Brent Evans Hauppauge‘s HTPC HD-PVR device, originally scheduled for March availability and then later this spring, has been delayed and “should hit the market toward the end of May, early June.” Another tidbit I’ve picked up is that the HD-PVR, which will record digital television straight from any component video output, won’t initially be compatible with Microsoft … Read more
I want to follow up on the all-day Netflix outage reported on Monday. Because my DVD delivery was affected by the outage, Netflix sent me a nice apology e-mail giving me a 5% credit for my inconvenience. It’s a nice gesture that is appreciated. Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and … Read more
One of my favorite Home Theater PC software programs is SageTV. SageTV turns your PC into a souped-up TiVo providing DVR functions, a movie and music interface, plus so much more. For new users of SageTV, the first plugin I always recommend they install is the user-created and supported SageTV Web User Interface. The Web … Read more
Snapstream has released an update to Beyond TV, the software-based PVR application. Their focus continues to be ease of setup, ease of use and powerful PVR functionality. This version, a free upgrade for existing BeyondTV customers, includes the following significant new features: Record by saved, keyword searches (like Tivo) Frame by frame playback Conflict notifications … Read more
I’ve been using Netflix’s Watch Now feature much more lately mostly because of the excellent Netflix plugin for SageTV that allows me to browse, search, and play the Watch-Now movies from the comfort of my couch. The plugin has been improved by Morgan (the plug-in developer), but once you start a movie or show there … Read more
I’m setting up my SageTV HD100 and a key component is the HDMI cable used to connect the HD media extender to the LCD television. One thing I learned long ago was to not buy theater cables from the big-box retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City,Walmart , etc. Instead, I save myself a bundle by … Read more
Let’s say I win the lottery. Not just a little jackpot, but a really big one. If that happens, this is the home theater I might want to put in my mansion. It costs about $6 million and includes a gigantic, Snowmatte laboratory-grade screen, Sony ultra-high-resolution (4,096-by-2,160) SRX-S110 digital projector, a 8.8-channel audio system with … Read more
If you’ve ever used the myFairTunes or QTFairTunes programs to strip DRM from Apple’s FairPlay or Windows Media encoding, then you’re probably familiar with the Hymn Project. Last week, they received a cease and desist letter demanding that all download links be removed from the site. From their forum: Until further notice, no links are … Read more