Watch one show, record another

One of the best reasons to own a DirecTivo (ahem…DirectDVR with Tivo, sorry – old habit!) has been the ability to manage two feeds. This allows you to record two shows at once or record one show while watching another.

While your standard Tivo will never be able to record two shows at once, here’s a simple way to record one show while you watch another:

This only works for folks with cable or antenna feeds only – not satellite.

The premise here is we’re going to split your feed into two feeds. One will be TV feed and one will be a Tivo feed. You’re gaining TV one feed. This may sound obvious, but you will only have Tivo functionality (like Pause, for example) on the feed coming from your Tivo. Remember, you’re not losing Tivo functions – those still work – you’re simply gaining one new TV feed.

The first thing you’ll need is an RF Splitter. (about $6.50 at Radio Shack) and an additional coax cable (RG59 – the old standby). You may also need component cable (with red/yellow/white connectors) to connect your Tivo to your TV.

If you have just an antenna feed or cable without a cable box, simply take the feed from the wall and attach the splitter. Now you have two coax cables to run. Take the first line and run it into the RF connector on your Tivo. Run the second line directly into your TV’s RF connector. If you don’t already have component connectors (yellow/red/white) running from your Tivo to your TV, you’ll need to connect this way now. That’s all there is to it!

Now you should be able to toggle the input selection on your TV and switch between the wall feed and the Tivo feed. Generally there is a button on your remote called “TV/VIDEO” or “SOURCE” to toggle the inputs.

If you have a cable box, the setup is very similar. Just take one of your feeds from the splitter directly into the cable box. Connect the other to the TV. Connect the cable box to the Tivo using an RF cable or component cables. Connect the Tivo to your TV with component cables. Done!