Distributing output from HD Tivo

[Klankster]

We've had a SD Tivo for several years and love it. Our house has a Channel Plus unit that distributes the video from the Tivo all over our house on channel 84.

We just recently bought a HD Tivo (HR10-250) and want to use it instead of the old SD Tivo. Unfortunately, the HR10-250 has limits on its outputs and I'm wondering what I can do to maximize the utility of the unit and compatibility with my existing setup.

If I use the HDMI output from the Tivo to my TV, I can't use any of the other outputs to feed the distribution to the rest of my house. And since the distribution system is SD, I'd need to use the 480i output, making it a pain to use because to watch stuff in other rooms, I'd have to leave the unit set to 480i. Oftentimes, my wife will be watching a program in the living room while watch it in my office -- This would not be possible with the new Tivo if the program was recorded in HD.

My question is this: Is there some piece of hardware available that will let me take the output from my HD Tivo (say, from the component outputs) and convert that to SD resolution for input into the Channel Plus modulator and subsequent distribution through my house? And ideally, something that will know that the signal is HD and convert it into SD?

I'm probably asking for the impossible but it never hurts to ask...

[Rick Sass]

Tell us more: Are your other TV's HD? What inputs do they have? What type of cabling are you using for your modulated signal - s/composite, coax?

[Klankster]

OK, here's how my system is set up currently with my old Tivo: Cable TV comes into my house. It's just plain ol' analog cable, no box involved. When it comes into the house, I run it through a low-pass Channel 64 filter so that nothing higher than channel 64 gets through. This runs into a Channel Plus modulator box. This box has the coax input and four RCA composite video and audio inputs, each of which I assign to a channel above 64. The output from this box is a composite coax that carries cable channels 1-64 and 80 (my satellite receiver), 84 (Tivo), 88 (DVD player) and 92 (Laserdisc player). This coax then runs all over the house via Channel Plus distribution amps. I also have IR targets on all the TVs in the house that send signals back over the coax to the base unit to control all the devices. It's a pretty good system with a very clean signal.

All the TVs in the house connected to this system are SD because that's all it can carry.

I'm about to connect up the new HD Tivo to the system, and with its different output setup, it's got me thinking a lot about how I want to hook things up.

I can switch the output of the HR10-250 to either SD or HD, and most of what we'll be recording is SD so for those situations I could just set its output to 480i but what I'm thinking is that when we record a HD movie or something and want to watch it in another room on a SD TV, I'll need some way to get that HD signal converted to SD composite. Ideally, with this setup, I could leave Tivo set at 720p or 1080i all the time and watch it on my living room HDTV and the same signal I'm watching there would be downconverted to SD and available for viewing on any other SD TV in the house. Does this make sense? This is basically how it works now with the old SD Tivo -- You can watch what's playing on the living room Tivo on any TV in the house.

So, in the simplest form, what I'm looking for is something that would take a component input signal in either SD or HD format and output to a SD composite signal. This could then be fed into the Channel Plus box so that it can do the conversion and insert the signal into my house coax system.

I assume I'm looking for some sort of standalone downconverter -- Is there anything that will do this for me without costing an arm and a leg? (Well, maybe just an arm?) :rolleyes:

[vetrev]

If I were you, I'd get SD D* receivers for all the other TVs in your house. Sure it costs $5 extra per month per receiver but it's still cheaper than buying all the other equipment you might need. I just received the HR10-250 for Xmas. I put that on my family room TV. I have another cheaper HD receiver on a LCD in my living room. I put my old Tivo unit in the bedroom (downside is that it's a little noisy--but we got used to it). It's great having Tivo in there! Three other SD receivers we got brand new from D* for signing a year contract. You will need a block splitter in your basement. The one I currently have has room for 8 receivers. In my book, getting a receiver for each TV is much easier, more convenient, and more cost effective. That's my two cents on your situation. I honestly don't think it's worth it to have both DirecTV and cable. I've been very happy with D*. :cool: