TVSquad

Snapstream has released a new beta version of BeyondTV, the company's PC-based personal video recording software. BeyondTV 4.8.2 includes a bunch of bug fixes, and a few new features that I've been looking for for a while:

• You can configure automatic Showsqueezing (WMV or DiVX compression) of HD, SD, or all videos
• Improved performance when recording overlapping shows. If one recording is scheduled to end at 10:02, and another begins at 9:58, the program with the highest priority will win.
• Set permissions for library folders (block your kids from watching Dora The Explorer as a prank -- or you know, programs they actually shouldn't be watching).

The feature I'm most excited about is integration of a Couchville-style program guide with the web admin. Snapstream launched Couchville to much fanfare last year and then shut it down a few months ago. The TV listing site is simple, easy to use, and apparently cost the company more money than it was worth to maintain. It's good to see Snapstream salvage the technology for use in its core product: BeyondTV.

Two more bits of Hauppage HD-PVR news today. First up, Hauppauge has launched an official preorder page. While the HD-PVR isn't expected to hit the streets until May, you can place an order for one today for $249.

In other news, Snapstream Media CEO Rakesh Agrawal wrote in to let us know that his team has received a prototype unit for testing purposes. Snapstream makes the BeyondTV personal video recorder software for Windows, so it's safe to say that HD-PVR support will be added to BeyondTV in the not too distant future. Agrawal says he's not ready to make any official statement yet, since Hauppauge is still working on the hardware.

Blogger Dave Zatz has already confirmed that SageTV will support the HD-PVR, which means that it's possible the only major commercial PVR application for Windows that won't support the device when it's launched will be Windows Media Center. But Windows Media Center support is expected later this year.

If you've been waiting to get your hands on the new HD-PVR from Hauppauge, you might have to wait a little bit longer. Brent Evans reports that the device, which had been targeted for a late March launch has been pushed back and is now scheduled for a May or June release.

The HD-PVR will be able to capture HD video from any component video output and compress it in real time to H.264. In other words, you can using your existing cable or satellite box to flip channels, and record HDTV without getting a CableCard tuner for your PC.

Evans has also learned that Windows Media Center will not support the new device at launch, but that you should be able to use the HD-PVR with a Windows Media Center machine by this summer. But we'd be surprised if the device isn't supported by third party media center software like SageTV, BeyondTV, and MythTV.

Snapstream has released an update to its Beyond TV personal video recorder software for Windows. Beyond TV 4.8.1 doesn't have any spectacular new features like CableCard support, but it does have a few useful tools for configuring, scheduling, and playing TV recordings. Here are a few highlights:

• Frame by frame playback (hit pause and then use the arrow keys)
  
• Save searches and have Beyond TV email you next time a program fitting your criteria is on
• Receive warning notifications via email
• Create user accounts and establish different access levels for each
• Recording stats screen (shown above) with detailed system info
• Sort your library of recorded shows by name, original air date, or date recorded
• Speedier recording scheduler

Beyond TV 4.8.1 is available as a free upgrade for existing customers. A full version of the software will set you back $70.

Snapstream has released the first public beta version of BeyondTV 4.8.1. And while you won't find a ton of major new features in the latest build, there are roughly a billion (give or take a few billion) minor updates in this release.

For example, you can now give different users different levels of access to BeyondTV. Say you don't want your spouse or kids deleting your favorite shows? Just don't give them access to the file deleting option (and try to endure the dirty looks they give you when they realize you've limited their access).

There's also a new keyword based recording feature that you can access using the Web administration feature. In other words, while you can't create keyword based recordings using the main application window yet (some might call these "wish lists,") you an login to your account using a web browser and set up automatic recordings for any program with the word "news," or "knitting," or what have you.

You can also now do frame by frame playback of recorded shows, receive email notifications of errors, and display your recording statistics like how many hours of TV do you record per day.

Keep in mind, this is still a beta release, and as such there's a long list of known bugs, and perhaps a few unknown ones. You'll need to sign up for a beta account to try out BeyondTV 4.8.1 beta. Once you're registered, you can download the software from Snapstream's beta site.

Less than a year after launching the free TV listing web site Couchville, Snapstream plans to shut down the service. Snapstream founder Rakesh Agrawal writes in the Snapstream forums that "simply put, it doesn't make business sense for us to keep the site running." Of course, the site has no advertising and no other visible means of revenue generation, so that makes sense. But I'm not clear why Snapstream didn't try harder to monetize the site which was easily one of the best TV listing sites on the net.

Snapstream is the company behind the BeyondTV personal video recorder software for Windows. Agrawal says the company will continue to focus on development of BeyondTV and enterprise software. It is possible Couchville could reappear down the road as a web interface for BeyondTV users who want to schedule recordings over the internet. Snapstream currently lets users remotely schedule recordings using a simple TV listing service at Snapstream.net, but Couchville's interface is much cleaner and easier to use.

[via Brent Evans Geek Tonic]

There's a dirty little secret in the PVR world. Once you start using a personal video recorder, you're pretty much locked into continuing to use that recorder until you watch all of your recorded programs or decide you can live without them. That's because it's quite difficult to transfer your TiVo recordings to your generic cable company PVR.

Things should be a lot easier if you're using a PC-based PVR with software like BeyondTV, SageTV, or Windows Media Center. After all, your recorded shows are already on your hard drive, how hard could it be to try watching them with a new piece of software?

While you can certainly watch SageTV recordings in BeyondTV and vice versa, things get a bit complicated if you want to sort them by chronological order or view program descriptions. Fortunately, long time BeyondTV user Brent Evans has put together a comprehensive solution for importing your BeyondTV metadata into SageTV. That way users who might want to switch software packages can. Or better yet, users who want to test out SageTV without losing all of their recorded shows can do that too... and can still go back to BeyondTV if they like it better.

The whole operation isn't exactly user friendly. You'll need to download several applications built by members of the BeyondTV and SageTV community, export your BeyondTV data, convert it to a SageTV friendly format, and then import it into SageTV. But in the end, it'll all be worth it when you can see the cast of your cherished saved recording of Howard the Duck.

A few years back, ReplayTV looked like a company that could give TiVo a run for its money. Both companies had high quality set-top boxes that let users watch TV on their own terms.

But the times have changed, and while TiVo has managed to survive the onset of generic cable-company PVRs, ReplayTV got out of the hardware business and has decided to focus on making computer software for those of us brave enough to turn our computers into personal video recorders. But ReplayTV doesn't hold the name recognition it once did. The company was also late to the game with its PC software, and charged far more money at first than competitors like SageTV or BeyondTV. In other words, we kind of shrugged when ReplayTV entered the consumer software business.

But now TiVo, the company that is still synonymous with the concept of personal video recording is talking about getting into PC-based software. And we can't help but think that this could be a game-changer.

When I upgraded to BeyondTV 4.7 last month, I was excited about the new drive pooling, web remote, and community recordings features. But there's another nifty new feature that I totally missed: auto-detection of channel lineup changes.

SnapStream CEO Rakesh Agrawal points out in a blog post that Comcast made a bunch of lineup changes when they took over Time Warner's Houston cable operation. But Agrawal's PC was able to keep up with the changes without missing a beat.

Now if only BeyondTV would automatically record shows that I'd forgotten to schedule altogether.

Beyond TV 4.7 is officially out. The latest version of the popular Windows-based PVR software has been in beta for most of the last month.

So what's new? A couple of big new features since BeyondTV 4.6 and a few enhancements since we last told you about Beyond TV 4.7.

Updates since Beyond TV 4.6

• Optional plug-in that automatically transcodes recordings to H.264 and syncs them with your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV using an iTunes RSS feed
• New drive pooling feature lets you make use of multiple hard drives by recording to whichever drive has free space
• Use any web-connected portable device (iPhone, PDA, laptop) as a remote control
• Automatically record top picks from other Beyond TV users
• Optional plug-in for burning DVDs from PCs running Beyond TV Link software.

Improvements to Beyond TV 4.7

• Play H.264 videos
• Extend recording time while a job is currently being recorded by hitting the record button and adding the amount of time
• Recover recordings that were interrupted due to power outage or reboot
• Beyond TV Link can now stream live TV for multiple days without stopping, so you never have to stop watching TV. Ever.

BeyondTV 4.7 is a free upgrade for existing BeyondTV 4 users. A full version will cost you $80 if you need a retail package and DVD, or $70 if you download the software from Snapstream's web site.

Remember ReplayTV? Once upon a time the company was about as well known as TiVo, which is to say not very. While TiVo eventually became synonymous with "personal video recorder," ReplayTV stopped making set top boxes a few years ago.

Last year the company emerged from the ashes to relaunch as a desktop software maker. ReplayTV PC Edition is a complete desktop PVR solution that lets you turn your computer into a video recorder. There were just two problems:

1. A ton of other companies already had a stronger foothold in this space
2. It's not really a complete solution if you still need to buy hardware to make your PC record TV shows.

Point number 2 is a problem for pretty much anyone who sells desktop PVR software, Microsoft included. When I tell people how easy it is to turn their computer into a PVR, the first question they ask is "great, but where do I plug my cable box in?" And there's the rub. You don't, unless you get a TV tuner. For a computer geek that's hardly a deal breaker. But until TV tuners begin coming preinstalled on all computers, ReplayTV, BeyondTV, SageTV, and other PVR packages will have a limited audience of people who are savvy enough to buy hardware to go with their software.

Does the fact that ReplayTV is getting ready to launch what looks like a standard USB 2.0 HDTV tuner change any of this? Probably not. But it does give the company a way to package an all-in-one solution. Buy a retail package with the ReplayTV hardware and software all in one box. We're guessing this tuner will probably work just as well with BeyondTV, SageTV, or free software like Media Portal or MythTV.

It's probably worth noting that the ReplayTV HD looks an awful lot like the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 950 recorder with a red and white paint job. So you can probably expect it to sell for about $100.

Snapstream Media has released a new beta of their PC-based personal video recorder. BeyondTV 4.7.1 includes a number of useful updates:

• A new plugin allows you to automatically convert recordings to H.264 for viewing on an iPod or other portable device (earlier versions of BeyondTV featured automatic conversion to DivX or WMV only).
• You can generated an RSS feed that allows you to automatically import those files to iTunes.
• A new "drive pooling" feature lets you treat multiple hard drives as one recording source, effectively increasing your potential storage space.
• Use your internet connected PDA or mobile phone as a remote control with the new Firefly Nano/Remote Library feature.
• Automatically record the top shows based on BeyondTV Buzz community feedback.
• Burn DVDs using a BeyondTV Link machine.
• There's a new calendar view for upcoming recordings using the web interface.

Overall, this is a pretty exciting update. H.264 support is something that probably should have been included in BeyondTV for years. And drive pooling will prevent me from having to go out and buy a larger hard drive now that I'm recording HDTV programs.

The automatic BeyondTV Buzz recordings might not be quite as useful as TiVo suggestions or Guru guides, but they do offer a step in that direction.

There's good news and bad news for users of free PC-based PVR suites like MythTV, Media Portal, and GB-PVR.

While Zap2it Labs plans to cease offering the free television program guide data used by these programs in September, there are at least two groups planning to offer similar data. And both are close to having tools in place to pick up where Zap2it leaves off in September. That's the good news.

The bad news is that neither group will be able to offer this data for free. It's not surprising. Zap2it was offering the TV episode data in an XML format in addition to its online TV guide. The company was is owned by Tribune Media Services, so providing data to the open source community cost Zap2it nothing.

That's not true for CTpvr or Schedules Direct, the two new groups planning to offer TV episode data. Both now say that they will be charging users for access to the data, although pricing has not yet been set.

Most users of commercial PVR applications like BeyondTV, SageTV, and Windows Media Center won't be affected. Those companies get their data from alternate sources. So you have a choice. Pay for the software, received the program guides for free. Or get free software and pay for the program guides.

Windows Media Center, BeyondTV, SageTV, and MythTV get a lot of attention when it comes to PC-based personal video recorder software.

But the first PVR software I installed on my computer was GB-PVR. It's always been a bit rough around the edges, but GB-PVR is a full-fledged and highly customizable PVR package. And best of all, it's free, making it an ideal program for anyone who wants to see what this PVR stuff is all about, without having to "upgrade" to Windows Vista.

GB-PVR's developer released version 1.0.8 last week. The biggest change is a redesigned user interface. It should be comfortable to older users, as it uses most of the same ideas. But it's been completely rewritten. That means new graphics, and perhaps more importantly, improved screen rendering. The old version was always rendered at a fixed resolution of 720 x 480 pixels, and stretched to fit your computer's screens, which looked pretty funny on a lot of HDTV displays. The new version is designed to display your screen's native resolution.

A few features have been left out of the new version, such as support for FM Radio, online radio, and YouTube videos. They may find their way back into future releases, and can almost certainly be added via plugins.