Dave Zatz, Author at Zatz Not Funny!

Dave Gets Vista

My copy of Vista finally arrived. Not as late as mid-April, but still later than I would have liked. The HP “Express Upgrade” kit came with two discs: an HP prep/config CD and the Vista DVD.

Prior to upgrading last night, HP had me disconnect a variety of peripherals (I declined), update my BIOS (was already current), and then their CD removed incompatible software that had been preloaded with my machine (most of which I had already blown away). The actual Vista upgrade took several hours, followed by running that HP CD again… to reinstall Vista-compatible software I don’t need (blown away a second time). I did have some trouble finding a NVIDIA driver that supported my LCD’s native resolution (1400×900) — Neither the default Vista driver nor HP’s driver update would go that high, but a direct NVIDIA download took care of it.

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news from our other blogs… The Real Story on VOD: Connected Home 2 Go The FiOS Connection: Connected Home 2 Go TV Advertising – Staples v Office Depot: Digital Connection On Apple TV: Connected Home 2 Go

Introducing Couchville (And ZNF’s Newest Blogger)

SnapStream, maker of PC DVR software BeyondTV, has pushed out a “simple” web television guide. Unlike other guides floating around the net, Couchville is not plastered in ads, doesn’t require registration, and doesn’t require numerous clicks before hitting the listings. The guide is easily manipulated, AJAX style, by dragging the screen or using the arrow keys. As with most Web 2.0 apps, Couchville is in beta. I don’t know how many features we’ll end up seeing in this minimalist app, but I’d appreciate the option of a different color scheme.

In my household I’m often asked, “When’s ‘Dancing With Skating Celebrity American Idols Next Door’ on?” I always answer, “No idea” and one of us (or both) ends up surfing the network’s web page for (hopefully) the answer. So I’m looking forward to sharing this URL and pointing out the search box.

DST: TiVo versus ReplayTV

As I wrote earlier in the week, TiVo has mostly resolved issues surrounding the daylight savings time date change for Series2 and Series3 units. However Series1 units have not received a software update. While Season Passes, Wishlists, etc should record as scheduled… TiVo will “display a time one hour behind the actual time” and manual … Read more

Akimbo In The House

At a CES sideshow (PEPCOM) I met Akimbo CEO Josh Goldman. Basically our conversation went something like this, “So what do you think?” “I’ll let you know when you send me a review unit!” And look what arrived this week…

In Vegas, I learned these guys are totally out of the hardware business: The new stand-alone Akimbo device is solely a RCA hardware platform, AT&T is using Akimbo on Homezone, and Akimbo was integrated into Windows Media Center some time ago. On the business side, I’ll need a refresher on the various pricing plans and where they’re headed. I wonder if Movielink’s potential acquisition will have any impact on Akimbo?

Moviebeam Acquired By Movie Gallery

Talk about irony… I was drafting a “How To Save Moviebeam” post, when low and behold they’re purchased by Movie Gallery. While an acquisition wasn’t on my list, an expanded retail presence (in video rental stores) won’t hurt — though Best Buy end caps and shelf space in Radio Shack hasn’t seemed to be of much help. The selling price wasn’t disclosed, though Cisco, Disney, and Intel invested $48+ million after the unit was spun off from Disney. Presumably, Movie Gallery sees this as a way to get into digital delivery of content – much like Blockbuster is eyeing Movielink.

I’ve had Moviebeam in the house for about nine or ten months now (review here, YouTube video here), but it’s been sitting under the coffee table collecting dust for at least six of them. The idea to utilize unused broadcast bandwidth to “beam” movies over-the-air seemed clever, but in practice my reception was spotty… even after taping the antenna to the window (which wasn’t so attractive). MovieBeam also requires a telephone line to periodically dial up for billing purposes (pay per movie rental), which doesn’t work so well with the early adopters who might be interested in their product. So the first tip of my original “How To Save Moviebeam” post was to introduce them to the Internet and suggest they leverage the provided Ethernet jack.

Cellphone DVR Scheduling For Homezone, TiVo

AT&T Homezone customers will able to…

use their mobile handsets to remotely view listings and schedule or delete recordings from their DVR set-top boxes. All that is needed is a WAP 2.0-enabled handset that lets subscribers access the AT&T-Yahoo portal.

As soon as I read that, my immediate thought was: Where’s the TiVo Verizon Java scheduling widget? Well, PVRWire reports something may be announced shortly:

Next week Verizon and Vodafone will launch a service allowing customers to program TiVo units by phone. Sprint plans to enter the remote recording market later this year.