Technical caveats
TiVo does not store your image and music files on its own hard drive, so they will not take up space used for recording TV shows. To view photos or play your digital tunes through TiVo, your computer must be on, and the TiVo Desktop software must be open (the software can be set to open automatically when you boot up your computer).

TiVo's HMO is not immune to freeze-ups and error messages. If your computer freezes up, your HMO will, too. And network setup might be a bear for a total novice. But you can't blame these pitfalls on TiVo. They've done a good job of keeping things simple. In its role as a home network "node," TiVo's user-friendly personality remains intact.

Power users may find the TiVo's idiot-proof interface slow or clumsy for navigating large numbers of music or image files. They will surely find the file format limitations frustrating. TiVo will play MP3, M3U, PLS and ASX files, but not WAV, WMA, AIFF or AAC (iTunes store) files. It does not stream Internet radio. On the photo side, it will display JPG, GIF, BMP, DIB and PNG files. It won't play any sort of movie files, yet. That seems like an obvious target for future generations of the HMO.

The Toshiba SD-H400 is a DVD player with an 80GB TiVo? Series2? hard disk recorder built in.

How does Home Media Option stack up?
Since more than a third of U.S. households now have audio and photo content on their PCs, makers of computers and home audio/video gear are racing to market with gizmos designed to bridge the divide. You'll find a variety of media adapters, as well as receivers and DVD players that come with network jacks and software.

At the high end of this new product genre, you'll see Media Center PCs that excel in audio/visual applications (including TV recording). These new PCs usually come with a remote control, and easily connect to your home theater system.

If you have no desire to put a computer in your living room, then TiVo's Home Media Option makes sense, given its relatively low cost. If you already have a network and a Series2 TiVo machine, it will cost you well under $200 to give HMO a whirl. Compared with some of the other "media receivers" on the market, that's price-competitive. Some of the other products do more, at this stage. But TiVo has been known to periodically upgrade its software. Only time will tell whether TiVo's solution is a big winner in this exciting new category.