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December 15, 2006
TiVo Mojo
Dear Larry,
Can I really connect my TiVo box to my computer? Why would
I want to?
C. L.
Dear C. L.,
When it comes to recording television programs and
subsequently managing and viewing them, nothing—absolutely nothing—comes close
to TiVo for its ease of use as well as its power and flexibility. Assuming you
have high speed Internet in the house, connecting your TiVo to your computer
creates TiVo on steroids. Two or more TiVo boxes in the house? Prepare to be
wowed even more.
You know all those pictures and that music that have
accumulated on your computer? When the family is over and you want to present a
slide show or just play some of your favorite iTunes while you’re sitting around
and chatting, making everyone congregate around the computer is surely not what
you had in mind. But when your TiVo box is set up to talk to your computer, it
easily bridges the gap between the computer and TV. You can now display the
pictures from your last vacation on the television because your TiVo can now
retrieve that information directly from your computer. And because you’re doing
it via your TiVo, it couldn’t possibly be any easier. Playing your music is just
as simple. And if your television happens to be connected to your stereo, voilà!
Music from your computer to your stereo!
It doesn’t end there. TiVoToGo lets you transfer your TiVo
recordings to your computer. Once there, you can burn them to a DVD, transfer
them to your laptop for playback on the road, or even convert them for playback
on a portable media player such as a video iPod.
Did you know that you could schedule recording of programs on
your TiVo via the Internet? You don’t even need to have your TiVo connected to
your computer for this trick though it does help to have TiVo connected to your
high speed Internet modem. With online scheduling, you can search for TV
programs on the web and have your TiVo record them, all from any computer
connected to the Internet, whether across the street or half-way across the
world!
If you have two or more TiVos in the house connected to your
high speed network, then it’s almost like having one giant TiVo. Because the
TiVos can talk to one another, you can transfer and play programs recorded on
one TiVo box on another TV that’s connected to a different TiVo box elsewhere in
the house.
Setting up your TiVo(s) in this manner and connecting them to
your high speed modem and computer(s) is not for the timid. Unless you really
know what you’re doing, have a computer professional like me or someone else
well versed in computer and video technology set it all up for you. Once
connected, you’ll open up a whole new world of entertainment.
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
