TiVo Introduces QWERTY DVR Remote

This week TiVo launched their full QWERTY TiVo Slide Remote Control they demonstrated earlier this year.  I’m intrigued by DVR remote controls that keep that same familiar remote look & feel but add the QWERTY keyboard for typing in searches and other alpha character fields in the User Interface.  Dave Zatz '>demonstrated the bluetooth remote at ZatzNotFunny!

Note correction from Dave Zatz from the comments:  It's both Bluetooth and IR. So you can control your television (power, volume) in addition to controlling the TiVo

 

The TiVo Slide Remote doesn’t use Infrared like most remote controls.  Instead it connects via Bluetooth with a USB dongle that attaches to TiVo Premiere and Premiere XL units, TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs.  You can get it at Tivo’s website, Best Buy stores and Amazon for $89.99

I like the looks of this remote and covet it about as much as the not-yet-released, Boxee Remote Control.

Tivo Gets Netflix HD Watch Now Streaming

 

Tivo users get one more online video source with the addition of Netflix Watch Now streaming with HD.  ZatzNotFunny! has all of the details and a nice video to show how it works in TiVo.

Check it out at ZatzNotFunny!

Netflix Watch Now Streaming Coming to Tivo

Netflix and TiVo have partnered add the Netflix video streaming capability to TiVo users before Christmas 2008.  The new service will be available on TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD only.

Read more at ZatzNotFunny!

The Tivo/Nero LiquidTV Software Gets Reviewed

If you are curious about the new Tivo LiquidTV software by Nero, you'll want to check out Ben Drawbaugh's review over at EngadgetHD.  The review has plenty of screen-shots and photos and goes into the pros and cons of the software. 

Here is an excerpt from the EndgadgetHD review's conclusion:

"As TiVo fans we want to like the Nero Liquid TV software and can see two possible ways people might use it. First, there's the obvious roll your own DVR route that will enable you to turn just about any PC into a DVR. The second is as a companion for a real TiVo. The problem with both solutions is the price. Of course, if it did either spectacularly well, then it'd be worth the price, but the fact is it doesn't."

I think it will still appeal to those TiVo addicts who can't live without the TiVo UI, but beyond that I don't see this software doing very well.  I'm expecting to see plenty more reviews of LiquidTV soon so I'll be interested in others take on the new software.  You can read my original comments on how the LiquidTV software affects the HTPC market in this post.

Read the full review at EngadgetHD

TIVO makes a move into HTPC software

A Tivo Home Theater PC software called LiquidTV is coming in October thanks to the partnership with consumer electronics maker Tivo and software maker Nero.  The software application will provide the TiVo experience on personal computers allowing users to record shows onto a computer hard drive, move content between their TiVos and computers and record and format videos so that they can be synced to their iPods and Playstation mobile devices or archived onto DVDs.

There will be 2 versions of the product, both including a 1-year TiVo guide service:

First a software-only version for those that already have a tuner and IR blaster/receiver runs $99.99
Next a retail box version with the TiVo Peanut remote control, IR blaster/receiver, and a Hauppauge HVR-950Q USB TV tuner card will cost $199.99.
 

The service will then costs $99.99 per year after the first year.  The software will be available for a free, 30-day trial before purchasing.

Nero/TiVo’s LiquidPC Features & Capabilities:

• Tuner Support:  Officially supported tuners are listed on the TiVo LiquidTV website, but they are saying that any tuner with a BDA driver should work fine with the software.
• # of Tuners: The software will support up to four tuners but only one of those tuners can be a set-top box.
• Operating System:  Windows XP or Vista only
• System Requirements:  The LiquidTV PC requirements are a bit higher than with Snapstream’s BeyondTV or SageTV.  Requirements include 3.0GHz Pentium IV or AMD Athlon 3200+, 256 MB Ram (512MB for Vista).  All in all the requirements are in line with what I would recommend for a HTPC these days anyway, but it does leave out those with older PCs.  You can view the entire list of system requirements on the LiquidTV website.
• Remote Control & Mouse Control?  Can be controlled with a remote control if you have an IR receiver or using the computer mouse.
• DRM and content protection?  It hasn’t been confirmed, but you can bet that TiVo will use content protection “flags” on this software that prevents the recording, copying and manipulation of “flagged” programs – just as they do with their other TiVo products.
• TiVo Extras?  LiquidTV does support wishlists and KidZone, but no support for other TiVo extras like Amazon Video-on-Demand, TiVoCasts, podcast support, Internet radio etc.
• Can the TiVo view recorded content streamed from LiquidTV & vice versa?  Yes, as long as they’re both connected to your home network.
• Can the TiVo view liveTV streamed from LiquidTV & vice versa?  No, it will work just as the current TiVo devices today where the tuners and settings are independent of each other.  No server/client architecture is built-in as is available on SageTV and BeyondTV.
• Placeshifting outside of the network like Sling, Orb or SageTV Placeshifter? Not supported with LiquidTV
• CableCard Support?  Initially at least there will be no cablecard support.  It is possible, although unlikely that users might be able to purchase preconfigured CableCard PC’s just as Vista Media Center PC users can today.
• Hauppauge HD-PVR Support?  It is very unlikely that the new software will support the Hauppauge HD-PVR component capture device (allows you to record all channels including those that are encrypted) as the support for H.264 files is not there for the new TiVo software.  Add to that the fact that TiVo doesn’t want to upset the content providers by offering “unprotected” media to the user.
• Launch Date in US: LiquidTV is set to launch in the US, Canada, and Mexico on October 15, 2008.
• Launch Date in Europe:  LiquidTV is set to launch in Europe in 2009. 

A video-demo of the interface in action can be viewed at Nero's website

Screen-shots of the interface:






TiVo’s Liquid TV & the Effect on the HTPC Market:

The Home Theater PC software companies such as Microsoft, Snapstream, SageTV and Apple will likely be watching this product closely as it is a direct move into their turf.  In the LiquidTV’s Press Presentation, they made the specific point that

“It is a way to expand the user base, and an alternative solution to MCE, SageTV, BeyondTV and Replay.”

So it’s obvious that TiVo is attempting to wean those who use or might choose one of the leading software-based PVR programs away from those competing programs and onto the TiVo pay-for-the-guide service.

That being said, I expect this software to be a small-time player in the HTPC world.  While I imagine there are several current TiVo owners who want to extend their TiVo interface to the PC, I don’t see this product appealing in the niche market of Home Theater PC software. 

Having the TiVo interface likely sounds pretty good to many people, but I’m betting we’ll see lots of complaints from early users as Nero works to make the software stable. I’ve been involved with HTPC software for many years and I can tell you it is a very difficult thing to support. You’re dealing with multiple PC configurations, multiple levels of tech understanding in your users and the sometimes finicky PC.

Most HTPC software companies have spent years getting their software to the point that it is stable and solid enough to gain the trust of the common TV viewer.  

It will have the TiVo name and very similar interface, but it can’t have the same reliability and support being a software product.

To me it seems like TiVo is going backwards on the HTPC concept where a PC makes a great HTPC/PVR server (expandable, upgradable, hideable) and the low-configuration hardware device (aka extender or tivo box) makes a great device to extend to the Television. 

Instead, TiVo is moving the opposite direction with LiquidTV.  Obviously this isn’t a move to make all TiVo users HTPC users, but more a move to hook some of those HTPC users into their simple, well-designed TiVo UI.

Another major point against this software is the cost.  Why would someone pay $99 a year for the software TiVo when they could get the hardware TiVo that probably works better, tunes more channels and will undoubtedly get better support for not much more initial cost?

All My TV Favorites On At Same Time?

 I've been using all six tuners on my HTPC this week.  Here's a screen-shot of my SageTV Web Server Upcoming Recordings for this past Monday to give you an idea of the activity:
 
 
 
The first few weeks of the Fall TV season are always busy ones for my Media PC and this year has been no exception.  Both Monday and Tuesday nights I had all six tuners recording shows at once.  I' don’t watch all of them, but like to check out some of the premieres to see if they interest me.  Add to that the shows my wife and daughter watch and it gets to be a busy HTPC.

Here's a screen-shot right from the Recorded Shows of SageTV from last night:

For the record, I’m watching Fringe (recommended) and checking out the Mentalist (It was good and worth watching.)  Of the others listed on the screen-shot above taken from my SageTV recorded TV page, House is the only other show I’ll be watching all of the way through.  What are you watching this TV season?  Anything you recommend to watch or not watch?  Ever run out of tuners to record everything you want to watch on TV?

Win a Tivo Glo remote at ZatzNotFunny!

Tivo’s remote controls have some of the best remote controls in terms of look, feel and simplicity.  I’m a little late on this, but Dave Zatz is giving away a Tivo Glo Remote on ZatzNotFunny probably as soon as Friday. 

So don’t waste any time, head over to ZNF and put your name in to win the Tivo Glo Remote.
Even if you don’t have a Tivo, you could use the Tivo Glo remote with your HTPC using girder or eventghost.
ZatzNotFunny! Tivo Glo Remote Giveaway

Coming Soon - Control Tivo with Blackberry

TiVo and BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion (RIM) announced a partnership today promising the two firms will work together to make the BlackBerry smartphones work with the TiVo DVR products.  The first step of this will give BlackBerry users access to their TiVo program guide and in turn the ability to schedule television shows.  And it looks like streaming is a strong possiblity in the future.  As of now, there is no estimate on when the TiVo BlackBerry functionality will be available.  via FoxBusiness

SageTV users will note that they can already access their personal TV Guide, set up and manage their TV recordings today.  If you're interested in how that works check out my article on SageTV Mobile from June.

Honey I need a new Drive - The Olympics Filled Up My DVR

If you're like many television viewers, you've been watching some of the Summer Olympics these past few weeks.  With the Olympic Games coverage on NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal-HD, NBC HD, and USA HD channels there's been lots of options and about 3,600 hours of Olympics to watch over the entire games.  Well for some folks, just watching some of the games isn't enough - many have been recording some of the events and some have even been recording everything.  With DVRs, TIVO's and HTPC's there are lots of options out there and many of them (TIVO, SageTV and BeyondTV for instance) give you the ability to record by a keyword.

If you're wondering how much hard drive space you'd need to record all of that 3,600 hours lets just say it could easily fill up 2 Terrabytes of hard drive space - and thats assuming much of the recording is being done with non-HD.....

One guy I found who is doing this is Jake.  Jake is using BeyondTV, a HTPC software program to record all of the Olympics.  Jake says:

"I love to watch the Olympics. There's just so much of it I hope that we get to see some of the obscure stuff that's out there....I like to see many of the lesser known events, and even then we are missing some. Even with all of my recordings, so often the times are off and when the show ends, I have inevitably missed the last most important minutes of the events."

What kind of setup is Jake using to record and store all of this SD and HD Olympics content?
Jake has 3 Beyond TV Link (Home Theater PC's used as extenders) machines.  He and his wife watch a majority of the programming.  Jake also commented about their move away from the standard cable-box DVR:

We probably "watch 100% more than we should be because it is so easy to record and skip commercials. She (nor I) could live without a DVR any longer."

His setup includes a dual-core 3.0 ghz Processor in a Silverstone case.  There are two HD OTA tuners and three SD cable tuners.  In total there is 1TB of hard drive space to store everything & for the times like the Olympics I'm betting that much hard drive space is needed.

He plans to upgrade his system to handle these heavy-use times.  It will be interesting to see what he does for the next Olympics.  You can read more about Jake's Olympics Keyword Recording at the Snapstream Forums.

Another person doing this is Dale Dietrich (contributor for ZatzNotFunny), who uses his S3 Tivo to record every NBC Olympics broadcast.  Dale says he's recordimg about 14 hrs a day and uses the fast forward button a lot.  To add recording space he uses sidecar and has about 1TB of space total.
I polled some SageTV users as well and many of them are using their Hauppauge HD-PVR's to watch and record their content in HD.  To read about more HTPC owners recording their Olympics using different strategies check out the SageTV forums.

More Vista Media Center DRM Issues

Mike Garcen at MissingRemote.com is reporting that his Vista Media Center gave him the following message when attempting to record American Gladiators:

Recording Canceled

“American Gladiators” cannot be recorded.  Restrictions set by the broadcaster and/or originator of the content prohibit recording of this program.

Mike was running a CableCard VMC HTPC in San Jose when this happened.  And it’s likely this was a glitch between the broadcaster and VMC somehow.  Still, I worry that this copy protection is there for a reason and will be used intentionally eventually.  Consider the case of the Superbowl game, the NCAA championship, the finale of your favorite Television show is blocked to CableCards to “protect” their content from those thieving HTPC users.

You can call me paranoid if you want, but I think it’s a valid concern.  I’ve leaned towards finding an alternative to CableCard for this very reason and now with SageTV (or BeyondTV) and the HD-PVR, I have that solution.

Andreas says on his blog that he believes this is a Media Center issue and not a broadcast error.  Regardless of the cause, I’m sure it is frustrating for VMC users.

I think MissingRemote puts it best in their conclusion:

There's no excuse for a person to spend $1500 on a cable card system to then be told they cannot record content which is available for FREE without ANY protection with a $5 Over-the-Air antenna. I hope that's not the case, but in the meantime, I'm left watching something NOT called American Gladiators due to this.

Read more on this at MissingRemote.com

DVR Users Watch More TV, Purchase Less Advertised Goods

Its become obvious to the Television Networks and the Advertisers who pay the Networks bills that DVRs are having an impact on their business.  The big question has been what kind of impact?  Some have said DVRs cause people to watch more, and they are still watching commercials too.  Well today AdAge has a story that talks about how the DVR is affecting the actual purchase of goods advertised on television. 

 

TELEVISION COMMERCIALS LESS EFFECTIVE ON DVR USERS

The results of a three-year study by Information Resources Inc. show a statistical drop in purchases of brand-name, advertised goods for DVR families versus non-DVR families.  The study also found that spending dropped by as much as 5% in homes with DVRs and that drop in spending directly affected those brands being advertised in television.

One interesting finding was that do-it-yourself, food, home & garden as well as lower quality shows were time-shifted less often than other types of programming.  It attributed this to the type of viewer as well as the fact that many of these shows are watched by channel surfers who are less apt to fast forward through commercials.

DVR USERS WATCH MORE TELEVISION

Last month, Nielsen announced findings of their study showing a significant increase in television viewing and some shifts in the way people were watching television due to the DVR-effect:

• Time Shifting of Television shows extends prime-time viewing to later in the evening (this happens in my house just so we can skip the commercials.
• The more viewers time-shift their shows, the more TV they watch.
• Dramas account for 1/3rd of all time-shifted viewing while talk shows, soaps and reality programming are also heavily time-shifted.

Both studies show that DVRs have a significant impact on the television industry.  I think we'll continue to see less Dramas on non-premium TV channels, more in-show product placement, more online television content where it is difficult to skip the commercials and fewer broadcast networks in the long run.  DVRs are here to stay so the industry has no choice except to evolve with those changes.

Ad Age Story

Nielsen Story

SageTV Web Interface - Control SageTV over the Web

One of my favorite Home Theater PC software programs is SageTV.  SageTV turns your PC into a souped-up TIVO that can do DVR functions, movies, music and so much more.  For new users of SageTV, the first plugin I always recommend they install is the user-created and supported SageTV Web User Interface.  This excellent plugin gets called many names including webserver, webguide and webadmin; but the important thing to know is that SageTV Web Interface is a free, SageTV personalized, online TV guide and much, much more.

 

The SageTV Web Interface allows you to remotely view your personal TV guide, view streamed live or recorded TV programs, remotely schedule and manage your recorded television programs, manage and view (or listen to) your music, pictures, dvds and videos that reside on your SageTV at home.  Install SageTV Web Interface on your SageTV PC and access it from any machine with a web browser, including your cell phone or mobile device.  It works with any Windows operating systems as well as Linux.  Even if you already use SageTV and Web Interface, it's likely that there are features that you didn't even realize were there.  The developer for the SageTV Web Inteface is known as Nielm on the SageTV forums and has been very active in updating this plugin with new features as well as working on his many other add-ons for SageTV.

Features:

• Online TV Guide that shows your channels, your scheduled recordings (favorites) and whether the episode is a new one or a repeat.  View by EPG List, EPG Grid, by channel, Primetime by day, Movies only, List of watched shows
• Add, edit or remove a recording to your SageTV at home from across the internet.
• Conflict Resolution - when you have recordings that conflict with each other (for instance you have two tuners but three recordings scheduled at the same time) you can resolve that conflict online by having one of the conflicting recordings rescheduled to a later airing.
• Manual Recordings - Set up a manual recording on any channel that will last a set amount of time or manually set a certain show to record.
• Advanced Search of: SageTV Recordings, TV Guide, DVDs and other videos on your SageTV, Music by genre track or album, and photos.
• View all SageTV Recordings and advanced management of those recordings
• View all upcoming SageTV upcoming recordings and advanced management of those upcoming recordings
• Edit recorded show information
• Download any media file from your SageTV across the internet
• Play (stream) liveTV or any media file from your SageTV across the internet (including recorded TV shows, music, movies etc.
• Export any video or music playlists
• Export or import any show imformation via Xml file
• RSS feeds for Recording Schedule, Recording Conflicts, and Intelligent Suggestions
• Video conversion management - Execute a conversion of media content from a standard mpg file to ipod or various other video formats such as AppleTV, DVD, MPEG4, PSP, RAZR and iPod.  View status of video conversions underway.
• View SageTV intelligent recommendations - SageTV "watches" your viewing habits and can make recommendations on shows you might be interested in based on those viewing habits.
• RSS and XML output of almost all lists mentioned above.
• View SageTV Status including: What content is being viewed on any SageTV device (including extenders), what content is being recorded on each tuner, Upcoming recordings per tuner, Connected clients, video disk space, last & next program guide update as well as stats on all of your media library.
• Manually force a program guide update
• Manually force a media library scan (check disk for new media content)
• Webremote - an internet-based remote control that can control any SageTV device including your extenders. 
• For example, you could use this on your internet-capable mobile phone (iPhone or otherwise) to act as a remote control for SageTV.  [For the webremote to have access to the client, it has to run in the client instance. To do this, you have to add the load_at_startup_runnable_classes=net.sf.sageplugins.webserver.StartServer line to the SageClient.properties file instead of the Sage.properties file.]
• Shutdown or reboot any SageTV extender via the web.
• Import BeyondTV recordings (with episode details) into SageTV.
• Sync videos to the iPod - Using iTunes and podcasts, you can sync certain (or all) shows and/or videos to your iPod.

The Web Interface Works via drop-down menu's:

Main Menu

TV Program Guide (EPG) Menu Options

Schedule Recordings Menu

Media Library Menu Options

SageTV Web Interface Resources:

Detailed Instructions, full version history - SageTV Web Interface Wiki

SageTV Forum Thread for Web Interface - WebInterface Forum Thread

Download Page for SageTV Web Interface - SourceForge Page

 

BASIC INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (for more detailed instructions, check out this wiki)

Download and install the web interface
1. First you need to download the Windows Installer of Web Interface from SourceForge.  The download is just under 900K in size and is a java web server embedded into the SageTV process so IIS or Apache needed.

NOTE:  For Linux installation, read these special installation steps

2. Shutdown SageTV, SageTVClient, and the SageTVService (if you're using in service mode)

3. Run the installer and choose a username and password.  Be sure and write these down and use something you'll remember later on.

4. Next you'll see a setup window like this one:

Here you can choose the port you'll use to access web interface.  The default is 8080 and 8081.  If you're not familiar with this sort of thing leave these settings alone, but if you would like to customize and choose different ports for the web interface this is where you do that.  For purposes of this tutorial, we'll leave everything the default settings as is.

5. Click on the "Next" button and choose "Install".

6. Now restart SageTV and on the same PC that you installed the web interface open a web browser.  In the browser type http://localhost:8080/sage/home.  You should see a login screen that asks for your username & password - type those in using the same information you used for the web interface setup.  You should now see a screen similar to this one which is the main SageTV web interface page.

7. Next we need to change some settings on your router to allow outside access (over the internet) to your online web interface.  To do this we need to enable port-forwarding for the port you chose (8080 is the default).  My router is a linksys WRT54G and this page will vary from router-to-router, but the concept is the same. 

• In the start and end fields type in the port you chose in setup (8080 is the default) insert the IP address of the PC you have SageTV installed on (Note: It's easiest if this PC has a static IP address on your LAN. If you need instructions for this, check out this how-to on LifeHacker)
• Make sure the "enable" checkbox is selected.
• Click on save settings.

If you need help on port-forwarding check out this page for further assistance.

8. You can now access your Web Interface within your home network using

http://(SageTV PC's IP address):(SageTV PC's port)

You can also access the web interface page from the internet (outside your home network) by changing the "SageTV PC's IP address" to your PC's internet IP address. To find out our PC's interent IP address go to THIS LINK from your SageTV PC's web browser.

(If you would like to make an easier to remember address instead of your ip address, follow the steps above) Create a DynDNS account HERE, select dyndns.org (or any domain name from their list), add your own sub domain, then configure the router with the account information

• Download the DynDNS Updater HERE
• Install & set up your DynDNS Updater to log into the DynDNS account you created with your username and password
• It will take care of the rest for you. It will now update send your Internet IP address to the DynDNS address automatically.
• You should now be able to access your SageTV Web Interface using an address like this: http://yourdyndnsusername.dyndns.org:8080/

You're now set.  You can now access the SageTV web interface for your SageTV from anywhere you have an Internet connection! 

SCREENSHOTS OF SAGETV WEB INTERFACE FEATURES:

• Remote Control SageTV with a mobile phone browser

• View a list of all of your Recordings from the web.  You can then play these streamed across the web, delete recordings, edit show information and more.

• View the TV Guide for the past 2 days, current day and any day in the future for which you have guide information (typically 7 days or more).  From the TV Guide page you can:
  • select one of the shows with your mouse and set it to record that one show
  • set that show as a favorite so it will record all future, new shows or all future airings of that show
  • see additional airings of that show
  • Search IMDB or TV.com for further information about the show

• Search your list of media.  The following screen-shot shows a list of my movie collection (DVD's and mpg's both) sorted by name.  You can also search for a specific title as well.  Once you find the movie you're looking for you can also play it streamed over the net.  Notice the XML and RSS buttons at the top-right of the screen?  This can be used in various ways.  I've used the XML button to download an xml file listing all tv recordings or all movies.  I can then open up this file in excel to see the listing of these files, location on my various hard drives, descriptions etc.  The RSS button could be used many different ways - I've used it to show you any new media added to my SageTV.  For instance I'll search for all movies, subscribe to my RSS reader (I use Google Reader) using the RSS button and then every time a new movie is added, it shows up in Google Reader.

• This is another search I did like the one above except this one was for music.  You can search be album, title artist etc.  Again, you can stream this music over the net, subscribe by RSS or output a listing using the XML button.

• The screen-shot below is a listing of the playlists in SageTV.  From this page you can stream the playlist over the web (see the wvx, m3u and pls buttons).  You can also export the playlists to your remote PC over the web.

Finally, do you want to customize your webguide?  Add different access levels for multiple users, change the viewing style, add channel logos, change the layout color, disk bar and more?  Check out this page for details on ways you can customize the webguide.

Want to add access to other files not even on your SageTV?  Here's Nielm's how-to for doing this.

As you can see, SageTV Web Interface is a powerful tool for a free application.  If you're a SageTV user, this is a must-have application.  If you want to take your mobile HTPCing a step further, SageTV also offers the SageTV Placeshifter which puts the familiar SageTV interface on your laptop or other mobile PC.  With it you can use SageTV away from home with the familiar SageTV interface.  It streams content to your remote PC transcoding the content as necessary depending on your connection.  The SageTV Placeshifter does cost to use (after the trial period), but its another nice application similar to Orb and Slingbox.

 

If you use Snapstream's BeyondTV, you can read my post on accessing BeyondTV's similar online, web admin across the internet and placeshifting content using Beyond TV's webadmin

For Microsoft Media Center users, there is the excellent webguide application created by Doug Berett.

 

Related SageTV Content:

Control Netflix Watch Now Playback With Your Remote Control

Skip Commercials With a Press of a Button - HTPC How To

Now Playing - SageTV Netflix Plugin with Watch Instantly Support

Supercharge Your HTPC with SageTV's SageMC

How To Convert Beyond TV Shows into SageTV

SageTV HD Extender STX-HD100 Review

Hauppauge HD-PVR Component Video Recorder Update

UPDATE:  I now have photos of the Hauppauge HD-PVR device here

 

There's more news from the CeBIT show that just ended this past weekend in Germany regarding the Hauppauge HD-PVR - a device that will let us record digital television straight from any component video output like a cable box, satellite box or even that HD   mentioned first in this post and then again in this one. 

Why is this device so exciting?   Any analog video out of your typical HD set-top box has been termed the "Analog Hole". This term was coined by those in the industry as one way people could get HD content isn't protected from being copied or moved in any way.  The HDMI digital connection that are quickly becoming the standard do protect the content so component out was the only loophole.

Thus far, it has been nearly impossible to record encrypted digital channels (think ESPN HD or HBO etc) to your Home Theater PC unless you have purchased a pre-configured, Microsoft Vista Media Center computer that has CableCard tuner/s pre-installed.  This was expensive and inflexible - especially if you prefer other HTPC programs such as SageTV, Beyond TV, GBPVR, Media Portal, Meedios or MythTV.  With this device, if it works as expected we'll be able to plug it into the outgoing component outputs of any HD device such as a cable box then tune and record that HD content. 

KNOWN FACTS ON THE HD-PVR:

• The official name isn't known yet, but it's called the HD PVR at the trade shows - could change at release date.
• Release date is projected to be April or May (pushed back from the original March 31 date)
• Accepts component video in "up to 1080p"
• Projected Price is $249 in the U.S. and 199 euros in Europe
• Encodes your component video to H.264 transport streams at data rates between 1Mbit - 13.5Mbit/s using it's hardware encoding (all done by the device - not your PC.)
• The hardware is finished and possibly already in the hands of several HTPC software makers for testing with their software programs.  The case was still being finished at last report.
• Based on a chip from a company called Ambarella.  This same chip is used in the Gefen HD PVR, the coming-soon Slingbox Pro HD and a few other devices yet to be released.  The chip is an all-in-one chip with a digitizer and H.264 encoder - a similar chip from the same chip manufacturer is used in many popular HD camcorders.
• Hauppauge will reportedly have Windows and Linux drivers for the device although no confirmation on when the Linux drivers will be available.
• The device will have digital audio inputs
• Will include an IR blaster with code library for controlling cable and satellite boxes.
• Included software reportedly will be Total Media Extreme, and a media converter from Arcsoft.
• Will connect to your PC via USB2 port.  Will be in the form of a USB stick of some sort.

 

Positives points on the Hauppauge Device:

• Price is reasonable
• Small physical footprint (although I haven't seen a photo of the device to be certain)
• Should work on any HD device with component output
• Hauppauge will reportedly have Windows and Linux drivers for the device.
• All digital channels on any HTPC software that supports the device - no cablecard mess to deal with
• Make backup copies of content from Blue-ray players or for those of you poor souls with the already extinct HD-DVD players.

Possible negative points:

• It hasn't been released yet so I can't buy it :)
• If you're using it to view and record from a cable box or satellite box, you'll still have to deal with an IR blaster to change the channels.  This creates a few usability issues, but not a show stopper.
• I'm wondering what the minimum hardware requirements will be.  It looks like the device will do the heavy-lifting, but I wonder if it will put an extra load on the recording PC?

Here's what Pocket-lint had to say about the device after the CeBit Show this weekend:

"The new Hauppauge HD-PVR is a plug-in USB stick with a built-in H.264 HD encoder to view and record HD video on a PC. The package also includes software to create HD disks for playback on a Blu-ray player. The new HD-PVR stick can encode 720p and 1080i HD sources at up to 13.5 Mbps on the fly to the PC's hard disk.
Available at the end of March for 199 euros, the HD-PVR stick is also supplied with Arcsoft PC authoring software that can burn video HD DVDs for playback in Blu-ray players."

I'm intrigued by the fact they call it a "USB stick" as it sounds like the device will be quite small.  It also mentions that the package will include software to create HD disks for Blu-ray player playback - a function I hadn't even thought of before.  Included software reportedly will be Total Media Extreme, and a media converter from Arcsoft.

While I've heard rumors the device won't be available until April or May in the States, the article by Pocket-lint says their saying it will be ready in March 2008 in Germany so I'll be watching this one closely and report back to you as soon as I hear more.  If anyone gets their hands on a photo of the device, be sure to let me know.

SAMPLE VIDEO OUTPUT FILE

For the more technical in the bunch, there's a sample file supposedly outputted from the device.  Download and check out the sample yourself here.  A Snapstream user "cat6man" found this information (can't link as it's on a closed beta forum) about the sample video file:

"Apart from it containing .AAC audio (and not .AC3 audio), it does not seem unusual. The "interlaced" AVC video is on PID: 0x1011 and the AAC audio is on PID: 0x1100 (which is .M2TS PID compliant).
I'm able to play the sample file in software using FFdshow's filters with MediaPlayer Classic. VLC player (v0.8.6d) crashes because it's AVC decoder does not support MBAFF or PAFF interlaced sources."

 

OTHER COMPONENT VIDEO RECORDING DEVICES ON THE HORIZON?

Dave Zatz got his hands on a somewhat similar device, the Gefen HD PVR.  It's already available, costs $1000 and is different in that it is a self-contained PVR that records only to its own hard drive.  You can however save to a USB-connected drive I believe.  EDIT:  Zatz says there is no USB or network ports on the device so that's not possible on the Gefen.  The Gefen device also does h.264 hardware encoding and captures off of Component and HDMI (HDCP Compatible).  For HTPC users like me the Gefen device isn't all that useful since you'd need to copy any recordings off of the device onto USB, move them to your HTPC machine, and then import them, but it's at least similar hardware as it uses a similar chip (Another similar chip (TI chip?) is used on the upcoming Slingbox Pro HD.)  Looks like we'll might see more of this type of thing to come. 

There's at least one other device I've been hearing about that does component video recording and is being designed for HTPC's.  I'll report more on that once I've confirmed more on it.

For me, I'll be waiting for the Hauppauge device as it might just be that "holy grail" of HTPC devices...

Lost Without New TV Shows? Some New Ones You Should Watch

Writers Strike TV "Alternatives": Part 2 New Shows on TV to Watch

(Part 1 of this series was about Netflix Watch Instantly)

As many of you know, I've been maintaining a listing of TV shows and the episodes each of those shows have remaining.  I'm updating that list each day and then separate any shows with no episodes remaining into a "deadpool" list.  While that list is a bit depressing if you like TV, there is still plenty of good TV left to watch.  Earlier this week Zatz addressed "what to watch" and with the new season of Lost beginning this week, I wanted to follow up and mention my list of shows worth watching.

Lost - Lost returns for a new season this week.  ABC is rerunning last season's two-hour finale Wednesday night (January 29th) at 9pm Eastern, in "enhanced" format (think of VH1's Pop-Up Video) with text and other sorts of info on part of the screen.  Then on Thursday night at 8pm Eastern, there will be a one-hour review of all past seasons called "Lost: Past, Present & Future" that is supposedly going to enlightened even fans of the show although I kind of doubt that...  Then, Thursday at 9pm Eastern, finally a new episode of Lost.

Eli Stone - a quirky lawyer drama that looks interesting - especially with not much else on these days.  It premiers Thursday on ABC right after Lost at 10PM Eastern.

Monk - If you aren't bored with the excellent show Monk yet, there are plenty of fresh episodes of Monk running.

Psych - While you're at it, USA has plenty of new episodes of Psych running as well.  Yes its a little hokey, but its a fun and entertaining show and... well their new episodes.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - I've watched the first two episodes of this one and it's good - real good.  Especially if you were a Firefly fan (Summer Glau) or a Sci Fi fan.  The next episode airs Monday, February 4th at 8pm Eastern.  If you missed any of the first three episodes or so, watch Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles online at Fox's Full Episode Player.

Jericho - Jericho returns for a second season and if you watch nothing else, watch this one.  You can catch up from the first season by watching it online at CBS, renting the DVD's at Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Unbox, Apple iTunes, .  Alternatively, the Sci Fi Channel bought rerun rights to season one and two of Jericho and will air four episodes from the first season on February 11th.  Then on February 12th, the second season of Jericho Begins.

You can check out the full list of Winter 08 TV Premiers I compiled at the beginning of January.  And don't forget to go outside or read a book.  Stepping away from that TV or computer once and a while is a good thing :)

Snapstream Shutting Down Couchville - Free TV Guide Suite

Early this morning, Rakesh Agrawal, CEO and founder of Snapstream announced on the Snapstream forums that the company would be taking their free, TV listings website, Couchville offline.  He said that "at least for now, this is the end of the road for any kind of a free, TV listing website from SnapStream."

Snapstream is the maker of Beyond TV, a software-based DVR program that gives the user a "Tivo"-type experience without the cost of TV guide subscriptions or any annual fee like you have with the Tivo.  Snapstream isn't changing the TV guide feed that they provide to the users of Beyond TV in any way.  The Couchville site (announced on this blog post in March of 2007) and on Snapstream's Blog as well was an experimental project by Snapstream that started with the aim to be the "simplest place for TV listings on the web."  The site ran using Ajax and was touted on many popular tech blogs including Techcrunch, Download Squad, and digg.com when it was first released to the public, but the project was basically abandoned in terms of development by Snapstream soon after it was released.

Back in November when I interviewed Agrawal, I asked him about the status of Couchville.  He said the project development had been in a holding pattern and there were no plans currently for changing the site from its current functionality.  Its obvious that the focus of Snapstream will be on their new Enterprise hardware/software for businesses and the Home-version of Beyond TV.  Agrawal said in his announcement that "for the Couchville loyalists out there, we're sorry to take the site away from you. If you're wondering why we're making this move, simply put, it doesn't make business sense for us to keep the site running."  There had been hopes by some BeyondTV users that some of the functionality of Couchville would be integrated into BeyondTV's own online TV webguide "snapstream.net", but those hopes have faded and it looks highly unlikely that anything further will come of the Couchville site.

via Snapstream Forums

TiVo Expanding Demographic Data of Users Provided To Marketers

The DVR Powerhouse TiVo Inc. announced today that they will be offering a new service that gives advertisers detailed information about TiVo users.  This comes as part of a partnership between TiVo Inc. and Starcom USA that will be called "Power Watch(TM) Consumer Panel."  This is another move by TiVo to monetize their statistics data already gathered by their TiVo DVR service.

TiVo already sells second-by-second viewing information of television programs and commercials based on the TiVo subscribers viewing habits.  The announcement today means TiVo will be adding demographic data about those viewers participating in the panel themselves including age, income, marital status and ethnicity.  Before you get too panicked about the privacy thing, you should note that TiVo has recruited 20,000 households to opt-in to the viewership panel so it strictly voluntary.  I should also note that TiVo has said that all data will remain anonymous. 

"TiVo recruited 20,000 households to opt-in to the viewership panel. Because these subscribers have opted in, TiVo can associate household data with the viewership data, and hence will be able to produce program and commercial viewership reports which can be looked at by aggregate demographic and behavioral audience groups. All data remain completely anonymous."

Advertisers and Marketers who subscribe to this extra data will be able to purchase custom data and to poll those in the "Power Watch(TM) Consumer Panel" to gather custom information that the marketers want to research.

"With the roll-out of the Power||Watch Consumer Panel, TiVo's Stop||Watch(TM) ratings service subscribers will have the ability to purchase custom segmentations to look at TV viewing based on how consumers have responded to their proprietary sponsored questions. TiVo will be conducting a quarterly omnibus survey of Power||Watch panelists. While Starcom has the exclusive access to the first study, all Stop||Watch clients can participate in these surveys with their own sets of questions."

Still, this is sure to raise further privacy concerns for TiVo users.  My take on it is that as long as TiVo keeps this as a voluntary, opt-in program it is a good thing for TiVo, the marketers as well as the people who volunteered (since they received a "raffle" to win a new TiVo) as well.

Read the Full Press Release at Tivo.com

Thanks to Dave Zatz for the tip!

 

You might also be interested in this article on television statistics providers:

Beyond Nielsen TV Ratings - TV Viewing Statistics From Non-Nielsen Places

 

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Review of Beyond TV 4.7 at MissingRemote

Daniel Schoerner posted a nice, comprehensive review of the latest BeyondTV 4.7 Update.  He really liked the iTunes Integration and the lesser-publicized Firefly Mobile feature that allows you to use your iPhone or SmartPhone as a remote control .  He reviews all of the other features with a focus on the new ones.  Overall a great review and high praise for Snapstream's Beyond TV.

I also think the new features in this latest version of Beyond TV are great - more integrated and easy-to-use functionality that has been the cornerstone of Beyond TV from the beginning.

One thing Daniel didn't address was the lack of any DVD, Music and Photo functionality that all of Snapstream's competitors have.  Yes there is the separately-available Beyond Media software that Snapstream still sells, but Beyond Media has for all purposes been abandoned by Snapstream and by the plugin developers that make Home Theater Software competitive.  Bottom line, if you want an easy-to-use and fairly easy-to-setup Home Theater PVR program that does the Tivo-like features, Beyond TV is one of the best.  If you want a complete HTPC program though you'll need more than just Beyond TV.  I'm not saying those words lightly as I speak from experience as an owner of Beyond TV and Beyond Media.

Read the Review of Beyond TV 4.7 at MissingRemote.com

Fallout From The TV Writers Strike - How Will It Affect You?

UPDATE 11/12/2007: Writers Strike Update: Ultimate Guide To How the Strike Will Affect TV Shows

The WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike looks very likely now.  Last-ditch efforts to avert the strike will take place Sunday according to TV with MeeVee.  If those talks don't go well, the strike will begin Monday. 

UPDATE:  TALKS ON SUNDAY BROKE DOWN AND THE STRIKE HAS NOW BEGUN.

CONSEQUENCES FOR TV WATCHERS AS SOON AS THIS WEEK

If the strike isn't averted and lingers for very long there will be very real consequences to the television shows you and I watch and those effects could be felt as soon as this week.  Here's a quick rundown of how the strike might affect the shows on TV:

HOW WILL THE STRIKE AFFECT TELEVISION?

Plan on very few, new Late Night Talk Shows and Comedy Central Talk Shows.  No Soaps (I guess my wife will be unhappy about that), many shows will air the episodes they have written and produced and then run repeats - lots of repeats.  You'll also see TONS of reality programming and not-new movies.

TV Shows That would go into immediate repeats:

• The Colbert Report
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• The Late Show with David Letterman
• The Conan O'Brien Show
• Jimmy Kimmel Live
• Daytime Soaps: (unless the producers write the scripts like they did during the 1988 strike - lets face it it doesn't take a rocket scientist to write that stuff :)

 

TV Shows Not expected to be affected by the strike this season:

• The View
• Cane
• Jericho: (only had seven episodes planned for season two all of which are complete and ready to go)
• Reality Shows (Survivor, AmericanIdol, Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek)

• Journeyman
• Everybody Hates Chris
• Psych
• Monk
• Stargate Atlantis
• Battlestar Galactica
• Thirty Days
• The Wire
• The Shield

 

TV Shows That Will Be Affected - Partial Season Might Be Ready, But Not All:

• Lost
• 24: (only one forth of the shows are written - bad news for 24 fans)
• Heroes: Producers for the hit show Heroes are preparing an alternate ending to the December 3rd episode that would act as a season finale!  This is in case the writers strike isn't averted & prevents the remaining season to be finished in time for the remaining episodes (12 - 23) to be written for the Spring.  Source: TVGuide Editors Blog
• Moonlight
• Gossip Girl
• Friday Night Lights
• Eureka
• Men In Trees
• Entourage
• Big Love
• Dirty, Sexy, Money
• Brothers and Sisters
• Scrubs
• Law and Order: Criminal Intent

Specific Show Info via LATimes

Lucky for me, I have a bunch of shows saved on my Home Theater PC DVR as well as a large number of movies I have yet to watch.  That along with some online media sources such as Netflix, YouTube, Joost and others should save me from reality show overload if the strike happens and lingers for very long.  I should note that the strike will eventually affect Movies as well if it lasts very long, but the effects on the big screen wouldn't be felt as quickly as with television.

 

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TIVO DVR Alert - Amazing Race 12 Premiers Sunday

One new show this weekend that reality show fans will be excited about.  The Amazing Race is returning this Sunday on CBS.  It's replacing the unloved Viva Laughlin that was canceled after only two episodes aired.

If you're an Amazing Race fan you'll be happy to see this season 12 come much earlier than previously planned (originally not scheduled until January 2008).  This season's Amazing Race will be shorter than those in the past and will not include any non-elimination legs.

Here's a photo of the contestants from this season of the Amazing Race:

Set your Tivo's and DVR's to record the Amazing Race at 8pm ET / 7pm CT.  Note that in most TV guides it will be labeled as "The Amazing Race 12" so you might need to add it manually if your last recording was set up to record "Amazing Race 11" like mine was.

If you're an Amazing Race Fan, Check out the Amazing Race Season 12 Map

Shows coming soon on TV include Project Runway (11/14), The Battlestar Galactica Razor Movie (11/24) and The Cashmere Mafia (11/27).  Other than that its all Football for me for a while.