Mediacom Converters (Iowa)

I'm moving soon to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area and they have Mediacom as the cable provider. I will get cable cards for my pair of 4-channel Tivos but I was wondering about the two types of converter boxes they rent. Both are Pace boxes and one looks exactly like the HD Pace box I currently have with Suddenlink. The other box seems to be a simple non-HD digital converter. My questions are these: First, will the non-HD box allow me to record on a Series 2 Tivo? Second, can I get some channels on my LCD (digital) TV's without a converter box (i.e.: direct connection to the cable outlet)? I know that when Suddenlink recently went "all digital" that I lost the capability of getting channels on my TV's without converter boxes.