Posted Mar 13th 2007 4:22PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
This one seems to have slipped through the cracks here at PVR Wire, but better late than never. A couple of days ago ChrisTV hit the big version 5.00 mark.
For those of you unfamiliar with ChrisTV, it's yet another Windows based PVR option. Although it may not be as well polished or slick as some of the bigger boys (think Microsoft, SageTV, SnapStream, etc), it is still an alternative that you may want to look at if you are running a Windows OS without built-in PVR capabilities.
ChrisTV has different versions available, and if you use the promo code CTV-0307-PROMO before March 18th, you can an additional 15% discount
Posted Feb 27th 2007 11:38AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
Freevo, one of the older PVR software solutions, has pushed out a new revision, 1.7.0 (up from 1.6.0). Although it does offer some of the standard bug fixes that come with these kinds of releases, there are also a few new features bundled with it such as:
• A web interface which gives you access to media stored on the machine
• A "web remote"
• A new encodeserver which can compress videos in the background
• Built-in RSS client which can automatically download podcasts
As of right now, the official release is not reflected on the Freevo home page, but you can check out the
forum post which contains details about the package. The new package can be downloaded from
here.
Posted Feb 27th 2007 10:27AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
Yesterday Brad pointed us to a nice guide which went into detail with regards to
building the perfect HTPC. Well that's all fine and dandy, but what happens when you have two or more in your house and you want to start sharing content between them?
Sure, Microsoft has told us about their upcoming
Home Server, but unfortunately it won't quite do what we are looking for, and we don't know the exact cost of these things yet. The simplest answer is centralized storage, or a NAS (network area storage).
Continue reading Network storage for all your HTPC needs
Posted Feb 21st 2007 5:15PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: Showtime, PVR Wire
CED Magazine is
carrying a piece about a continued joint partnership between Showtime and EchoStar which will give birth to Showtime Interactive 2.0. The concept behind the deal is to create a zone accessible via EchoStar PVRs where users can go to get exclusive material.
So far it looks like there will be the usual kind of stuff, like interviews with various celebrities, "the making of" style of videos as well as extras for some of the original content that Showtime puts out.
Continue reading EchoStar and Showtime bump Showtime Interactive up to 2.0
Posted Feb 21st 2007 11:33AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
Not even 2 full days ago, Brad wrote about how we can expect to see a
Vista Sidebar Gadget for WebGuide 4.0. But at the time no there no date set in stone as to when it would be available to download.
Well at some point within the last 24 hours or so the creator of WebGuide4, Doug Berret, posted the release version, which can be obtained from his
website.
Continue reading Wow that was quick: WebGuide gadget is here
Posted Feb 21st 2007 10:35AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
A few days ago I made a brief mention of DVRMSToolbox in a post about enabling
Commercial Skip in Media Center. Since then, a newer version (1.1.0.4) has been released and can be obtained from the
author's blog.
If you haven't used DVRMSToolbox in the past, I would highly recommend checking it out if you run a Media Center based PC. It adds a whole new level of flexibility to the experience by giving you the ability to manipulate the DVRMS files that Media Center records to.
Continue reading DVRMSToolbox 1.1.0.4 has been released
Posted Feb 20th 2007 10:23AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
Now that the AppleTV is out and about and we can see what it is (or isn't) capable of, there are still a lot of people looking for PVR functionality on their Macs. In the past we have mentioned some options, but today Mac News offers up a
review of MediaCentral.
MediaCentral supports a lot of the standard features such as a Music section, an area for pictures as well as a DVD library. Some of the more interesting features that it boasts are IPTV, Skype integration and support for radio stations.
Continue reading MediaCentral: A Media Center for your Mac
Posted Feb 16th 2007 2:26PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire, Commercials
Yesterday Nielson released some new findings regarding how likely PVR users are to watch commercials. Well today is a new day and with that
Chris Lanier has given us a quick run-through of what needs to be done to activate automatic commercial skipping in Media Center. Take that Nielson ...
The main ingredient for this tasty treat is the good old DVRMSToolbox application which can be found
here. During installation there is actually an option that you can check off which tells it to automatically skip commercials. By checking this off, you will be prompted about whether you want Commercial Skip to process the show when you start to view recorded content.
Continue reading Easy commercial skipping in Media Center
Posted Feb 16th 2007 9:19AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire, TV Sports
The Nielsen Company released some new findings yesterday which looked at the relationship between PVR viewing habits (e.g. commercial skipping) and how much time has passed since the program was recorded. In a nutshell, are people more likely to watch commercials if they view the show right away?
Nielsen's answer to that question is a yes. In fact their words were "playback that occurs closest to the original telecast retains more of the audience during commercials than DVR playback that occurs further out."
Continue reading Nielson tells us about our PVR viewing habits
Posted Feb 14th 2007 1:33PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
If you are a PVR enthusiast and it comes time to choose a new PVR, do you build it yourself and possibly save some money, or do you play it safe and buy an off the shelf solution?
DVR Playground decided to toss two of the top PVR solutions into the ring together to see who would win: MythTV or the TiVo Series 3. Some of the factors that they looked at included ease of use, setup and the features included with each product.
DVR Playground made sure to note that the biggest downfall about using MythTV (and most do-it-yourself PVR's) is the hassle involved with setting it up. Whether it be the actual software setup, or even choosing the right hardware (think surround sound and hi-def output), things are never quite as straightforward as is you had a manufactured PVR.
However, if you are technical enough that you feel comfortable playing with the guts of a computer, then MythTV is probably your better choice. But if you are giving this Grandma and you don't want to get calls every day when she can't watch her soap operas, then the good old TiVo is probably your friend.
Posted Feb 8th 2007 3:58PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
One of the great things about Windows Media Center is that it is more than just a PVR. As the name implies, it's a central location for all of your photos, music, recorded TV as well as DVDs.
With Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, when you ripped a DVD to your hard drive, you could access it through your MCE interface via the 'My Videos' folder. This is great as it allows you to easily create a DVD jukebox. But where do they appear in Vista's Media Center?
Continue reading Enabling DVD Gallery in Windows Vista
Posted Feb 6th 2007 1:31PM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
Everyone's favorite remote management tool for Windows Media Center, WebGuide4, has been updated to version 4.016. The newest version is now completely compatible with Vista (including the x64 release), which is good news for early adopters of the new OS.
If you run Windows MCE 2005 or a version of Vista with Media Center included, this application is well worth taking the time to check out. The concept behind the application is simple: allow users to view their Media Center content from any web browser or PocketPC / Smarthphone enabled device.
Other features include remote management of recorded shows, scheduling recordings via a web browser and the ability to create different user accounts to restrict access to your Media Center PC.
For a complete list of updates in this release, you can check out eHomeUpgrage's post on this. If you are interested in trying out WebGuide, you can find it here.
Posted Feb 4th 2007 10:05AM by Matt Crape
Filed under: PVR Wire
With beer commercials being known for their originality and popularity, Budweiser is hoping that they will be able to get more bang for their buck by drawing people to their
bud.tv webpage.
The idea behind bud.tv seems to be a somewhat similar one to those used by networks that stream shows: give the viewers what they want, when they want. Basically it is more or less an internet video-on-demand service, except for product advertisements.
Continue reading A preview of Budweiser's bud.tv
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