Dave Zatz

Media Extender Day, Part 3: SlingCatcher

Apple and Sony aren’t the only ones with media extenders launching in the $200 – $300 range later this year. My employer (Sling Media) will release the SlingCatcher in the second half of 2007. Our initial features will be the ability receive a Slingbox video feed on a television (without any sort of computer in … Read more

Media Extender Day, Part 2: Sony IVL

This summer, Sony intends to release a $300 “Internet Video Link” accessory for most of their new Bravia sets (which seems limiting). They promise a variety of content (including HD) from their own audio and video properties, as well as AOL and Yahoo. Though, no word yet on media pricing. In addition to commercial content, … Read more

Media Extender Day, Part 1: Apple TV

Perhaps you heard: Apple TV has been delayed until at least mid-March. Frankly, I don’t find this very newsworthy… So why bother posting? Because CNN, USA Today, and other mainstream news outlets disagree. In my industry (I love that I can say that now) these sort of setbacks are routine. However, Apple preannouncing products and … Read more

Expand Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR Storage

As a guy living in Comcast + Motorola country, I was pretty surprised to learn that Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVRs (running SARA) support external drives. I’m only two years behind in the news, but being able to upgrade a stock cableco box is pretty exciting. I could see myself putting up with an inferior interface … Read more

BitTorrent Gets Legit (Yawn)

It’s déjà vu… all over again! Following in the footsteps of Napster, BitTorrent has a new business model: selling (non-pirated) media. Originally announced nearly a year ago, the legit video site launches in a few hours. There’s not really much new or compelling here (regardless of what P2P technology may or may not be running … Read more

TiVo Desktop 2.4 Public Beta Released

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While I was preoccupied in Canada, TiVo released a public beta of TiVo Desktop 2.4. Notable new features include the ability to broadcast “HD” photographs (1280×720) from computer to Series3 TiVo and the ability to transcode several video formats (other than DivX) for transfer to and playback on Series2 units. A less glamorous, but useful, feature allows the software to map beyond the default TiVo folder.

A few gotchas… TiVo has labeled this Preview software, though they document about a dozen known issues (hence my Public Beta label). The ability to transcode video (for TiVo playback OR in the other direction for iPod and PSP playback) requires a Plus codec license: $25. Sorry Mac owners, this is a Windows-only release — Perhaps Roxio will incorporate similar functionality into a Toast update.

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