Two hd tv's, digital cable and a Series 2 Tivo.

December 14, 2007 1:39 PM

Two hd tv's, digital cable and a Series 2 Tivo. what to do?

I have digital cable which runs through an HD box for one of the tv's. The picture is amazing, I have no complaints with that set up. The problem is, I've split the cable (shhhh, don't tell) and have it running through a series 2 Tivo, then into the other hd set and this picture looks grainy and not so lovely. I'm assuming the Tivo is responsible for the lame picture, but will a hd Tivo resolve the issue if I'm not running this line through the cable box? Is it possible to get a good lookin' picture with a DVR on the back end without the cable box? Bonus points if you can point me to a solution which doesn't involve a new DVR as well.

Thanks!

posted by captaindistracto to technology (7 answers total)

will a hd Tivo resolve the issue if I'm not running this line through the cable box

Yes. Your Series 2 TiVo is receiving and recording a standard-def signal. An HD TiVo will receive and record an HD signal.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:49 PM on December 14, 2007

If you want the "amazing" picture you're going to need a digital tuner. The HD Tivo has this, but depending on how your cable company runs things, nearly all of the channels may be encrypted, necessitating the rental of a Cable Card to plug into your HD Tivo.

So, it depends on whether the channels you want to watch are being sent "in the clear" digitally (QAM), and if you're willing to pay extra for a Cable Card.

The answer generally is that it's cheaper just to rent an HD DVR from your cable company.
posted by rxrfrx at 1:50 PM on December 14, 2007

How does the second TV look when viewing good standard definition sources? (try pluging it directly into the incoming cable - no splits, no boxes, just direct connection)

It sounds like you may simply need an amplifier - the split, plus the gear, is attenuating the signal just a little too much. There are many much cheaper cable amplifier solutions at your local electronics store, that was just a quick example.

In principal, if I'm understanding the question right, there is no reason to think an HD Tivo would be any better than the old one. In practice it might be better, but that would just be a fluke.
posted by Chuckles at 3:53 PM on December 14, 2007

0xFCAF has it.

TV1 is using the Cable Box to output an HD signal to your tv.
TV2 is using the S2 TiVo to receive, compress, store, decompress, and then output a Non-SD signal to your 2nd TV.

In my living room, I have the line split, one goes to the Cable Co's HD DVR into the TV via Component Cables and it looks AMAZING! (Even the non-HD Channels). The Other side of the split goes into my S1 TiVo. Not only do I not receive the HD Channels, but the signal is highly compressed and grainy, outputting via Svideo on the same HDTV.

An S3 TiVo or TiVoHD will solve this, but will require a CableCard from your Cable Co and a separate monthly fee from TiVo.
posted by stew560 at 10:01 AM on December 15, 2007

That was "output a Non-HD signal to your 2nd TV"
posted by stew560 at 10:01 AM on December 15, 2007

TV2 is using the S2 TiVo to receive, compress, store, decompress, and then output a Non-[H]D signal to your 2nd TV.

The picture quality of TIVO recordings would suffer too, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If it is the problem, it is easy to fix for standard definition programming. Just split the cable again at the second TV, and use the TV's internal tuner to watch analog channels.

You still might need an amplifier though - now you have two splits, so even more attenuation.
posted by Chuckles at 1:07 PM on December 15, 2007

Thanks all. Looks like I'll just retire the old Series 2 Tivo and get another box from the cable company with the DVR. Overall, it should only cost an extra $4/month.
posted by captaindistracto at 9:10 AM on December 17, 2007