PVR Wire

A user in the TiVo Community forum stated that upon contacting Time Warner the company said that you cannot use a TiVo with Time Warner Cable.

You might remember back when the Series 3 was launched how difficult cable companies were trying to make it so that for users to use a TiVo Series 3 with their service. In fact Time Warner first of all refused outright to use the Series 3 TiVo with their service before later changing its mind.

If your Cable Company says they don't support TiVo then you might like to remind them that it is an FCC regulation to provide CableCards for TiVo.

If anyone else has been having these problems with Cable companies please let us know.

According to a NewsChannel 9 story posted yesterday Time Warner is out of HD PVR boxes for its customers due to an overwhelming number of requests, according to the company. Well either that or Time Warner just didn't organise getting enough of them.

Time Warner has stated that new boxes will arrive within two or three weeks. In the meantime Time Warner subscribers can pick up regular HD set top boxes, get on a waiting list for the HD PVR, and get one as soon as it's available.

[Via All PVR]

It seems to be a continuing trend for TV companies to start implementing adverts within the Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) of PVRs. Comcast is one such company which is continuing to get on board with this.

Here on PVRWire we have discussed these ads appearing in some territories on Comcast PVRs. The ads have previously been reported in Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Tucson AZ, and Washington DC areas.

Now PVRWire has recently received an email claiming that the adverts are now appearing in the Miami/Florida region, bumping the 5th row of the program guide for a banner advert.

JJ Hawkins has summed up why these adverts are not only a pain, but unfair for Comcast subscribers. If you don't like these ads then why not get involved and let Comcast know about it and Kill those Comcast Ads!

[Thanks Fullman for the tip!]

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.

With the upcoming general public release of Windows Vista just around the corner there has been a lot of talk about the new Media Center features it brings with it, as well as its limitations (i.e. DRM).

One of the biggest offerings though is its ability to recognize and use CableCard technology. Although this improvement has been widely touted by Microsoft, we haven't heard a whole lot from manufacturer's in the way of implementation, until now.

Vidabox, the makers of various Media Center powered HTPC systems, announced this morning that they will be introducing new systems which support dual tuner digital cable receivers via CableCards. This is great news for anyone who wants to start recording HD channels without the hassle of trying to get a cable box working with Media Center.

Other improvements to the line include the addition of Blu-ray and HD-DVD drives and the option to add more than 3TB of storage via RAID-5. Also noted in the press release is the ability to stream HD content recorded via CableCard to an Xbox 360 (and presumably to other next-generation media extenders).

As expected CableCard support will be available on Windows Vista Media Centers when Microsoft releases Vista later this month bringing HD video recording to MCE. Unfortunately anything to do with CableCards is going to come with a nice selection of restrictions thanks to CableLabs.

Only certified manufacturers will be able to create media center PCs with CableCard support and any video that comes through the CableCard will be heavily protected and armed with DRM.

The video will be decrypted from cable and then re-encrypted in the tuner with Microsoft DRM. The video will then travel through a USB port to the media center, even if the Tuner is an internal PCI card.

All files stored on the hard drive will be encrypted and don't expect much copying or placeshifting to happen. No copying is permitted and while streaming media to Vista Media Extenders is allowed through a home network, copying media to a Zune or other portable media device is not permitted.

It looks like Vista media centers have it just as bad as the TiVo Series 3. Thanks CableLabs.

TiVo CEO Tom Rogers delivered an address at the Citigroup 17th Annual Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas this week.

Here's some of the highlights:

:00 Tom Rogers tries to crack a joke
1:00 Clips of TiVo showing up as a pop culture reference in various TV shows
5:20 Three trends:

1. PVR use is growing, with as many as 60 million units expected in homes by 2010
2. Users fast forward through ads
3. Users want access to broadband content

9:00 Fifty percent of TiVo's new subscribers are analog cable customers
10:50 In addition to Comcast and Cox, TiVo is in discussions with other cable companies to bring a TiVo interface to non-TiVo branded set top oxes
13:30 Rogers claims "every major cable company CEO" has stopped by the TiVo booth at CES
15:40 TiVo is the only PVR that has an interactive advertising solution, making the company that was once a pariah among advertisers into a company that advertisers are willing to do business with
19:20 More than 50% percent of new subscribers are hooking their TiVo units up to a broadband connection
23:00 That Echostar litigation? That's just one patent, TiVo's got 80 more
24:37 Rogers will not talk about Quarter 4 financial news, meaning there's no information on how Series3 boxes are selling
29:30 Rogers summarizes recent announcements that TiVo is demonstrating its software on Comcast boxes, and has partnered with Rhapsody and Music Choice to deliver music content.

Perhaps my favorite nugget from the event was this:

Rogers says he was keen to move away from lifetime subscriptions, because they were undermining the company's attempts to gain new subscriber revenue. He says the company has pretty much been able to make up the money it used to get up front from lifetime subscription fees with its 3 year service plans.

"You get some of your most enthusiast customers, who would be more than willing to pay more money to TiVo, but they no longer have to. And what we've basically done is for the cost of lifetime, substituted that with a three year deal."

In other words, they've moved from a model of rewarding their most enthusiastic customers to a model where they milk them for all they've got. Nice. I mean, he's right, hard core TiVo fans will keep paying, but does have have to say it out loud like that?

• You can download the podcast directly here.
• Or you can subscribe to the rss feed here.
• Or if you can subscribe via iTunes here.
• Or you can listen over the phone via Podlinez by calling (650) 644-1949.

ATI's new TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is an OCUR (Open Cable Unidirectional Receiver) tuner, meaning it can accept CableCard signals and send them to your computer. Like the CableCard slots in the TiVo Series3, OCUR devices can accept digital cable signals, but cannot send, meaning you can't get advanced features like video on demand.

But you can record shows in Vista Media Center without a cable box and IR blaster.

The TV Wonder comes in internal and external varieties. The external unit is a USB 2.0 box, while the internal version fits into a PCI or PCIe slot, but actually communicates with your computer via USB 2.0, and has a separate power cable. The only real advantage to putting it inside your case is that it takes up less space.

The cards support NTSC and ATSC as well as digital cable, with support for up tot 1080p HDTV signals.

In order to use the card, you need an OCUR compliant PC, running Windows Vista with Media Center capabilities.

A few days ago the Wall Street Journal had an article which raised a dilemma which many of us are facing. Should we settle for an inferior, often buggy, often hard to use HD PVR from our cable company or do we get down with a TiVo Series 3 PVR?

The TiVo Series HD PVR is undoubtedly the best HD PVR on the market:

• despite the fact you have to pay $12.95 a month
• despite the fact the Series3 lacks the capability of the Series 2 to transfer recorded shows onto your PC and PMPs
• despite the fact you need a 2 hour visit from a cable-company technician to install a CableCard into your TiVo and;
• despite the fact the TiVo Series 3 does not support some of your Cable Companies services such as Comcast's on-demand feature.

Even with these features I would definitely choose a TiVo Series 3 PVR over a HD PVR from a cable company such as the Motorola DCT3412 from Comcast and the DirecTV Hr20-700. But there is one thing that would stop me buying a Series 3 and that is the $800 price tag.

Hopefully we will see a post Christmas price reduction very soon.

So last night I watched The Funniest Commercials of the Year on my TiVo. I made it through the hour long show in about 2 minutes. It was full of advertisements...

I kid of course, but it got me thinking. With the exception of a Super Bowl ad that made the list and a few random ads here and there, I hadn't seen most of the domestic commercials the show highlighted.

In this age of time-shifted TV, I'm sure a lot of you find yourself in a similiar situation as me and stare at your non-PVR owning friends blankly when they ask, "Have you seen that hilarious commercial where the monkeys point the laser lights at that dude's crotch?"

In addition, the show pulled in a bunch of foreign spots, pretty much all of which had me laughing hysterically. If we could get away with half the stuff they pull off in other countries, I'd probably record blocks of television and skip through the programming just to see the commercials.

The program is definitely worth a watch if you want to catch up on all the funny commercials you missed out on in 2006 while utilizing your remotes fast forward and 30-second-skip capabilities.

The show airs again on WTBS Friday, December 29th at 10:30 PM and again on Saturday, December 30th at 6:00 PM.

I'm pretty sure everyone is not going to wake up on New Years day and start thinking why the hell do I pay nearly $100 a month for my Cable and TiVo and decide to cancel their subscription realizing they have also over spent this Christmas.

However, I do think that people may start to see that there is a lot of free television on the internet and even some paid services that could replace TiVo and Cable altogether. Given that internet TV is continuing to enter the living room the need for cable or TiVo is slowly beginning to dwindle.

Of course for all those HD fans the internet is not going to match up for some years and cable and TiVo will keep their pride of place in the living room. But those people that value saving quite a bit of money and believe you don't need high quality to enjoy TV may opt out of their TiVo and cable subscriptions.

Without even touching on the pirated TV available there is an increasing amount of legitimate free content. There are many web TV stations on the internet, lots of video clips on sites like YouTube, and even the prospect of more familiar on demand content through The Venice Project.

In fact it is the the early beta reviews that I have read on The Venice Project here and here that makes me think people will start dropping cable for free TV. If the Venice Project can maintain minimal advertising, and grow a decent database of content people won't need Cable and because the content is on-demand they won't need a PVR either.

Even if the Venice Project doesn't have your favorite shows you could probably download them for about $1.99 an episode from iTunes, Amazon Unbox or Cinema Now and be able to keep them to watch whenever you want.

I do however doubt that the hardcore TV junkies would be fully satisfied by what's available on the internet and could run up huge bills at the iTunes movie store, but for the more passive TV viewer the internet could be a very cost effective alternative to cable and TiVo.

The New York Times reports that Comcast is rolling out a test of a new service to provide video-on-demand movies the same day those films are released on DVD.

Currently it can take from 30 to 45 days for a movie to make it to VOD after it's released on DVD.

Comcast's service will launch on a trial basis in Denver and Pittsburgh. Subscribers will be able to watch movies for $4, which seems competitive with DVD rental prices.

A Time Warner official interviewed for the article says he doesn't expect the service to cannibalize DVD purchase rates, but rather he is hoping that the increased distribution methods mean more people will purchase or rent videos.

I'd imagine this could be a win-win situation for Comcast and content providers. Comcast would love to get customers to pony up cash to watch more movies on demand. And while movie distributors can charge higher prices for DVD sales than for video-on-demand offerings, they can work out a deal with Comcast to get a direct percentage of every $4 movie rental, something that's nearly impossible to do with video store owners.

Hauppauge has released yet another TV tuner intent on making the tuner you bought just a few months ago feel jealous.

The WinTV-HVR-3000 is the company's first "tri-mode" tuner, meaning it can capture digital satellite, analog cable, or Freeview TV signals on a PC. You can also listen to FM, digital DVB-T or DVB-S radio.

The PCI card features hardware MPEG-2 encoding, and comes with software for recording from a VCR or camcorder in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.

While this isn't a "triple tuner" card as some sites are suggesting, it does allow you to capture video from three distinct types of sources. And if you're capturing a digital and an analog signal simultaneously, you can flip back and forth between the two recordings, so it's more like a tri-mode, dual tuner card.

It also comes with what looks like Hauppauge's standard IR remote. The HVR-3000 is available now for under £100.

My co-writers here at PVR Wire have been giving you some gift ideas for the Festive season, but I thought I'd be a little different and tell you what not to buy.

• TiVo Series 3. Before you start shouting 'TiVo is great' -- hold it right there. I know TiVo is great, I know the Series 3 is a damn fine PVR and I know HD is the must-have thing this Christmas, but I just don't think it's the right time to buy a Series 3. Most stores are selling it at $799 although Yahoo Shopping found one at $670. That's pretty expensive for a PVR, no matter how good it is. But I can guarantee the Series 3 will have a substantial price drop shortly after Christmas, and that will be a much better time to buy.
  
  
• XP Media Center without an Express Vista Upgrade. If you're planning on buying a media center PC running Windows MCE, then make sure it has an Express Vista Upgrade. With the right manufacturer you can get a free upgrade to the Vista operating system when it comes out before March 31, thus saving yourself the hefty cost of upgrading later on down the line. If you decide you don't want to upgrade to Vista, then you don't have to, but at least you have the option.
  
  
• Microsoft Zune – With so many excellent digital media players out on the market the Microsoft Zune just doesn't cut it. It's full of DRM and you have to hack it to do things that I would expect it to do as standard. I agree with Brad, the Archos 604 is a much more attractive option.
  
  
• ReplayTV PC Edition – Turning a PC into a PVR is a great idea, but ReplayTV PC Edition is not the software to use. It lacks some much-needed features such as multiple tuner support, HDTV support, ability to stream video to other computers, and a free electronic program guide. It will cost you $99.95 with an additional $19.95 yearly fee. Sage TV and Beyond TV are a better option in my eyes, and you can always get basic PVR functionality for free with GB-PVR.

1. Sky HD. If there's one present I'd really love someone to buy me this Christmas, it's BSkyB's news HD service. It's a Sky+ PVR with 160GB of storage capacity (around 80 hours) and it displays tons of Sky's content in glorious HD (presuming you have an HD capable TV. It'll cost you £299 for the box, £60 for installation and an extra £10 per month on top of your subscription, depending on the channels you already receive. More: www.sky.com/hd

2. Topfield TF5800PVR 160GB Freeview PVR. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of ordering one of these top-notch Freeview PVRs for the purposes of my job. It's a twin-tuner unit with a 160GB hard drive and a fairly easy-to-use setup and EPG. The only drawbacks are a slow reaction time on the remote, but it also has the added bonus of a USB connection, which comes in handy for moving videos around on to portable devices. You should expect to pay around £250, but it's worth every penny. More: Amazon UK.

3. Telewest TV Drive. If you're an NTL or Telewest customer in the UK, and you don't yet have a PVR, but you're sick of their basic on-demand service, you should consider treating yourself this Christmas by upgrading to TV Drive. It has a twin tuner, 80 hour capacity, 8-day EPG and series link facility. Oh, and it does HD too. Subscriptions start at an additional £10 per month, with no connection fee. More: Telewest UK.

4. Humax PVR800T PVR. If the Topfield doesn't take your fancy, you might want to consider the Humax PVR800T. It has pretty much all the same function as the Topfield TF5800, but with a slightly smaller HDD (80GB) and can only record one Freeview channel at a time. Expect to pay around £130.