PurePVR

Marguerite Reardon has a write up over at CNet where she describes her love/hate relationship with her DVR (a Scientific Atlanta 8000). Her biggest complaint is probably one that is shared by many – too much complexity for the average user.

At the start she realized that her DVR stopped recording her shows that were set to record for the season (she already had Time Warner replace her first DVR). This incident then got the ball rolling on the idea that more of the complex operations (scheduling, storage, rebooting, etc) would be better for consumers if the cable companies could do it all on their end (sort of like what Cablevision was trying to do with their network DVR).

In an ideal world, PVR/DVR use would be as easy as pie. Sure, some systems are close (TiVo comes to mind), but all too often features take priority over usability. In a case like this, more does not necessarily mean better, especially if more means more things that can go wrong.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo

EyeTV is one of the handful of PVR / DVR solutions currently available for Apple Macintosh. Recently they released an update (version 2.3) which now incorporates a full screen option when using Apple’s Front Row program. This is a big update for the program, so hopefully it will help its user base grow. At the moment there aren’t a whole lot of solutions available for the do it yourself Mac PVR / DVR user, but EyeTV is definitely one to check out.

Found via HTPCNews.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, Apple, Mac, EyeTV

The German PC magazine PC Welt has a fair length article up that contains one reporter’s experience with testing out various PVR / DVR solutions available. In all, 8 different services were tested (including place shifting services Orb & Slingbox) and a rating was given based on the overall experience.

It probably won’t surprise most of you that TiVo came out on top (twice actually). What I did find surprising is the low rating that Dell’s XPS Gen 5 Windows Media Center Edition system received. It seemed that the reviewer had a tough time getting the system to play nicely with his TV setup which contributed to the bad score.

Although it isn’t anything in depth, it’s a great overview of some of the options available for those who are looking for a new PVR / DVR.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, Slingbox, Orb, MCE. Media+Center+Edition

TVPredicitons.com is carrying a piece that has quotes form DirecTV that indicate that they will launch their HD DVR next month in LA, with other cities following later in the year. This comes just after a story from Forbes indicated that the DVR would be delayed yet again.

The fact that it is only being launched in LA raises a lot of speculation. As Phillip Swann (from TVPredictions.com) points out, this could all just be a way to launch the product while it is still in a test phase. So far this HD DVR has been one major mess for DirecTV. Although they already have a HD DVR (thanks MegaZone), it does not currently record in MPEG-4. Instead of waiting for TiVo’s solution, DirecTV has decided that they could do better on their own and create a DVR solution that will be compatible with new channels that they will be adding soon.

We’ll have to wait and see if DirecTV actually does launch it, and if so, will it be ready for prime time?

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, DirecTV, TiVo, HDTV

Vista is Microsoft’s newest Windows operating system which is due out at some point over the next few months. Along with the release of Vista comes the end of Media Center Edition as a separate product. The Media Center application has been integrated right into Vista for wider use, which seems to be a good thing.

Matt Goyer has a great post over at his blog in which he gives his thoughts on the new Vista Media Center. Also in the post is a great list of new features and improvements that we can expect with the upcoming release.

Some of the highlights include a Microsoft DVD codec (no need to go 3rd party), CableCARD support and 64bit compatibility. Matt’s full post, including other features and thoughts, can be found here.

Found via eHomeUpgrade.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, Media+Center+Edition, Microsoft

Who wants to watch the news or the weather channel just to wait and see the local weather forecast? Not too many people. That’s where mceWeather comes in. mceWeather is a customizable Windows XP Media Center Edition plugin that allows the user bring up weather forecasts as well maps for weather patterns all over the world.

Although this MCE plugin does not directly change how MCE PVR / DVR users watch TV, it is none the less handy to have instant access to weather forecasts.

One point worth mentioning is to make sure that your Media Center Edition PVR / DVR is up to date with at least Media Center RollUp 2 installed. There is a known bug that causes the program to hang for several minutes if you try to search for a city.

The mceWeather plugin can be downloaded from the projects web page.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, MCE+plugins, mceWeather

I am a huge fan of building your own PVR / DVR, mainly because of the flexibility that you can achieve, but there are exceptions from time to time. For example, Electronic House has a spotlight post on the new Integra NVS-7.7. This thing is slick. Slick enough for me to want one …. badly.

The unit runs a P4 2.8 GHz Dual 820 processor, 1 GB of RAM and a nice 400 GB hard drive. The operating system of choice is Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 which adds to the simplicity of the unit.

Looking at pictures of this unit shows that it has an LCD front panel display and more inputs & outputs on the back than some stereo systems I have owned. No word on how quiet this puppy runs, but if they took as much care with that as they did with everything else, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Of course there is the downside: MSRP $3000. One can dream.

Edit: Digital Trends has a more in-depth look at this system.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, Media+Center+Edition, Integra

There is a very small post over at Contact Music which brings up a very interesting point about networks renaming shows. Recently ABC decided to change the name of its flagship news program from World News Tonight to just World News. Well it seems that this caused quite a few problems with TiVo subscribers.

According to the post, TiVo users found that their units were no longer recording the show since the name change. TiVo didn’t catch the change and it appeared as if the show just stopped being broadcast. So a reminder to all of you out there: if you have a show set to record based on its name, make sure you check its status after a name change.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TiVo, ABC

Some of you who have built your own Windows XP Media Center Edition PVR / DVR may have run into issues in the past playing DivX or xvid files through Media Center. Well the reason behind that is because MCE does not natively support these formats when played on the HTPC. There are a couple of solutions to this problem, but the easiest is probably to install the ffdshow utility.

ffdshow is not necessarily a MCE plugin, but it is a utility that easily helps you play these newer media files. Aside from just letting you play these new media files, it also allows a lot of customization for you audio/video connoisseurs out there.

The ffdshow project home page can be found here.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MCE, HTPC, MCE+plugins, ffdshow

An article at Forbes is reporting that DirecTV’s DVR solution is going to be delayed, yet again. It was originally supposed to be released earlier this year but has since been pushed back until at least the fall. The article also goes on to speculate that this could cause an exodus from HD users on the DirecTV dish network.

I’m going to be moving into a new house very soon and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t looking at HD TVs. I know that if I got one I would have to heavily think about using a satellite or cable provider who did not offer a HD compatible DVR. Although I have built a few PVRs / DVRs (non of which were HD) in the past I would want to know that if I want to go with a retail solution I could. For their own sake, I hope DirecTV gets their act together.

Edit: Thanks to MegaZone who pointed out in the comments that DirecTV already has an MPEG-2 TiVo based DVR (the HR10-250). The DVR in question that is being delayed is DirecTV’s own attempt at making an MPEG-4 DVR.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, HD, HDTV, DirecTV