Upcoming 180-hour dual-tuner Series2 TiVo

One thing people seem to be missing about the new 180-hour dual-tuner Series2 TiVo that's appearing on Amazon.com and other sites (the link is an affiliate link) is that it seems like an obvious configuration for Comcast Cable customers. Comcast has said they will make TiVo DVRs available, and while one way they've promised to do so is through software downloads to existing DVRs, it makes sense that a full-featured TiVo-branded box would be one of the options.

The new box seems perfect for the average cable subscriber, since it allows you to record two programs at once from analog cable channels, or one program from an analog cable channel and another from a digital cable channel. That seems as though it would be relatively easy for them to pull off; dual tuners for standard cable ought to be easily available and inexpensive, while the digital decoding is the harder task and thus the more expensive component.

Since most users will probably do just fine being limited to only one recording from a digital channel at a time, I don't see that as a huge limitation. So, you can record from HBO and ABC at the same time to get "The Sopranos" and "Desperate Housewives" at 9pm on Sunday. You just can't record from HBO and Showtime at the same time, if both are digital channels on your cable system.

This takes care of the biggest complaint the average Time Warner DVR customer has when they look at a TiVo... that there's no dual-channel recording capability. I've used friends' Time Warner boxes, and they're really awful... but if you've never seen better, looking at that one feature checkbox on TWC's side is pretty compelling.

This also leaves satellite subscribers out, unfortunately. I'm glad I have two TiVos, and two time zones for most programming (with both New York and Los Angeles network affiliate packages), but I do sometimes wish I could just tell my TiVo to record two things at the same time.

The other really nice feature of this new Series2 TiVo is the built-in Ethernet port. Since the average broadband-connected customer probably has the cable for both TV and Internet coming into the same room, wired Ethernet is doubtless the most common connection type. There's a matching 80-hour TiVo with similar features.

• Take a look at the new TiVo unit