You are probably getting the latest TiVo software mixed up with what we run here in Australia.

The features you are talking about are part of the TiVo to Go package. This requires a paid subscription to the real TiVo service to work. I think there are only 1 or two people in Australia with Paid S2 service and they are using these machines for experimenting.

Most people run S1's with V3 and a few of us use v4.01b with the S2's.

As standard the S1's do not talk to each other, there are hacks that can start FXP transfers from one to the other, but I have not found them practical.

The S2's could in theory be interfaced to each other via the "multiroom viewing" function, but since I only have 1 I have not tried it.

Personally I only use the S2 as a backup unit in case of a missed channel change or some other issue on the most watched shows. The picture quality is not good enough for regular use.

All the S1's are setup with different SP's and I manually resolve conflicts. They all feed into a whole house RF modulator system, so any tivo can be watched and conrolled from any room.

Again there are patches for automatic conflict resolution, but I have not found them to be reliable, so I don't use them.

So, as you asked the pro's are I can record all six FTA channels at the same time. But mostly they record shows that run after each other on the same channel, but using different TiVo's. This way each show recorded is only one file, even if the stations are running very late. I have variable endpadding of between 5 and 25 minutes depending on time of day and channel.

Con's: conflict resolutions take about an hour a week to sort out. a bunch of extra remotes on the coffee table (now using a Harmony).

The only things to read are really on oztivo.net, reading elsewhere will discuss features not used here and just add to the confussion.

Peter.