John @ Sep 4th 2008 2:16AM

Alright, I'm about to have a heart attack if TiVo released a new DVR w/o SDV support. I'll be damned if I have to pony up $600 plus subscription plus have another damn box hangin' out the back of it just so it can talk to my cable company. Don't even get me started on tru2way, which ought to be there also if this thing wants to remain relevant beyond a year. Nice curt press release, but TiVo hasn't even posted this news on their own website. I'm holding my breath but I'm fearing the worst.

Second, what's with the casing. Totally cheap! Just like the TiVo HD, not even an upgrade in the LEDs???? I hope there is some difference in the display, cuz otherwise TiVo just finally decided to slap a larger hard drive in the TiVo HD to call it a new product. Maybe tweaked it to get THX certification, but I assume a check will do that also. No thank you, I'll keep my Series3 which actually looks the premium price it cost, and attach any eSATA drive I come across to work with it.

Finally, I think TiVo totally missed a humongous opportunity to give themselves a head start by not tying this into the Olympics somehow. With all the coverage NBC was putting out, how could TiVo not get this product out in time to capitalize on its biggest selling point: the ability to record more than 32 hrs of HD programming! I'm stunned, major missed opportunity. Could have ran special commercials along with NBC in the run-up to the Olympics, and had this in stores around the 4th of July. Somebody fire the marketing department!

I gotta give it to the DirecTiVo announcment from yesterday, it sounds a whole hell more compelling than where TiVo is going solo at the moment. Maybe my tune will change once we know if this thing is SDV and tru2way compatable, but I'm not liking the looks of the press release.