encrypted to prevent copying and require a special media access code which is tied to your account for playback (and, of course, TiVo would like you to know that sharing files and codes online could result in the termination of your account). There are a few other caveats, like you can’t copy pay-per-view programming or some stuff from paid channels like HBO, but the worst news is that none of this will be available to people who own DirecTiVos—TiVoToGo is only available to owners of standalone TiVo boxes.
