Many media organizations reported that TiVo announced that the ability to transfer recorded programming from TiVo Series 2 digital video recorders to iPods with Video Playback and PlayStation Portable handheld devices. I emphasize that this capability will be available from TiVo Series 2 DVRs such as the TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour or TiVo TCD540080 Series2 80-Hour units and not the DirecTV TiVo DVR that I have at my house. Bummer for us.

According to an article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, recording formats used by TiVo and the iPod differ, so the TiVo Home Media Option will have to be extended to support this conversion and a Windows-compatible PC will be required. As a result, the process is expected to be an overnight synchronization rather than an immeidate transfer.

TiVo is trying to demonstrate the value of a subscription to their digital video recorder service. The Home Media Option that was announced with great fanfare in mid-2003 had little appeal for me, but this feature is far more interesting. I don't need to remind you that I said video playback is going to be a very hot feature of portable media players in 2006, do I? [ Paid subscription required to read many articles from The Wall Street Journal ]

Technorati Tags: TiVo, iPod, PSP, PlayStation Portable