Easily activating AT&T U-verse DVR’s
There is an incredibly interesting post over at U-verse Users which details the extremely simple steps involved to make an inactive set top box into an active PVR / DVR. First a quick bit of background: AT&T use to enable the PVR / DVR functionality of U-verse boxes. Shortly after this though they started disabling the PVR / DVR component except for 1 box in each household (e.g. if you had 3 in your house, 2 would be crippled and 1 would be a full PVR / DVR).
Fast forward to today. It turns out that all that needs to be done in order to get the functionality back is to open up the case and connect the hard drive that is in there. That’s right: they left the hard drives in there and they just unplug them. Incredible … The full story at U-verse Users has more details.
Found via PVRBlog.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, AT&T, U-verse
Dave Zatz’s opinion on Verizon’s new DVR
Yesterday Verizon announced the release of their new Home Media DVR which has a claim to fame by allowing you to watch recorded content on multiple TVs. Today, Dave Zatz weighs in with his opinion in a post titled “The Significance of Verizon’s “New” DVR“. It probably should have been title The Insignificance of Verizon’s New DVR.
It’s a decently thought out post in which Dave basically states the obvious (in a good way): a lot of the new features for the Verizon PVR / DVR have been available on TiVo for awhile. He also has an interesting thought on the pricing scheme. I highly recommend giving it a read.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, Verizon, FIOS, Home+Media, Media+Manager
Verizon launches Home Media DVR
Verizon has issued a press release today which has details about its new Home Media DVR. This PVR / DVR device looks like it could be a nice addition to any home. One of its greatest features it the fact that it will allow you to view recordings on multiple TVs at the same time without the need for ‘extra equipment’ (aside from a receiver for each TV).
Another interesting feature is the Media Manager software that is included. Media Manager allows you connect to your PC and display photos or play music over your TV (or theater system, depending on you hookup).
A CNN write up can be found here and a copy of Verizon’s press release can be found on PR News Net.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, Verizon, FIOS, Home+Media, Media+Manager
Customizing Windows Vista’s Media Center just a bit more
Some of you braver folks out there are probably already using Windows Vista as you PVR / DVR of choice. With Vista, Microsoft has completely gotten rid of the Media Center Edition line up and has incorporated it right into Windows itself, so there is no need to buy a specific task oriented operating system.
If you would like to add a tad more of customization to your Vista install, Aaron Stebner has a post which outlines how to add a custom logo to the corner of your Media Center interface. In a previous post, Aaron also described how to add custom tiles to the Media Center interface.
Although most home users probably won’t care, I do know for a fact that there are some businesses that have been playing with Media Center. For them, this is just one more way to add their branding to their environment.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, Media+Center+Edition
Lots of news to catch up on, Part 2
As with the last post, I am still wading through tons of news and in an effort to catch up I’m just posting some of the highlights that I have found
MPEG decoder is basis for personal video recorder – Electronics Talk
Hauppauge’s TV Anywhere promises free mobile TV – Tech Digest
Hauppage TV Anywhere: Poor Man’s Slingbox – Gizmodo
WinTV lets you watch TV from you PC on your mobile device – Pocket Lint
The living room PC: it’s not a myth, it’s a mess – Ars Technica
Lots of news to catch up on, Part 1
In case you have not noticed, the site has been a little slow over the past few days. The main reason for that is because I have moved for the second (and final) time in 2 and a half months. So here is a quick round up of some older but still relevant news.
Why my cable DVR stinks – MP3.com
Home automation controller runs Windows XPe – WindowsForDevices.com
Custom-Friendly Media Center PC – HomeTheaterMag.com
Macs finally get the picture with TVMini HD Tuner – Tech News World
ITV calls for ad-skip speed limit on Freeview PVR – Brand Republic
Media Center Plugins Part 5: Windows XP Media Center Diagnostics Kit v3.0
I know that I have had trouble building my Windows MCE box a few times so this utility is definitely a great one to have. The Windows XP Media Center Diagnostics Kit v3.0 is a free download from Microsoft which runs a series of tests and gives you a report as to what possible problems may be.
It’s a fairly easy install which allows you to check out video details (both recording and playback) as well as details about your current system.
This free utility can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins
Media Center Plugins Part 4: Crunchie
Anyone who uses their Windows XP Media Center Edition PVR / DVR a lot knows that video files can easily grow out of hand. If you are gone for a week and you program MCE to record your favourite shows, it doesn’t take long for a 250gb hard drive to get filled. The reason behind this is that MCE does not natively compress the video that it records. If it did, overall system performance would take a hit.
Enter Crunchie. Crunchie is a handy utility for that can be scheduled to compress MCE recordings into a xvid format which dramatically reduces their file size. The great part is that it can be run as a scheduled task (at say 3 A.M.) so you needn’t worry about remembering to run it.
Installation instructions, as well as download links, can be found here.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins. Crunchie
Journalist gives his opinion on PVRs / DVRs & ad skipping
Dorian Sweet has an entry up over at ClickZ.com where he talks about his experiences with a PVR / DVR. His initial reaction was one that I have seen quite a few times: you hate the PVR / DVR for a week because you can’t quite get it to work and then one day you realize that you can’t live without it.
The breadth of the article goes on to focus about the advertising model (or lack of) for the whole PVR / DVR market. As Dorian put it, ‘most people are programmed to avoid any TV-based ad’ which is something that I think holds quite true. From my younger days when people would tape shows on their VCRs, you wouldn’t be caught dead watching the commercials. With technologies like TiVo and do it yourself solutions like MythTV, skipping commercials is not new – it’s just easier now.
Anyways, Dorian reiterates what has been said quite a few times already: unless advertisers change their model, TV advertising will dwindle.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, MythTV
Need a good excuse to buy a PVR?
How about having 5 having 5 good reasons? The staff over at Digital Home Canada has put together their list of 5 reasons why you should buy a PVR. Although none of the reasons are earth shattering, they are all pretty good reasons none the less.
I know that when I originally built my first PVR / DVR I had to explain the whole concept to a few people. Most of them just said ‘so it’s like a VCR’. After hearing this numerous times and trying to explain the differences, I finally decided to start showing people how a PVR / DVR was different. Once I started using it, most people ‘got it’ right away. Now I can’t imagine life without a PVR.