ReplayTVBlog

Roku has introduced their Netflix Player, a new set top box that’s about the size of a paperback book and will let you stream movies from the huge Netflix movie library right to your TV without a computer. Priced at $99.99, it’s cheaper than competing devices from Apple and TiVo, but it also does less — much less. In fact, all it does is let you select a movie from the Netflix library to watch and then it streams it directly to your TV.

While that may sound like a limitation, I think it’s actually an advantage. Sometimes, simple is good. For most people, when they want to watch a movie all they want to do is choose their movie and then have it play. They don’t need to see the DVD cover on the screen, know the bio of every actor in the movie, or even how long it is. They just want to watch the movie. This is where the Netflix Player will excel. Choose your movie and watch it — No PC Needed!
Of course, the Netflix Player doesn’t appear to be perfect. You don’t have access to the entire Netflix library, but hopefully this will improve over time. The other weakness is that you can only stream movies from the Netflix library. It would be nice to eventually be able to stream video from other sources (like YouTube) but for now it’s Netflix or nothing.

Shortcomings aside, is a simple to use device that does what it says it does and does it well — something that’s pretty rare these days in technology products.

Technorati Tags: Netflix, Roku, TiVo, Apple

Popularity: 9%

Now that the new Video iPod is out in the wild, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out a quick and easy way to get your own videos and TV Shows on your iPod.

And if you have a ReplayTV, it gets even better. Gizmodo has posted instructions for transferring your ReplayTV Shows to your iPod that were emailed to them by one of their readers. The process seems pretty simple — basically, after getting your shows onto your computer using DVArchive, you just convert them to an iPod video format, which is where a shareware program called PSPVideo9 comes in.

This program converts any mpeg2 video file to a PSP compatible video but it will also work with an iPod. PSPVideo9 is simple to use and apparently quick — the author of the instructions said converting a 30 minute video only took about 16 minutes!

After the video is converted, all you have to do is drag and drop it onto your video iPod.

I’m not psychic, but I think I see a video iPod in my immediate future …

Technorati Tags: iPod, Apple, ReplayTV

Popularity: 25%

As I wrote last week, VeohTV is being called a possible DVR for Internet Video. Currently in beta testing and available by invitation only, I applied for the beta and received my invitation about a week later. While I haven’t spent much time with VeohTV (yet), here are some of my first impressions of the current beta version.

The download and installation of VeohTV was simple and error free. Basically, all you have to do is download the setup file, run it and choose where to install the program. One nice touch that I really liked was that the setup program asked where to store downloaded videos. You have the choice of installing the program on one drive and storing any downloaded videos on another drive. Too many programs I’ve installed lately automatically store their data in “My Documents” — not necessarily where I want to store tons of video. Since I have a nice big Seagate external hard drive, I chose to store my downloaded videos there.

The first time you run VeohTV it asks you to sign in to your Veoh.com account. If you don’t already have one, you can create an account very easily from within VeohTV by just entering your email address, username and password. After logging in, you are presented with the VeohTV home screen: Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 29%

For everyone out there who was smart enough to buy a lifetime service subscription for their original TiVo (unfortunately I wasn’t) you’re finally being rewarded. TiVo has a special limited time offer to transfer lifetime service subscriptions to a new Series 2 Dual Tuner 80GB TiVo. There are a few restrictions:

• This is only for TiVo units that were activated with a lifetime subscription before June 15, 2003.
• The lifetime service can only be transferred to a Series 2 TiVo Dual Tuner 80 Hour Unit — No Series 3
• The offer is only good until July 23, 2007 and you must activate the new unit with the lifetime service subscription by August 31, 2007.

This is good and bad. Obviously, the lifetime service subscription was a good purchase even before this (especially considering how many old lifetime units are still out there chugging away) but now it’s even better — you get to start all over with a brand spanking new TiVo. With the track record of the early TiVo’s, these Series 2 TiVo’s will most likely last until the next lifetime service transfer offer. The bad part of this is you can’t transfer the lifetime service to a Series 3 HD TiVo — yet. I fully expect that sometime in the relatively near future, TiVo will offer a transfer of the lifetime service to the Series 3. The question is, will it be from an original TiVo or only a Series 2 that had the lifetime service transferred to it?

Let’s hope that TiVo offers the transfer to the Series 3 sometime in the very near future. If I were a gambling man, I would probably wait and hold out for the transfer directly to the Series 3. Of course, since I don’t have a lifetime service subscription to transfer, that’s easy for me to say.

For those of you looking to play it safe, Transfer Now!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 26%

Edging one step closer today to world domination, TiVo has announced that they will now be selling TiVo units in China. Partnering with a company called PacificNet they would sell the TiVo DVR and accompanying services through their iMobile subsidiary. TiVo devices would be available in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

It’s not clear exactly what services will be available for TiVo devices in China. I’m sure they will get some kind of a channel guide with updates, but will they have access to download videos similar to Amazon Unbox? Or will they have access to the TiVo To Go Software?

Plans may not be clear at this point, but this expansion is a step in the right direction. With the competition that TiVo faces from sub par Cable Company DVR devices here in the US, going into other countries where there is not much competition is a huge growth area for TiVo. Plus, they have the opportunity to establish themselves as the defacto standard for DVRs before the competition can really take hold.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, China, Amazon Unbox

Popularity: 22%

Veoh.com has been around for a while now as a video sharing site similar to YouTube. But now, they are preparing to launch their new application, VeohTV, which they are calling a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) for Internet Video. Basically they are saying that it will be similar to a ReplayTV or TiVo but instead of recording from a cable or satellite TV source VeohTV will record and store Internet Video sources.

As it appears now (it’s still in beta testing), VeohTV will arrange videos from the Internet into something similar to a Channel Guide that you would see on a TV Cable box or DVR. For example, most of the major networks now offer streaming video of the full episodes of their prime time shows on the Internet. So if I wanted to watch the latest episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, I could go to the NBC website and watch it there. With VeohTV, I will have an NBC.com channel, and (somehow) they will have all the available videos listed and I can record them and watch them at anytime through VeohTV.

Of course, this is all speculation. Currently, VeohTV is in closed beta testing and is only available by invitation. But these features (as described on the VeohTV site) are what they are expecting to be in the final version, which is scheduled to be released sometime later this summer.

We’ll have to wait and see what the final product looks like, but VeohTV sounds good. Maybe too good to be true, but I’m hoping …

Technorati Tags: Veoh, VeohTV, DVR, TiVo, ReplayTV

Popularity: 24%

Mike Ramsay, former TiVo CEO (and now just your average TiVo board member), recently told the Sunday Herald that TiVo may be returning to the UK.
It won’t be in the set top box form we’re used to seeing here in the US, but as the DVR software most likely embedded in a Freeview set top box. TiVo would still handle the guide service, similar to the deal that TiVo has with Comcast in the US.

TiVo was originally available in the UK, but had to pull out to cut costs. Hopefully this return to the UK is a good sign for TiVo. I doubt they would even be considering this expansion if there cash flow and current business situation were not improving.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, DVR, PVR, Comcast, Freeview

Popularity: 24%

There may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. In what has been a textbook case of Vaporware, it appears that the Comcast TiVo may actually be almost ready! Over at Zatz Not Funny, Dave Zatz has a sneak preview of the upcoming Comcast / Motorola / TiVo DVR.

According to the article, the new TiVo software should be available from Comcast sometime this spring (still no firm availability date). Even better, to get the new TiVo software, existing Comcast DVR customers will only have to call Comcast and request the new TiVo DVR. Apparently (and I’ll believe it when I see it), Comcast will just “flip a switch” and the new TiVo software will download and install on your existing Comcast DVR box. After a reboot, you will have a beautiful TiVo DVR! As always, I’m sure it won’t be this simple in the real world.

There are still a number of questions that remain unanswered:

1. Will this work with ALL Comcast DVR Hardware? - So far, only the Motorola Boxes have been mentioned as being upgradeable with the TiVo software. Even though the new TiVo software is written entirely in Java for portability, it remains to be seen if it will ever be available for Scientific Atlanta boxes.
2. How much will it cost? - Comcast has stated that there will be a modest fee charged for the TiVo above and beyond their standard DVR offering but there has been no indication of what Comcast considers “modest”. While I would be willing to pay a little bit more, I’m not sure that I could stomach $25 - $30 a month for my DVR on top of my regular cable bill!
3. When will we actually be able to get it? - This is the big daddy of all the questions. It’s been over two years since Comcast and TiVo originally announced this partnership and we still can’t get a TiVo from Comcast. Even the TiVo Series 3 is out and we still don’t have a TiVo from Comcast. If they don’t ever release it, all of these great features mean nothing.

Making TiVo (and DVR’s in general) available to more people through different channels (Cable Companies) is a great thing — but I don’t think I can (or will) wait another year for a Comcast TiVo. It could be time to seriously think about a nice shiny Series 3 TiVo.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Comcast, DVR, PVR, Cable TV, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta

Popularity: 27%

PVR Wire has a nice photo post showing off a new TiVo Series 3 in it’s new packaging straight from the store. Check out the Apple like packaging on the Series 3! It definitely looks like TiVo has decided to add some perceived value to this $800 box with that little bit extra that they’ve put into the packaging. They have also made it very clear that this TiVo is all about High Definition TV (HDTV). Every where you look, you see the HD designation — on the outside of the box, on the inside of the box, on a wrapper around the TiVo unit, etc. They even have a new HD oriented slogan:

The TiVolution will now be televised in HD.

They’ve left no doubt — This TiVo is all about HD. It’s also got some very pretty packaging. Apparently, TiVo has been listening to Andre Agassi - Image is Everything.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, HD, Apple, Andre Agassi, HDTV

Popularity: 27%

South Park, South Park, and more South Park with a side helping of Roasted William Shatner are what My ReplayTV is serving up for Today:

• South Park - Why is it that I never get tired of this show? No matter how many times I’ve seen an episode, it seems like I can watch it again and still laugh. Maybe it’s the old TV show references or that Cartman is one of the funniest TV characters ever created but it just never gets old. I think they will be able to make South Park forever.
• The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner - William Shatner is a genius. So the idea of roasting him was a no brainer for Comedy Central. Add in my current favorite comic (Artie Lange from the Howard Stern Show) and this is a keeper.
• Bonanza - This is another show that I just can’t seem to get enough of — even if some of the shows are a little too “sweet” for my taste. While I’m not a big fan of Westerns, this is one TV Show that is good enough to transcend it’s genre and I would recommend it to anyone.
• The Beast of Bray Road - This is a horror movie that I haven’t actually watched yet but it sounds interesting. Something about actual werewolf sightings and DNA — count me in!

Technorati Tags: ReplayTV, Comedy Central, South Park, The Beast of Bray Road, Bonanza, Artie Lange, Howard Stern, William Shatner

Popularity: 66%

Engadget has the scoop on the latest entry in the Portable Media Player (PMP) market — the Maxian M800 PMP. This portable device will not only play a variety of video formats on the go on its 4.3 inch color screen, it also can record from just about any video source (including TV) to it’s internal 30GB Hard Drive. While 30GB may not seem like a lot of storage when it comes to video, it’s certainly enough to take a couple of movies on the road.

But, as seems to be the case with alot of the PMP devices, the M800 will most likely not be available in North America. I’m not sure if this is due to fears of copyright infringement on the part of the manufacturer or just (what the manufacturers believe) is a lack of interest, but it’s a shame that we won’t be able to get this in the US. You would think that after seeing the success of the Video iPod in the US, PMP makers would realize that there is a large market for these devices in the US.

Technorati Tags: Maxion, PMP, Portable Media Player, iPod

Popularity: 25%

Another win for Consumers and a definite blow to the Cable Companies bottom line. A Federal Appeals Court has upheld the recent mandate from the FCC that Cable Companies must provide consumers with CableCards. This means that newer TV’s and TV related devices (like the upcoming TiVo Series 3 DVR) that support the CableCard standard will not need a set top cable box to decode and display digital cable channels. Essentially, Digital Cable TV will be “Plug and Play”.

This is a good thing. Not only will it be easier to setup Digital Cable TV with DVR’s and other set top boxes, but the potential for dual tuners is just a second CableCard away — no more A/B switches and analog basic cable only tuners.

Of course the Cable Companies are not too happy about this mandate. It is estimated that the Cable Companies make approximately $2.5 Billion a year renting cable boxes to consumers. Not only will the CableCard eliminate the need for these boxes, but it will also cost the Cable Companies almost $470 million to implement the new CableCard technology. But don’t feel too bad for the Cable TV Industry. I’m sure they will make up for all that lost revenue by charging us a monthly fee for the CableCards they let us use.

Now I can’t wait to get my hands on a new TiVo Series 3 DVR and stick two cable cards into it — Mmmmmmmm…. Dual Tuner HDTV Recording Goodness!

Technorati Tags: FCC, Cable TV, CableCard, TiVo, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 26%

If there is one thing The Internet is good for, it’s rumors. This time, the current rumor making rounds involves the possible release date of the upcoming HD capable TiVo Series 3. Over at HD Beat, they say they have been informed by a source (and I use that term loosely) at Best Buy that the TiVo Series 3 will be available on September 17th, 2006 at a list price of $799. First off, don’t get too excited — this is a completely unsubstantiated rumor. Any or all of it could be completely wrong — including the price. And since I mentioned the price, $799. I’ll say that again — $799 Dollars — yes, that’s American dollars. I know that this is new technology and the price will certainly come down over time, $799 seems really high. As good as a TiVo is, who do they think is going to fork over $799 for a DVR And pay the monthly service fee when they can get an (admittedly inferior) DVR from their cable company for nothing other than the monthly charge?

While I love TiVo and I hope that the rumored date is right, I also hope that the price is wrong — $799 will Kill the TiVo Series 3 before it even gets started.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 24%

TiVo has posted a new webpage on their site about the upcoming TiVo Series 3. Although there is not much information on this page, they do have a signup form for a Series 3 mailing list to get the latest info on TiVo’s latest products emailed to you as soon as it is available.

I also noticed that they are calling the TiVo Series 3 a Digital Media Recorder. Does this mean the Series 3 will be a DMR as opposed to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder)? I don’t think this really means anything as far as functionality of the Series 3, but it will be interesting to see if this name change from DVR to DMR actually sticks — I, for one, have become kind of attached to the DVR name.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Series 3, DVR, PVR, DMR

Popularity: 24%

HD Beat has posted some of the first pictures of a Series 3 TiVo being used in the real world! They received the pictures from one of their readers who is part of the beta testing program for the Series 3 TiVo. Not only do the pictures show what appears to be an updated Series 2 TiVo from the front, but there are also pictures of the back of the unit that confirm some of the new features — Ethernet, eSATA, HDMI, Component Outputs (HDTV!), and TWO Cable Card Slots!

All of this is making me drool. Imagine — Dual Tuners, HD Recording, External SATA Hard Drives — enough with the Beta Testing! Hurry up and release the Series 3 TiVo!

Technorati Tags: TiVo, SATA, HDTV, DVR, PVR, Beta

Popularity: 26%

While we all think of TiVo and ReplayTV as having invented the DVR / PVR in the late 1990’s, apparently the first PVR dates back to 1967. PVRWire has an excellent article on the History of the PVR. In the article they talk about the Ampex HS-100, the first commercial PVR. While it may seem primitive by todays standards (it only holds 30 seconds of video!), for the time it was revolutionary.

While we are calling it a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), I’m not sure that that is 100% correct. If you read the article on PVRWire, they say the Ampex HS-100 records to a digital hard disk but in the comments it is noted that while it may be a disk, it is recording analog video, not digital. Either way, it’s amazing to think that there was something like this that long ago.

Technorati Tags: DVR, PVR, TiVo, ReplayTV, Ampex

Popularity: 25%

One of the most sought after features of any DVR is the ability to effortlessly skip TV Commercials. For all the effort (and money) advertisers put into making commercials, we just don’t want to be forced to watch them. How about AntiVirus for our DVR to get rid of those evil commercials.

Enter a new patent application that was recently filed for a system to detect and eliminate TV Commercials from recordings on a DVR. Basically, this system would involve a database of commercials stored on the DVR and anytime a commercial comes on, the DVR would check it’s database and if it found a matching commercial, it wouldn’t record it.

Of course, an application like this would require that it’s “database” of commercials is constantly updated with new commercials — just like virus definition updates for the AntiVirus program running on your computer!

While this sounds like an interesting idea, I don’t think it will ever be viable as a commercial product. As proven by the ReplayTV and it’s famous commercial advance, the TV industry will never allow such a product to come to market. In the case of ReplayTV and Commercial Advance, they were sued and forced to remove the feature from new ReplayTV models.

But there is always a chance that something like this could be developed as an open source application for Media Center computers . With no company to sue, there would be no real way for the TV industry to stop it.

Technorati Tags: DVR, PVR, ReplayTV, AntiVirus, Commercials

via USA Today

Popularity: 27%

Last year at this time, the Internet was filled with rumors that Google was going to buy TiVo. They has a boatload of extra cash lying around (and apparently they still do) and all the big technology websites were speculating on how Google might spend their hard earned cash. Cnet even reported that they had multiple sources that confirmed that Google was in negotiations to buy TiVo.

Fast forward one year later and the rumors are starting again. But this time, instead of Google buying a DVR / PVR company like TiVo or ReplayTV, they are supposedly creating their own DVR. Thomas Hawk has a post on his Digital Connection blog about the CTO of OpenTV leaving them to go work for Google. He believes that this is an indication that Google is working on some type of DVR. PVR Wire also has a post about the same rumor with some more speculation about some new domains that Google has registered (googletv.com and googlehdtv.net) that they also think may be an indication of something PVR related going on at Google.

If any of this turns out to be true (and it’s all speculation and rumor at this point), what could Google possibly be working on that could compete with the likes of TiVo or the upcoming ReplayTV PC edition. I don’t see Google developing a hardware based DVR (ala TiVo) — they are mainly a software company, not a hardware company. And even if it is a hardware PVR, it doesn’t really fit into their usual business plan of giving away the product for free — this might work for software, but not hardware.

So if it’s anything, it will probably be a software PVR that will run on a Windows based computer. Which will put them in direct competition with the likes of the upcoming ReplayTV PC Edition (Not Free) and SageTV (Also Not Free), which are much more mature offerings but, again, NOT FREE.

If any of this ever comes true (pretty unlikely), it will be interesting to see how a new, immature, and untested software PVR that is being given away for free will fare against tried and true software DVRs (ReplayTV PC Edition, SageTV) that are not free. My guess is, because it’s Google and it’s free, they will have no problem taking a huge share of the DVR market from the existing players. I, for one, will always pay for quality — but I think I’m in the minority. To quote Field of Dreams, Build It and They Will Come — oh, and if you make it free, they will come in droves.

Technorati Tags: DVR, PVR, TiVo, ReplayTV, Google

Popularity: 26%

Apparently, we may not have to wait too much longer for some HDTV TiVo Goodness! According to Dave Zatz, TiVo has sent a letter to both the FCC and the Cable Companies that the TiVo Series 3 with HD and CableCard support are coming and will be available in retail stores soon. He even has an image of the instructions for Cable installers to help them configure the TiVo Series 3 with two CableCards!

While no one has any idea when SOON is, everyone is speculating that it won’t be too far in the future. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better — I can’t wait to get rid of my piece of junk Scientific Atlanta 8300HD — the only reason I keep it is to record HDTV and I would definitely rather have a TiVo.

Technorati Tags: TiVo, HDTV, Scientific Atlanta, PVR, DVR

Popularity: 26%

DVArchive, the invaluable companion to any ReplayTV, has finally been updated to version 3.2 and is available for download now at the DVArchive website.

DVArchive Version 3.2 has many bugfixes and new features, including:

• The ability to work with current versions of Java - Finally, DVArchive will work with modern versions of Java! This has been one of the biggest issues I’ve had with DVArchive — having to run two different versions of Java (one old version for DVArchive and one current version for everything else) AND getting the right one to launch when running DVArchive.
• Support for WiRNS (Windows Replay Network Server) - If you run a WiRNS Server on your network for ReplayTV Guide Data, Show Storage, etc. DVArchive will now recognize the WiRNS server and can use it for it’s own TV Guide information. This way, you can be sure that your DVArchive guide will match your ReplayTV Guide.
• Improved Error Messages - Previous versions of DVArchive have been somewhat lacking when it came to error messages to say the least. Now, there are more error messages when DVArchive does things it shouldn’t do (like crashing on startup) and all the error messages have been improved to include more information to help with troubleshooting the problem.

DVArchive version 3.2 includes many other enhancements and fixes, all listed in the changelog included with the download.

Technorati Tags: DVArchive, WiRNS, ReplayTV, DVR, PVR

Popularity: 24%