PurePVR

HTPCnews.com is carrying news that TVedia 4.0 has been released. For those of you who are unfamiliar with TVedia, it is another Windows based Media Center application that was born out of necessity. Since Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is not [1]technically available for purchase, a group of developers got together and wrote TVedia 4.0.

TVedia can be found here, and there is a 15 day trial available for those who want to try it. After the trial expires, you can purchase the full version for $34.95, which includes 1 year of TVedia subscription service.

For those of you who are not interested in paying the $34.94 / year (which in all fairness is a lot less then renting a PVR / DVR from your service provider), don’t forget to check out GB-PVR & Media Portal, both of which are free and run on Windows.

[1] Although you can buy Windows MCE 2005 at some stores (e.g. TigerDirect) it is not in the true spirit of the license. An OEM license is designed to be sold with a complete system.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, TVedia, MCE, Media+Center+Edition, GB-PVR, Media+Portal

In a statement that has set the internet ablaze with comments, ABC’s President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw made the following remark: “I would love it if the (cable operators), during the employment of the new DVRs they’re putting out there, would disable the fast-forward (button)”.

Now this isn’t directed at TiVo in particular (although I would imagine that they are a big one) but it seems like a pretty ludicrous remark to make. It appears as if ABC wants control not only over what you watch (e.g. you have to watch commercials) but also how you watch it. Needless to say the fallout from this remark has been fairly heavy. In the very off chance that this ever does happen, I am sure that the open source alternatives like GB-PVR, MythTV & Media Portal will soar in popularity.

Here are a few more links if you are interested in the community’s thoughts:

• ABC Trying to Kill PVR Ad Skipping - Gizmodo
• ABC Tries to Kill DVR Ad Skipping - Marketing Shift
• ABC wants to kill DVR ad-skipping - Ad Jab
• ABC Tries to Kill DVR Ad Skipping - TV Predictions
• ABC hopes to halt fast forwarding - ArsTechnica
• ABC Wants DVR Fast Forwarding Killed - Broadband Reports
• ABC Exec. Lobbies to Disable DVR Fast-Forward During Commericals - News Busters

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, MythTV, GB-PVR, Media+Portal, ABC

In a move to gain more users, ReplayTV will be releasing a PC version of its PVR / DVR application. Right now you can sign up by going here. The deadline for applying to be a beta tester is May 31st.

I’m not sure how much of a market there will be for yet another PVR / DVR / HTPC solution. Right now there are a few pay solutions (most notably SageTV & BeyondTV), but more importantly there are quite a few free solutions (MythTV for Linux & GB-PVR for Windows, to name a few). Will a venture into the PC market by ReplayTV pay off? It might if they can offer something that nobody else can, most likely some sort of interaction between the software and ReplayTV units. If not, then it may just be a rash decision to try and get piece of the PC software market.

More info can be found at Build Your Own PVR.

Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, HTPC, ReplayTV, MythTV, BeyondTV, GB-PVR