SnapStream is looking for people to beta test ipod/iphone integration with BeyondTV

from the blog entry: "You may have read recently that iTunes is not going to have NBC programming starting with the fall season. This would be a disaster for all of us iPod/iPhone users if it weren’t for the Beyond TV 4.7 Beta that has the capacity to automatically transfer shows into iTunes compatible formats.

4.7 has a plugin that allows recompression to the h.264 format and an rss feed (aka podcast) that makes getting shows into iTunes automatic (which then can automatically sync recordings to your iPod video, iPhone or Apple TV).

Available today, we have a public beta of the upcoming 4.7 release that includes many other sweet new features as well. To download this release, you can join the beta program by signing up at http://beta.snapstream.com"

Via Slashdot: Linux.com compares 3 MythTV centric linux distributions (KnoppMyth, Mythdora, & MythBuntu )

"The piece looks at Mythdora, Mythbuntu, and KnoppMyth, with an eye towards ease of installation and the actual utility of the install. From the article: 'For regular system maintenance, KnoppMyth simply isn't in the same ballpark as MythBuntu and MythDora. The live CD heritage of Knoppix means you cannot update individual packages, which is fine if you like that, but for an always-on system like a MythTV back end, I'd prefer flexibility and configurability of a mainline distro. When all is said and done, if I were building my TiVo replacement today, I would do it with MythDora. "

BeyondTV gets a mention in the grey lady!

"Q: Q. Is it possible to plug in a TV cable to my computer and use it like a VCR to record programs?


A: A. In most cases, you just need a TV tuner card for the computer and a program to do the recording...


...Some cards include their own recording software, but programs like SnapStream’s Beyond TV (www.snapstream.com) give TiVo-like powers to your Windows PC. You can also buy the Beyond TV software bundled with a compatible TV tuner card if you haven’t made the hardware purchase yet."

NY Times Technology Q & A section (silly mandatory registration required: use bugmenot.com to bypass)

BeyondTV 4.6 released with Vista Compatibility & divx place shifting (release notes linked)

Thanks G808 for the heads up

I'm in an internet cafe in costa rica so this news story's brief... I'll be back soon! -- rampy

FAQ: What about Vista support for Beyond TV?

Answer: "Beyond TV 4.6, the successor to Beyond TV 4.5, will begin shipping very soon now and, among other things, it will contain a broad set of fixes that make Beyond TV fully compatible with Microsoft Vista. And like other point releases, it will be a free upgrade for existing Beyond TV 4.x users"

BeyondTV Blog about giving BeyondTV a new look with community designed skins/themes (download them here)

"The other day I realized that while we weren’t looking, the community had gone and created a bunch of extremely cool skins for Beyond TV.

I think i'm partial to blue-ish hued dolphins theme :) It's always cool to see what the community comes up with and how they share their hard work with others.

TVease outlines the differences between MythTV and Windows MCE2005 side by side... of course they offer prebuilt MythTV systems so take it with a grain of salt, BUT it's a nifty/helpful little set of comparison screenshots

Below is a side by side comparison of similar screen shots from MythTV and Windows Media Center. I choose the MythTV skin that most closely resembles Windows Media Center, though I personally like the Project Grayhem skin the best. Hopefully this will help you decide which one you want to use. MythTV is free open source software that runs on the free Linux operating system. Using MythTv will considerably reduce your build cost because you won't need to pay for a Windows Media Center license. Also, Linux offers outstanding performance. You can use an older CPU and less memory, further cutting costs.

From my inbox: "Now users in Europe and around the globe can enjoy high quality digital TV with new DVB support in SageTV V6.

We appreciate loyal customers, if you purchased the full SageTV Media Center Version 5 you get a free upgrade to SageTV Version 6. Customers who purchased SageTV Version 4 or earlier can take advantage of our SageTV V6 holiday upgrade special and purchase an upgrade to SageTV Version 6 for only $29.99 (expires Jan 15, 2007)"

Here's the missingremote review of SageTV version 6 Beta

UPDATE: Discussion in our forum about SageTV 6 and QAM support very interesting!!!!

PVRwire reports that the latest revision to the free windows software GBPVR is currently in private beta.

I can't wait to see what sub has got cooking in the new year for GBPVR!

"Now Microsoft is building touchscreen support directly into its media center with arrows that will appear on screen for navigation when touchscreen functionality is activated".

Microsoft Building Touchscreen Support into MCE

Hat tip PVRwire

ReplayTV PC edition DVR software launched!

"On Sunday ReplayTV posted the official press release on its website. The Press release discussed many of the features of the new ReplayTV software. This includes:

* Surprise Me: A feature similar to what you get on TiVo which records your favorite TV shows choosing shows on criteria such as actors, genre and directors.
* Find More: Allows you to find related programs to what you are watching, again using criteria such as actors, genre and directors.
* Easy TV navigation: Ability to navigate through TV shows using features such as QuickSkip which allows you to skip a certain amount of time in a given show.
* Overlap Manager: Allows you to still record the end of a show that has overlapped with the beginning of another show you want to record at the same time.
* Advanced searches: Allows you to search by a variety of criteria. Replay TV boast that the software will return results instantly"


hat tip pvrwire

As promised the other day Snapstream releases BeyondTV 4.5 with DVD burning plugin

First, we just began shipping Beyond TV 4.5, a free update for anyone that owns the full version of Beyond TV 4. Like point releases before it, Beyond TV 4.5 contains a number of bug fixes and improvements.

Here's a link to the easy DVD burning plugin page.

…and embedded in Beyond TV 4.5 is an optional and exciting new feature — integrated DVD burning. The new DVD Burning Plug-in makes it easy to burn DVDs of your recorded TV shows and movies. Just pop a DVD into your burner, add videos to the DVD in Beyond TV and then click “Burn DVD.” It just works.

One last note: The Snapstream Store has a PVR150 MCE & BeyondTV 4.5 bundle for $99.95 with FREE shipping which is a pretty good way to get your PVR setup on the cheap with an existing PC. (looks like you can also get a free FireFly remote with that bundle through 11/21/06 )

New Beyond TV coming later this week…"


There’s a new version of Beyond TV coming this Thursday with some of the usual bug fixes and minor improvements… plus one significant new feature.

Interesting article and youtube video via PVRwire: How MythTV detects commercials

here's the original MythTVpvr.com article

New GBPVR v0.98.13 available GBPVR is an excellent FREE windows based PVR and media center (or media centre if you prefer!) solution...

*whats new* 2006-9-20 v0.98.13
- Much improved ATSC HDTV support, including new channel scanning functionality.
- Added ATSC QAM support (digital cable) for the OnAir USB HDTV GT device.
- Added support for ViXS based capture cards.
- Added support for new Hauppauge HVR3000/HVR4000 devices including DVB-T, DVB-S and software encoding analog. These devices have one tuner for DVB-S, and another for DVB-T/analog, so these two can be done at the same time. HVR1100/900 could also work in theory with this software encoding, but will require updates to direct.ini. To support the analog side of these devices, GB-PVR reuses several SoftPVR components, so this Hauppauge supplied software must have been installed.
- Fixed a bug that could cause an error stopping live tv with analog devices
- Minor improvement to DVB-T scanning
- Fixed a bug where the left arrow key was not successfully deleting a character when typing a freetext search in the search guide screen. Made things difficult on the MVP.
- Improvements to the DVB EPG option.
- WMV playback on the MVP now uses ffmpeg for transcoding instead of the old trans2mvp method
- Fixed a bug that could cause an error when stopping net radio playback when using 'VMR9 Custom' video renderer
- Integrated functionality for system sounds, much like that available previously in the BleepBloop plugin. Can be enabled/disabled in the Settings screen. Works with all remote types (MCE, Hauppauge, Direct Access etc). Not available on MVP.
- Fixed a bug with the built-in MCE2005 IR Blaster support
- Fixed a problem with learning the ASPECT key when using an USB-UIRT remote control.
- Improved volume control, including OSD graphics. (not for MVP - I have very little control over the volume on the MVP, and no way to determine what the volume is)
- Fixed a bug that could cause live tv to not exit cleanly on an MVP when the tuner needs to be used for a recording.
- Fixed a view bugs with the DVD player, and improved compatibility with DVD nagivators from Cyberlink, Intervideo etc.