The Los Angeles Times is reporting that TiVo is about to launch a new system that interjects its own commercials, sweepstakes offers and other promotional messages when a TiVo user is fast-forwarding through a network block of commercials. Up until now, one of the main advantages of TiVo has been its ability to skip commercials. Clients signed up by the millions to use the DVR (digital video recorder) system and even agreed to pay a monthly or lifelong fee for the TiVo service.

Humax USA in its partnership with TiVo are introducting the new Humax DRT800 DVD recorder with TiVo service. For $399 (after $100 rebate), the Humax DVD recorder with TiVo is available from nationwide retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Buy.com, Circuit City, Good Guys, Humaxusa.com, J&R Music, Sam’s Club, and TiVo.com.

Humax has announced that the first TiVo Series2 DVR with 300 hours of recording capacity will be available this month at retailers nationwide for $699. The T2500 TiVo Series2 DVR will debut along with an 80-hour unit, the T800, at a number of select independent retailers and regional chains nationwide including Good Guys, Circuit City, J&R Music and Computer World, Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Electronics Expo, and Vann's. With a focus on simplicity, industrial design and ease-of-use, the T2500 and T800 will have an MSRP of $699 and $299 respectively.

TiVo is expanding the possibilities of digital video recording (DVR) technology with the announcement of new features that allow TiVo customers to download movies and music from the Internet, which would then be saved to the TiVo's hard drive. Currently, TiVo lets customers watch broadcast, cable or satellite programs at any time, but the new technology will allow customers to mix downloaded music and movies with television programs.

Millions of HDTV’s earliest adopters are wondering where is TiVo for their HDTV signals. Hughes released an extremely limited number of HD digital video recorders (DVRs) with TiVo in mid-April to consumers who preordered them, mainly from mainstream stores like The Good Guys! and online retailers.