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Welcome to GeekTonic – the go-to place for Media Gadgets, HTPC’s and Tech Talk – Tonic for your Inner Geek
Featured Recent Stories
- Barnes & Nobel Bringing eBooks to Canada - but not eReaders...
- Microsoft MediaCenter CableCard Firmware Update Arrives – With Digital Cable Advisor. In perhaps the most popular move by Microsoft ever (from HTPC enthusiasts perspective), the CableCard firmware with loosened DRM restrictions and ability to use CableCard with most PCs arrived over the weekend.
- Remote Control Design - what's your ideal best remote control
- The Second Digital Transition - A great post by Scott, a long-time GeekTonic reader and SageTV 3rd party developer regarding the CableTV transition to digital
- TV Networks Decide DVRs are Okay After All?
- CableCard and SageTV Sittin’ in a Tree - SageTV is getting CableCard support in a 3rd party hack sort of way. But very exciting news for SageTV users- And MissingRemote has a screen-shot of it working
Week in Review – November 14
Below is a quick summary of the past week's news and stories on GeekTonic.
More in-depth content for Media Gadget Fans at GeekTonic.com.
Working Screenshot of SageTV and CableCard Tuner
You might remember that talk of SageTV getting a way to use CableCard tuners right? Well, thanks to Andrew known as babgvant, maker of countless Media Center and SageTV add-ons and the well-known DVRMSToolbox the tool to bring CableCard to SageTV is near. And thanks to Mike Garcen of MissingRemote.com fame it’s getting a public workout to see how viable the CableCard/SageTV solution really is.
Mike isn’t sharing too much yet, but he does have a screenshot showing SageTV tuning an HD channel being recorded by his ATI CableCard tuner with firmware 1.9 installed on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit computer. I’m anxiously waiting to hear more about this as I haven’t acquired that CableCard tuner I had hoped to “borrow.” Once the Ceton comes out this could be a very big deal.
via MissingRemote – check out the full-size screenshot there
Boxee Getting its own Set Top Box
Looks like the popular HTPC software Boxee has found another way to spend some of that private equity money they’ve been getting. After talking about the concept for a while, Boxee announced this morning that they have signed their first (will there be more?) partnership with a consumer electric company to put Boxee into a CE device. They aren’t saying much more then that, but they plan to show mockups of the box and share more details at their Boxee Beta unveiling event in NY on December 7th.
My question is this: Will there ever be a PVR functionality built into Boxee? Without that, it will continue to be relegated to the hobby side of this niche market.
Netflix Offers Studios Delay for New Releases for 50% Discount
There’s been a lot of talk around the subject of movie releases to rental companies of late. First we have the Redbox mess with them suing the movie studios and the studios suing back. Now we’re hearing that Netflix is offering a deal with the movie studios this:
We’ll delay the availability of new DVD/Blu-ray releases to Netflix users if you (the studio) gives Netflix a 50% discount on said movies.
Netflix sees this as an option for them compared to their competitors like Redbox and Blockbuster because they “aren’t as dependant on new releases”, but I see this as a definite lowering of Netflix value from a consumer perspective. If they take this tact, I would definitely consider other options for my movie rentals. The problem is this. If netflix does make such a deal, they’re big enough that the movie studios just might make that the standard and force consumers to buy those new releases or wait for the delayed window – and this would be at all movie rental locations – not just Netflix.
GeekTonic Deal Watcher 11/11/2009
GeekTonic’s Brother Affiliate Site, GeekTonic Deals has been ramping up the deal watching looking for good tech deals including stuff for your home theater, HTPC and other tech needs. Here’s a few of the recent ones from the last few days:
- Newegg Sale – Today Only
- Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Player $130
- 3.5” GPS Navigator with Traffic & Voice Command $100
- Logitech RF Wireless Keyboard & Mouse $31
- Kingston 4GB SDHC Card $11.99
- USB 2.0 SD/MMC Card Reader 8.99
- SiliconDust HDHR Dual Digital TV Tuner $149 Free Shipping
- Logitech Harmony 890 Remote Control $100 Refurbished
To keep up with other media gadget deals follow GeekTonicDeals.com or better yet, add it to your RSS Reader or follow GeekTonicDeals on Twitter. I’m prepping GeekTonicDeals to follow the best deals for the coming holiday season so stay tuned.
Barnes & Noble Bringing eBooks to Canada
Barnes & Noble plans to beat Amazon to the punch a bit by selling their eBooks to Canadian customers by this December. This includes of course eBooks for their new eReader, the Nook.
So Amazon, what’s the holdup for your Kindle in Canada? For those Canadians wondering, I keep hearing rumors that Amazon will announce a Canadian breakthrough soon, but no confirmation of that as of yet…
