Fun with Tivo

About 2 weeks ago I bought a Tivo Premiere.  While I'm not someone who's a big advocate of more television in your life, the way that I use the Tivo evolved to the point where it's worth while describing.  It's also worth mentioning that I was just curious how a Tivo worked, and why it's different from any old DVR (or using Media Center on Windows 7 for that matter).

I've had an XBox 360 for 3 years, and it has become sort of the center of my entertainment universe.  If I wanted to watch a TV show I'd download it through what's known as the Zune Marketplace and play it back on the XBox, a laptop, a desktop PC or my Zune HD.  In my home I have 6 devices I can play back Zune-purchased media, so it's an attractive option.  The problem is that I started to spend a lot of money on media. So, I thought I might as well just get the Tivo, and download whatever I wanted.  Which is more or less the case, though the "less" part of that merits some discussion.

Here's how it works in practice: I sit down in front of my main TV, copy over files from the Tivo, and watch it on the high def, or copy on to a laptop (either Mac or Windows 7) and watch it on the go.  If I wanted to, I could compress the recording for an iPhone or iPad, but that extra step seems too far to go.  One thing that's kind of nice is being able to start watching something on my Windows 7 netbook, then plugging it into the high def using HDMI to finish it.

So, here's the exception to all this space age science.  The programs recorded from HBO are copy protected.  That means I can only watch it on the TV where the Tivo is plugged in.  I have it set up right now in my bedroom where it gets the direct connection to the cable modem, but if need be I could re-wire things.