Sort of.

TV Tonight brought the Sydney Morning Herald article to my attention which includes a photo (and thus the version of TiVo being customised.

Summary:

• 2 HD tuners
• Record two while watching a recorded show
• No solid details on ad skipping except to say it will have fast forward ("it's up to Seven")
• No idea how much storage
• No idea of cost (up front or ongoing), or release date. Some have suggested $500 based on the cost of similar PVRs
• Rumours of adverts that cannot be fast forwarded through or forced advertisements in the menus on TiVo itself
• TiVo recorded programs can be transferred to PC (and so to other portable devices such as yer iPod)

The key feature I want is (from SMH article)

The other key feature is the ability for users to search for shows by title, people or tags, and then, with one button, program the device so it automatically records the show each time it airs. This is called a "season pass" and means users won't miss a show even if its time slot changes or episodes run overtime.

The ability to say "I like this show, always tape it for me so I can watch it when I have time" is how TV today should be if they're even going to begin to compete with bittorrent. I like the idea of being able to say "give me everything with Shaun Micallef in it".

All of the talk of downloadable movies, free "internet channels", integration with Flickr and other web applications, music stores and such just bores the hell out of me. Not interested. Products these days do to darn much. Stuff I don't want but feel I'm paying for.

TV is TV. Stop turning TV into a computer. TV is for TV. TiVo makes watching TV easier. A jazzed up VCR. End of story. Please.

I strongly suspect when the actual cost arrives it will be too much. TiVo has become in my mind the final bribe the TV stations have to give me to keep watching the way they want me to watch. If it costs too much or they screw me too hard with forced advertisements, I'll go elsewhere.

Be that Foxtel, DVD or whatever else arrives before TiVo finally pops it's head out of the ooze.

Notes to self on what I've worked out so far for new PC.

As I'm not getting this for probably half a year I expect this info to change, but for now...

• Must have at least one PCI slot (for my MAudio soundcard)
• Must have at least one (pref 2) Firewire, or another PCI for my firewire PCI card
• 2 USB on the front, at least two on the back
• 2Gb 800Mhz DDR2 RAM
• XP, not Vista
• Intel Core2Duo (no need for Quad, don't want AMD or Celeron)
• Probably a 20" widescreen LCD, or 19" 4:3
• GeForce 8600GT* graphics card
• On-board network port
• D/L DVD burner with Nero
• Room to put in another DVD sized drive (for the BlueRay future)
• Warranty not void if I put in the two PCI cards myself

* I'm told a newer set of GeForce 8 series cards are coming out that are the same power but half the price (GS? as opposed to GT or GX). These will probably be out by mid/end of year. Although I'd prefer to go good and solid rather than bleeding edge.