THX’d and Super-Sized

Throwing down the HD DVR gauntlet, TiVo’s top HD XL model ups the storage ante by including a comparatively huge one terabyte hard drive, making the typical cable HD DVR’s 160 GB capacity look downright puny.

The HD XL also provides an E-SATA port for an external hard drive that can further add to the already large HD recording capacity.

Plus, the HD XL is TiVo’s first THX-certified model to ensure top notch picture and sound quality.

Of course, everyone knows that TiVo virtually invented the hard-drive DVR category, and have recently taken steps to aggressively pursue competitors that it thinks have infringed on their time-shifting patents, scoring a whopping nine figure judgment this past fall against Dish Network, for example.

For me, a DVR is a once-with, then never-without affair, like air conditioning or an iPod. Sure the core concept is the same with cable and satellite DVRs that provide unattended recording, time-shifting, pausing and super-quick fast-forward and rewind speeds.

What sets the TiVo apart is their unique artificial intelligence that allows the DVR to search out similar programs according to your viewing preferences and automatically add them to the record list.

That process is aided by red “thumb down” and green “thumb up” buttons on the remote. If you really like a program that the TiVo found for you or you’ve selected yourself, give it one, two or three thumb up button presses. Likewise, the thumb down button works the same for TiVo choices or programs you don’t care for.

The HD XL has two tuners, which allows simultaneous recording of two shows, and playback of a previously-recorded third.

The top-line TiVo HD XL model’s massive hard drive provides for a whopping 150 hours of high definition recording, and is equipped with an E-SATA port that permits connection to an external hard drive to up the storage capacity even further.

At the moment though, TiVo is taking perhaps a too-conservative approach to particular external hard drive choices, specifying only one external drive model, Western Digital’s 500 MB My DVR Expander drive. At $199.99 suggested list, it’s a tad pricey compared to other comparable high capacity external E-SATA-equipped hard drives, but TiVo reports brisk sales of the model to their customers from their online store (it’s also easily available at computer stores and online outlets).

With the My DVR Expander drive connected, the HD storage capacity is upped substantially to 215 recording hours total, which should be enough for even the most voracious couch potato. Unlike Dish Network, which charges a $39.99 one-time fee to unlock their DVR models’ external hard drive capability, that functionality is provided by TiVo at no charge.

The TiVo’s WishList artificial intelligence works as well as ever, so when I gave a thumb up to a cooking show, within hours the box had already begun recording similarly-themed shows. I also had similar success with an auto racing program – quickly the TiVo began grabbing more of the same.

It also lets me search by keyword, such as director or actor or other topic of my choosing. The Season Pass feature ensures that every episode of a desired series is recorded, even if the network changes the playdate or time – a more common occurrence than you’d think, and one that many other DVRs are ill-prepared for.

For shows that you and not the TiVo choose, they’ll take priority over all, and if the drive fills up with additional WishList suggested programs, they’ll be the first to be deleted to make room for shows you’ve specifically chosen, and the TiVo will keep whatever programs you’ve already chosen until you decide to delete them.

For premium cable tiers and a la carte channels as well as video-on-demand, you’ll be needing your local cable company’s assistance in obtaining the necessary CableCard(s). The TiVo features two CableCard slots – your cable operator may provide you with two single-channel S-Cards, or one dual-channel M-Card – that’s what my local cable provider, Time-Warner Desert Cities, showed up with to get the TiVo up and running.

Their charge for the monthly card rental is a quite reasonable $1.75. On top of that, you’ll be charged separately by TiVo for their programming service, either monthly ($12.95), yearly ($129), three years ($299), or life-of-the-product service ($399). Of course, in addition, you'll have to pay whatever your local cable operator charges for the programming tier you’ve signed up for.

The HD XL also features Ethernet connectivity.

With a broadband internet connection this provides access to YouTube videos, the subscription-based Rhapsody music service (a 30 day free trial is tossed in to entice you to subscribe), the Music Choice free music video service, Amazon’s Unbox video rent or buy download service, Picasa and Photobucket web album photo services, as well as TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search. This latter feature scours broadcast, cable and the internet looking for keyword- or topic-related content. The YouTube interface is similar-looking to what you’d see on your computer’s monitor, with screen caps, title and description, and multi-star ratings.

I confess to wasting more than a few hours watching wacky YouTube videos, but after seeing what they look like on my 1080p front projection system via the TiVo, I’ll stick to watching them on my PC’s 22” monitor. Their expectedly poor resolution makes many of them all but unwatchable to me when projected large, but I’m fussier than most I’m sure.

 It’s not the TiVo’s fault–by necessity YouTube videos are compressed as all get-out down to the absolute bare minimum bitrate–just don’t expect high-def or even standard definition here and you won’t be disappointed.

If you have a wireless broadband router at home, TiVo offers a USB Wireless-G adapter as well, helpful for those without an Ethernet hard-wired home. The broadband Ethernet and wireless connectivity also provides for more than one TiVo box in a home, with content on any one TiVo box available to other TiVos on the network.

The Ethernet connectivity also allows for online scheduling–if you’re away from home and want to record a specific show, you can log on to your TiVo account and tell the box what you want to capture–a great feature if you’re on vacation or running late at the office.

This also opens up a raft of web-enabled content access and sharing options. Upload your home videos from your PC via OneTrueMedia.com and you get a channel code that you can send to friends and other family members. Then your home videos will show up in the Now Playing list on their TiVos.

The TiVoToGo software, available for download on TiVo’s website, lets you send TV programs to a laptop for on-the-go viewing, or transfer them to a portable audio/video player.

The TiVoCast feature pushes original video content from over 60 media brands and producers from the internet to your TiVo, from outlets such as the New York Times, iVillage and Vogue TV, just to name three. The TiVo also has the ability to fetch pictures and MP3s from your computer for display or playback on HDTV/theater system.

Additional free online services include Yahoo! Weather and Traffic channels, Fandango movie information and ticket purchase, the extensive Live365 internet radio station network, as well as being able to search out and play Podcastsⁱ.

I had the HD XL configured for my broadband home network in well under a minute after starting the setup procedure. For those still in the home networking dark ages, the HD XL has a telephone connection that’s necessary to access and update the TiVo program guide for finding, recording and watching your favorite shows, but that will shut you out of all of the great web- and network-enabled features which set the TiVo so far above ordinary cable DVR boxes.

Owners of deluxe home theater control systems such as Crestron will also benefit from the TiVo’s Ethernet connection as well.

The TiVo’s THX certification isn’t something that provides any specific "feature" per se–rather, it’s simply an indication that the HD XL has passed muster with the quite fussy engineers at THX. This ensures, from a video and audio standpoint, the HD XL will perform to the highest standard.

Indeed, when Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Morrison and I visited THX at their San Rafael, California headquarters last summer, a prototype HD XL was on the bench being put through its paces, and we were both impressed with the sheer thoroughness of the THX examinations and the extensive array of torture-test patterns they used to put the TiVo through its paces.

On to Switched Digital Video (SDV) and Conclusion...