Bob Pony of TiVo Product Marketing dropped by the TCF last night with news that many of us had been hoping to hear:
I wanted to let you know that development has been progressing smoothly, and all is well. You can expect TTG & MRV to be available for Series3 and TiVoHD this November. These features will provide support for video transfers between Series3 & Series2 systems and between a Series3/Series2 system and a PC. High Definition content will not be supported for transfer or playback on a Series2 system (Series2’s just can’t play HD), and copy-protected High Def or Standard Def content cannot be transferred (same as our current Series2 products).
Why pre-announce? (TiVo’s PR agency directed me to Bob’s post.) Perhaps to give folks hope and to tweak holiday sales. Perhaps to reveal the information on their own terms given past beta leaks. Regardless of the rationale, this is very good news. Hopefully they’ll release it as planned in November and transferring HD content won’t be as slow as I fear. And speaking of leaks, I suspect official eSATA support will land on the Series3/HD at the same time, if not sooner – though I haven’t been able to confirm that TiVo will be selling branded external drives.