PVR Wire

One of the biggest inconveniences involved with upgrading to Windows Vista is all of the potential software and hardware incompatibilities that may pop up once you are ready to go. As with software drivers, there will also be programs that simply just won't work.

Over at the Snapstream blog there is a piece which brings to light the specific state that Beyond TV is in with regards to Windows Vista.

The current version of Beyond TV (4.5) is not fully compatible with Vista, but if you hold on, version 4.6 is scheduled to ship "very soon now". This new version will contain a wide variety of bug fixes which will make it fully compatible with Windows Vista.

So if you are a Beyond TV user who is thinking about switching to Vista, make sure you wait for this upgrade to save yourself some hassle. It's good to know that something is in the works.

Everyone likes to customize their PC with some pictures and themes, if its not a picture of some hot girl or a desert island on your desktop, it's a load of fishes swimming around on your screensaver.

The Snapstream community has created a nice set of skins for the BeyondTV PVR interface meaning your TV experience can now be that little more personalized too.

A selection of the skins available can be seen here including dolphin, desert island and pirate themes. Installing a skin is easy and requires simply replacing one file in the BeyondTV directory.

Anyone fancy making a PVR Wire theme? You know you want too!

If you want to record television shows directly onto your PC from cable it is possible for a number of channels. The FCC requires that all cable boxes have a firewire port allowing you to connect your PC and Cable Box together.

Unfortunately it's not as simple as connecting your PC and Cable Box with a firewire cable (pictured right) and starting to record. You'll need to install various software and drivers first.

Also it is unlikely that you will be able to record any premium channels as they will be encrypted. All regular broadcast channels must however be open, if they are not get on the phone to your cable operator and tell them to sort it out.

Uber Lounge has the full steps for recording cable TV in both SD and HD to your PC.

Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs.

DirecTV then said that it had fixed the problem but DirecTiVo users still continued to have the same problems. Now DirecTV spokesperson Robert Mercer told TVPredictions.com yesterday that "a reboot will clean it up and the unit will start recording again."

So the age old trick of "turning it off and on" should hopefully put your DirecTiVo back on track.

Dean Takahashi of the Mercury News has put together one of those "xx reasons" type of lists, this time about the forthcoming Windows Vista.

The launch of Vista (for consumers) is only a few days away, and already the hype machine is working its magic.

Chief among Dean's reasons for getting a hold of Windows Vista is the fairly obvious one for me: #5 Vista has a built-in version of the Windows Media Center user interface.

However, I'm not so sure that "when you move your mouse over the borders, you'll find they're a little thicker so it isn't as hard to grab them and expand the size of a window" is a sufficiently good reason to go out and spend the money on an upgrade so early in the day.

Make up your own mind.

Megazone over at TiVo Lovers found a handy little way for TiVo users to pick up $5.

Apparently a couple of researchers at the University of Nebraska are doing a study on electronic delivery of personalized recommendations. They're looking for anyone who uses recommendations from Amazon.com, Netflix, TiVo, or iTunes when searching for new media.

For participating in the survey you can either collect a $5 check, or have it made out to a charity of your choice. It's not clear exactly what the study will be used for, but the researchers do point out that they have no affiliation with any commercial interest.

We've given you tips time and time again on how to build your own PVR. You can go out and purchase some new parts, or you can dedicate an old computer to the task.

But the voyeur in me just can't get enough of these tutorials, because I love seeing how other folks' home-built PVRs stack up against mine.

Shawn Kent has written up a pretty simple tutorial on building a relatively inexpensive HTPC using parts from an old computer, a new case, hard drive, video card, and TV tuner.

The problem with tutorials like this is that they're getting outdated by the minute. Yes, it's true that you can build a home theater PC to handle standard definition content for just a few hundred dollars. But as the push towards high definition video and high definition television sets continue, these systems may not really suit your needs much longer. Adding a hi-def tuner doesn't cost much more, but you really need to reevaluate your choices in graphics cards, hard drive capacity and so forth if you're making the leap to a hi-def.

And while Windows Vista promises CableCard compliance, allowing you to receive cable HDTV signals (most PC-based HDTV tuners only handle over-the-air signals), there's still no support for advanced features like video-on-demand. In other words, building a home theater PC today means making compromises. To be perfectly honest, I'd only suggest doing it if you don't plan to buy a HDTV for another few years. Otherwise, it might make more sense to get the cable company PVR (especially if it's a Comcast/Cox Motorola box that will soon run TiVo software), and wait another year or two for PVR technology to catch up with TV technology.

We've mentioned TiVoServer here before on PVR Wire, but we've never really gone into any great depth as to its functions, foibles and fun-filled features.

However, Dan Farber and Larry Dignan (also featuring David Berlind!) of ZDNet have taken a stab at this technology for your Mac, Linux box or PC which allows you to share TiVo content with other TiVos around your house.

Of course, there's a few issues over DRM (which can obviously be worked around), but this sort of open-source software could spell the beginning of the end of the locked-down tyrants behind iTunes (and TiVo), who don't really want you to do anything with your own content, except pay them to watch it.

We've covered most of these hacks in one form or another, but Satellite Sweeper has compiled a pretty nice list of 23 TiVo hacks. I'll leave the explanations to Satellite Sweeper, but if you're interested in doing any of the following, you should check out the article.

1. Save your videos on a computer as MPEG files, and then burn them to DVD.
2. Add a larger hard drive.
3. Keep your existing hard drive, but add a second.
4. Backup and restore your TiVo settings.
5. Access your TiVo over the web.
6. Move files to and from your PC.
7. Download internet video files directly to your TiVo (no PC required).
8. Automatically start programs (hacks) when TiVo reboots.
9. Give your TiVo a static IP address.
10. Change the way your Now Playing list sorts recordings.
11. Enable a 30-second skip button on your TiVo remote control.
12. Enable remote control shortcuts for Series1 TiVo units.
13. Create a personal TiVo screen with weather, stock quotes, and sports scores.
14. Stream video from your TiVo to other machines on your home network.
15. Add caller ID to your TiVo.
16. Rename recorded programs.
17. Undelete recordings.
18. Enable advanced wish lists, (looking up programs with two actors, or a combination of actors, titles, etc).
19. Check your own personal viewing statistics.
20. Disable the Live TV button.
21. Browse Flickr from TiVo.
22. Add functions to DirecTiVo units.
23. Eliminate background in TiVo menus, allowing you to see the video in the background.

Some of these hacks will only work on specific TiVo unites, but many will work whether you have a Series1, Series2, Series3, or DirecTiVo unit.

Ian Dixon, producer of The Media Center Show podcast is embarking on the task of creating a resource for anyone putting together a media center PC based on Windows Vista.

The project, like so many others, is borne of personal frustration. Dixon's current TV tuner works just fine with Windows XP Media Center Edition, but is not supported by Vista.

So here's how it works. He's setting up topics in his user forums. Right now, there's just a TV Card topic. If you've got a TV card that does or does not work with Vista, write about it. Eventually he'll expand to other PVR related hardware components.

While we're on the subject of putting together a cheap home theater PC, how would you like a cheap TV Tuner/video capture card/FM tuner with a remote control?

Shop4Tech's got a Sabrent card that does all of those things, for just $28.88, with free shipping. There's no way to link directly to the product page, but if you go to Shop4Tech's web site and search for "SBT-VC-TVFM," it should pop up.

It's not surprising that we're seeing prices drop on these older TV tuners, with a new crop of HD tuners hitting the shelves, and CableCard tuners on the way. But if you don't need hi-def yet, I say snap em up while you can. I mean, this isn't as good as a deal for a free TV tuner, but under $30 is still a good price.

[via TechBargains]

We've featured tips for building an inexpensive home theater PC in the past. But this is the first guide I've highlighted... from India. Okay, not really that special a distinction, but Techtree India's put together a pretty nifty guide on building a budget HTCP, so I thought I'd share their recommendations (and my thoughts).

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ because it's reasonably fast, and since it's a Socket AM2 chip, there's potential for upgrading.
Motherboard: The MSI K9GM2 has an onboard graphic accelerator, with support for TV-Out and NVIDIA's Pure Video Decoder. By getting a motherboard with onboard graphics and audio, you can save the money you would have spent on three separate devices.
RAM: Transcend 512MB DDR II 533MHz, because if you're going to blow a lot of money, you should blow it on the CPU, not the RAM in an HTPC. You can always get faster RAM or more memory later.
Case: The Zebronics Pluto is reasonably small, reasonably attractive, and looks good as a tower or on its side.
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 160GB. Basically, put in as large a hard drive as you're comfortable with. They're a lot cheaper than they used to be.
DVD: DVD burners are cheaper than they used to be, so it's a good idea to pick one up rather than just a DVD player. It may or may not be obsolete by next year when everyone does or doesn't switch to a hi-def optical format. Techtree went with an LG GSAH-10N 16X DVD Writer.
TV Tuner: Compro's VideoMate TV PVR/FM M200 is a budget tuner with all the usual functions plus an FM tuner, and it comes with a remote.
Input Device: Techtree went with a Logitech Cordless Desktop S510 Media Remote, which comes with a wireless remote control, mouse and keyboard. If you're setting the system up in your living room and plan to use it for more than watching TV, this might be nice. But if your needs are basic, or you'd rather just plug in a keyboard for the rare times you need one, this might be a waste of money.
Operating System: An OEM copy of Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005. If you're building a machine from scratch, the only cheaper solution is to go with Linux and MythTV, because you do need an operating system anyway, so why not get one with build in media center functions?

If I did my currency conversion correctly, Techtree's system would set you back about $711 US dollars. Not too bad for what you get. You could cut corners if you don't need a case that looks good in the living room, find a few items on sale, and skip the wireless mouse and remote.

One of the big topics at this year's CES is 'digital connections', ie. accessing media on different platforms and moving it around without the need for complex systems, setups or hard work.

As things move on, year-on-year, a big aspect of the digital home will not only be moving digital media around the home, but using your PC (or similar device) to control various other devices around your home.

But is it currently possible to set up a system on a wireless home network so that you can view your photos, videos and listen to your music from anywhere in the house -- on a budget of less than $1000, using components bought from high street stores?

Unfortunately, the answer is mostly no. Maybe $10,000 would be more like it.

However, with an 802.11n router, a few cheap upgrades to the various wireless devices around the house, and $500 worth of network storage -- and hook it all up to your current setup (presuming you have more than one PC) and you could be well on your way to a makeshift home entertainment system.

Unfortunately, this NY Times-based article doesn't really give any solutions as such -- more suggestions -- but I'd like PVR Wire's readers to give us an example of the setup you have at home (along with the rough costs) to give people an alternative to the expensive products being released this week in Las Vegas.

List your devices, model numbers, cost -- and how you went about setting things up in the comments section.

One Voice, the makers of the unique and intuitive voice recognition application for Windows Media Center, announced at CES today that they are offering a public beta for the Windows Vista release of their software.

The new beta release should be compatible with the One Voice Remote which we wrote about awhile back.

A few of the features that Media Center Communicator sports include:

• Simple to use voice commands with no voice training required
• Play MP3 or Apple iTunes music using voice commands
• PC-to-Phone calling using Skype to anywhere worldwide
• Read and send email
• Create your own custom voice macros to launch websites and applications

With the Windows Media Center Edition line ending and being fully incorporated into certain editions of Windows Vista, we can be sure to see a surge in applications and utilities released for the Media Center environment.

If you are interested in signing up for the beta, you can send an email with your contact info to mccsales@onev.com. For more information on One Voice, you can visit their web page at http://www.onev.com.

Information Week has a brilliant tutorial which guides you through the process of upgrading your Windows XP PC to a Windows Media Center Edition PC.

However, this is a lot more complicated than just sticking a CD in your PC, clicking a few "next" buttons and hoping for the best.

Unfortunately Microsoft only ever intended MCE to be installed by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who sell PCs and Microsoft does not offer any upgrade solution to take a regular XP PC and made it a Media Center.

Fortunately it is actually possible to purchase Windows MCE in OEM packages for about $110, and once you have a copy you can continue with the installation, which may be a little difficult for the non technically minded, but Information Week should help you through it.