HTPC Archives - Page 22 of 30

The Snapstream Beyond TV CEO Interview

I’ve been a Beyond TV & Beyond Media (both Home Theater PC software products) user for the past three years. So when I saw that Rakesh Agrawal, the founder and CEO of Snapstream would be in Kansas City to talk about his company’s latest project, Snapstream Enterprise I jumped at the chance to meet with … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: The Motorola CableCARD Q&A: Connected Home 2 Go DivX Thrives, DVD Continues To Die: Davis Freeberg’s Digital Connection Netflix Watch Now Download Hack Surveillance: Brent Evans Geek Tonic FiOS TV Gets HD: Connected Home 2 Go Sage 6.3.1 Beta Released, HD Extender Support: Brent Evanas … Read more

Windows Home Server Arrives

After months of semi-public beta testing, Microsoft’s Windows Home Server is finally arriving in retail. HP’s MediaSmart Server is up first and the companies are offering live informational webcasts – including one today at 4PM EST: In addition to a live demonstration, consumer technology industry experts such as Rob Enderle/The Enderle Group, Rick Doherty/Envisioneering, Paul … Read more

Missing Remote Reviews Beyond TV 4.7

Missing Remote’s Daniel Schoerner has written a nice, comprehensive review of Beyond TV 4.7. He covers all BTV features with a focus on the new functionality, appreciating iTunes Integration and the lesser-publicized Firefly Mobile feature – allowing you to use your iPhone or smart phone as a remote control. Overall, it’s a great overview and … Read more

Mythbuntu Released From Beta

Todd (a regular commenter) encouraged me to share the news now, rather than hold off until I test the Live CD at home in a few days. So… Hot on the heels of the Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 Linux release, Mythbunto 7.10 has launched. Like Ubuntu itself, the first non-beta Mythbuntu distro attempts to provide … Read more

Beyond Nielsen TV Ratings

Nielsen, TiVo and Snapstream Media. One of those three is well known for tracking television viewership, but the other two: TiVo and Snapstream Media (makers of the Beyond TV PC DVR software) are not as well known in this realm, but offer a more transparent and relatively useful snapshot of what Television Viewers like you and I are watching. Would you agree that Heroes and The Office are hit shows – at least better than Dancing with the Stars or 60 Minutes? Well you’d likely agree more with TiVo and Beyond TV users.

Since the early 1940’s the television and advertising industries have relied on Nielsen Media Research to measure the popularity and success of television programming. Nielsen continues to be the leading provider of this information and their list of the top TV shows by demographic are consistently highlighted in the media and watched closely by Advertisers and the Television Networks. While I’m still interested in what Nielsen is reporting as the top shows, I’m left wanting more.

Dude, I’m Getting a Media Center

I don’t like to think about it, but the death of my PC could have ended much more tragically. Waking up and discovering that I may have lost all of my data, I progressed through each of the 5 stages of grief. At first, I tried to deny that there was a problem, then I got angry at myself for not listening to Thomas Hawk’s advice, this was followed by plenty of promises to be more diligent, if I could only figure out how to repair the computer, and when I ultimately realized it was toast, depression set in over my loss. Eventually, realizing my problems had nothing to do with my data, acceptance was easy — it meant that I was going to transfer my digital life into an entirely new media experience.

Three years ago, I made the mistake of buying a computer from my employer. They had extra units lying around and I liked the idea of having Microsoft Office pre-installed. The computer was old, but still an upgrade over my Windows 98 PC. At first it seemed like this a good solution but, what I didn’t realize, was that all the media-related functionality had been stripped from the machine. It ran on just a half a gig of RAM, had no CD or DVD burner, the video card couldn’t support higher resolutions, and somehow they managed to disable the microphone.

As a media nut, this was a brutal mistake to make for the home PC. So when it came time to get a new machine, I wanted to make sure that I kept all my functionality options open – such as handling PC gaming and streaming digital video well.

Recognize This Tuner?

In browsing HP’s DigitalLife booth (for both work and pleasure), I stumbled upon a familiar site:

Sure looks a lot like the new-yet-still-destined-to-fail ReplayTV PC hardware edition. Which looks a lot like Hauppauge’s pair (PC and Mac) of USB HD tuners. Which looks like a lot like the Eye TV Hybrid.

As an occasional USB HD tuner user (Pinnacle variety), I wonder how much ATSC tuners cost these days? Perhaps it’s time to start building this functionality into most laptops (and integrate antennas into the LCD chassis).