PurePVR

There is a great post on Digital Home Canada that details how you can easily add extra storage to your SA8300HD PVR unit. The steps are outlined and seem fairly simple to follow. All that is really required is a SATA hard drive, an enclosure and a bit of time. When it comes to recording shows, the SA8300HD actually balances the recording between the two drives to ensure that the drive with the most free space is used.

Found via PVRWire.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, SA8300HD

BroadcastingCable.com is carrying a story which reports that ABC has backed off when it comes to restructuring its advertising model. ABC had hoped that it would be able to make deals with advertisers wherein the advertisers would be charged not only based on viewers who watch the show live, but also for viewers who use a PVR / DVR device to watch the show within 7 days. Eventually ABC had to fold due to the pressure from the advertising industry. But who is right here?

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Cablevision has been making a lot of news lately in the PVR / DVR community, mainly because of its new DVR / Video on Demand (VOD) service that it is trying to release. In a nutshell, Cablevision wants to allow users to choose what programs to record and then it stores that program on remote servers. Of course some of the major networks don’t like this because of copyright issues, but that’s a whole other story.

Andrew Wallenstein (from The Hollywood Reporter) offers his opinion on the matter. After having his TiVo die on him and going through the replacement process, he openly welcomes a solution which does not involve new boxes or more cables.

If a service like this were offered to me (I’m in Canada, and it would probably have to be Rogers cable) I think I would look long and hard at it. Yes, I do have my own PVR, but if it were cheap enough I like the idea of my shows being stored remotely so I don’t need to worry about hard disk troubles. That and it would probably be more girlfriend friendly than my current setup.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, VOD, Cablevision, Rogers

Cnet Australia has posted a review on Humax’s new PVR Smart device. At first look this might be an appealing choice for users since it seems to be independent of cable companies and satellite providers (I could be wrong on this though – I have very little knowledge when it comes to Australian TV issues). Upon closer inspection it appears that there are a few things that could use touch ups.

The review is a quick read and I highly recommend reading it if you are searching for a standalone PVR / DVR solution. Personally I have always preferred the do it yourself route, but sometimes it’s just nice to buy a professional looking unit that has little to no hassle when it comes to setting up.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, Humax

Acer has announced that it will start shipping its newest entry into the HTPC market – the Aspire iDea 500. At a quick glance this thing looks like it has some decent potential. For example, it is one of the first [1]Viiv compliant systems that is being shipped. It also has an onboard HDMI port built in.Other highlights include Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 as its core operating system (which will also provide PVR / DVR functionality), dual TV tuners as well as only outputting approximately 23dBa of noise in an idle state.

On the down side, it seems odd that such a new system does not include a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player.

Found via DailyTech. Acer’s product page can be found here.

[1]Viiv is a new technology platform from Intel that is basically made up of different components including processors, chipsets, network cards, etc. In order to be a Viiv compatible system, some of these core components must be present.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, HTPC, MCE, Media+Center+Edition, HD-DVD, Blu-ray

Jeff from 123MacMini.com has posted some shots of his home made Mac Mini PVR setup. It would seem that he did not limit himself to any barriers and in return this thing looks great. You can see the ‘behind the scenes’ product here & the finished product here.

Found via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, Apple, Mac