TiVo is rolling out a new software upgrade that made it to one of my machines the other night. It simplifies some menus but the main new feature is something they call Overlap Protection. The message you receive with this doesn't explain it well so I did a little research and I think (note the italics for emphasis) I have it figured out.
First of all, you should know that when TiVo installs this software upgrade, it turns the Overlap Protection feature on. You can turn it off if you like. This is done in the Settings section and the control is on the Recording menu.
If the feature is turned off and you accidentally schedule recordings of two shows that overlap, one will not be recorded. If it's turned on and the shows overlap by six minutes or more, that will still be the case.
But if the shows overlap by five minutes or less, TiVo will record both and merely trim the beginning or ending of one. If you look at your To Do List, a clipped show will be marked with an asterisk.
How does TiVo decide which show to clip and which one to record in whole? If one show is a Season Pass and one is a one-time recording, then the one-time recording will be the one not clipped. If both shows are Season Passes, then the one with the higher priority number on your Season Pass List will be the one not clipped. If both shows are one-time recordings (i.e., neither show is a Season Pass), then the most recently-scheduled one will be the one not clipped. In any case, a TiVo Suggestion will have the lowest standing. It will probably not be recorded at all if there's an overlap but if it is, it will be the one clipped.
There. I think I have that right. Someone tell me if I don't.
In other TiVo News, it is now possible to do an online scheduling via the Yahoo TV Listings page. You'll need to have a Yahoo e-mail and also sign up for online scheduling over at the TiVo site. Once you do, it makes things very easy, especially if your TiVo is connected to the Internet so it can receive the data quickly. We like this a lot.
Lastly: TiVo has started a new promotion on its site where you can get a 40-hour TiVo for free if you sign up for a full year of TiVo service and pay a slightly higher subscription fee for the first year — $16.95 a month as opposed to $12.95. That comes to $203.40 for the box and Year One of its usage and then, I assume, they let you go down to the lower subscription price. The standard best deal for a 40-hour TiVo is $49.99 for the machine and then the first year is $155.40 –which equals $205.39. So it's not much of a savings, though it may be greater because I think you have to pay sales tax on the latter deal and don't on the new one. Still, you may not want to avail yourself of the "free machine" offer because a 40-hour TiVo may be too small for you. I bought an 80-hour TiVo for my office and a few years later, I took it in to these people and had its hard disk replaced with two that jointly give me 317 hours at Basic Quality or 142 at High Quality. I record most things at High Quality though I always have the fear that my TiVo is going to look at what I watch and tell me, "Sorry, you can't record a low quality show at High Quality."