iPod + TiVo

OK, so I love my iPod, but TiVo was my first love. So how can I combine the two?

Some things I would like to do are:

• watch videos from the iPod on my TV
  
• listen to music from the iPod on my home stereo
  
• watch stuff from TiVo on another TV
  
• save stuff from TiVo
  

Here's how to do it.

Watch videos from the iPod on my TV

This is so easy. All you need is the right cable. Visit this web page about Getting the Video out of your new iPod - for Cheap!. I bought this cable on eBay for $7 including shipping. It's called an "RCA-mini" or "A/V" cable. It works great. Connect it to the jacks on the front of your TV. You need to use the volume control on your iPod to get the proper sound out of your TV (this matters more for music), and then you can adjust the volume on your TV to make it louder.

Works great, but since the cable is only 6 feet, you need to get off your lazy butt to use the iPod controls to pause, etc.

Listen to music from the iPod on my home stereo

This is also so easy. Get the cable mentioned above (you could just get an audio to mini cable), connect from the iPod to your home stereo, and voila, your iPod is playing on your stereo. Use the iPod volume to turn it up, otherwise it gets really distorted, then use the stereo volume to make it louder. Again, you don't have a remote, but it works fine.

Watch stuff from TiVo on another TV

This is what I was really interested in. We have a TiVo in our master bedroom, and sometimes I record movies for the kids to watch, but would prefer to watch on the big TV in our family room. So, you can copy movies from the TiVo to your PC, and from the PC to the iPod.

But there's a catch. OK, maybe 2. You can copy from your TiVo to your PC with no problem, if you are using a broadband connection (I have wireless). However, you must have TiVoToGo software to convert from the PC format to iPod format, and it costs $25. The second catch is that it takes 3-4 hours to copy a 1 hour show from the TiVo to the PC over a wireless connection. That kills it for me. It's just too much of a hassle. Sure, you could do it at night, but my PC is in my bedroom, and I would hear the hard drive spinning for hours while I was asleep.

Yes, I know that you can just get another TiVo on the other TV, and then you can transfer stuff while you are actually watching it, but you must have paid TiVo service on the other box and I'm too cheap.

There is another solution that's pretty cool. Did you know that you can insert a video signal on your cable? That's how they put security camera feeds on your TV. You can insert your TiVo signal onto a channel on your cable, and then your TIVo will play on that channel in your whole house. See this article about How to extend your TIVO or other device throughout your house for more information. I haven't actually done this, but it sounds pretty cool.

Save stuff from TiVo

This is another thing I haven't tried, but should be easy. You can download TiVo Desktop for free, and copy stuff from your TiVo to your PC, and watch it there, or presumably send it back to the TiVo. You need to have a broadband connection. If you are wired, it might only take 1 hour to transfer a 2 hour movie, but if you have wireless, it's going to be slower, which is why I don't do it.

- schneid