The original announcement was here, and it was particularly vague. Other than promising some advanced functionality common in today’s current TiVo boxes, and support for DIRECTV’s latest standard in HD broadcasting, there wasn’t really much meat in the announcement; just a thin promise of availability in late 2009.

Of course, all of this is rumor and speculation; unconfirmed by TiVo or DIRECTV, but it is our experience that the farther away a product is projected to become available, the greater likelihood there is of a delay; after all, much can happen over a longer period of time and there is always more downside than upside when things are in flux and an expectation has already been set.

So now, we are starting to see more than just speculation that things have slipped into 2010, and it certainly wouldn’t surprise us this project ended up getting killed at some point. After all the world is changing faster than this product’s development has been evolving.

As we’ve been recommending to many of our customers with DIRECTV, we think that if you are considering making the move to high-definition and really want a TiVo, the TiVo HD with cable is a better option. Even though, the cable companies have been varied in their quality of support for cableCARDS and can be difficult to deal with at times, the TiVo HD is a proven product, a good value and packed with features.

In addition, the cable companies do NOT require a contract when signing up. You can very easily switch from DIRECTV (if you are not stuck in a contract) and adopt a TiVo HD. If and when something better comes from DIRECTV, you can drop your cable company like a hot potato, if you wish – just leave your dish on your roof and you can switch back to DIRECTV whenever you want.

Worried about the additional cost of a TiVo HD and the subscription? Buy a lifetime subscription and you’ll get most of that back if you sell the unit on Ebay.

In the end, you are likely to be happier as you’ll get the full functionality of TiVo and high-definition TODAY instead of waiting for LONG time, and possibly extending your DIRECTV contract for two-years and getting stuck with their HD DVR.