Big news this morning. Amazon and TiVo are in talks to supply Amazon Unbox digital content directly to TiVos. How, why, and when, you ask? Read on:

Who can use Unbox?

Series 2 and 3 TiVo owners. They are starting it in beta and moving out from there.

Get me some of that Beta action!

Go here, but trust us, there are more obsessed people than you who have been clicking that link all night.

How do I get some Unbox content?

Get thee to Amazon and link your TiVo with Unbox. Then buy your titles and the TiVo with automatically talk to Amazon and set up the exchange.

Where is all this content going to show up? I have lots of episodes of Cops on there…

It’s in your Now Playing list. Big no brainer. The quality will be better than your Best Quality recordings, which suggests that Amazon can bend semantic space and make something better than TiVo’s best. Thanks, TiVo!

Can I hack my TiVo?

Certainly. Rest assured that week one won’t bring the fruits of hacking efforts, but around week five of the official launch, someone will figure out how to get video off of the TiVo. This is not so much a hunch as it is a challenge.

Is this cool?

Sure. It means digital downloads on a global scale are so close we can taste them. TiVo is big, Amazon is big. Everyone else – the Blockbusters, the Netflixes, the Joes Video-o-rama on the corner – has to follow suit with something as good or better. Video straight to your TV via TiVo is a big deal, on par with Apple TV. Let’s see how Vista changes the 360 experience and lets us stream video because right now I’m not feeling it.

Amazon Unbox TiVo FAQ