TiVo to launch video recorder that integrates cable box

TiVo Inc. wants to declutter living rooms and simplify changing channels with its television recorders as it announced plans Thursday to launch models that integrate the converter boxes required by many cable TV companies.

Currently, most TiVo customers with digital cable must connect their digital video recorders to a separate box using either a low-speed data port or a device that shoots infrared signals to the converter, mimicking a remote control.

But not all cable boxes have the data port and so-called infrared blasters aren’t always reliable. That means a show might not record properly because the TV failed to switch to the correct channel.

By incorporating an emerging technology called CableCard, the new TiVo recorders would essentially have built-in converter boxes after a cable company-provided card is slipped into a slot. Like a standalone cable box, it would convert the scrambled TV signal.