I've been fairly interested in the TiVo since its release, but I've refrained from buying one. Partially because of the price, but also because my main PC performs at least some of these functions. But I was still intriged by the ability to pause live television as so forth.
Now, TiVo has unveiled plans to position its digital video recorders at the centre of home entertainment networks, giving the devices the ability to communicate over a home network system with Windows PCs and Macs. A sort of "multimedia server" of sorts is what is planned.
One thing is for sure: the personal computer will evolve into a home multimedia center for the 21st Century, and TiVo has led the way in this arena for some time. Now, I can't see Microsoft taking this lying down. Its got big plans for its Windows XP Media Center, such that it plans to rival and eventually beat the TiVo in this market. And M$ have done it before. Remember Netscape?
More here.