I was running through my Netflix Queue this morning and noticed an interesting warning on one of the movies.  If you add Casino Royale, Crossover, Open Season and other DVD’s (total of 13) to your Queue, you’ll get the following Notice Message from Netflix:

NOTICE: This DVD is not compatible with some DVD players.

This is because Netflix still has a few Movie titles with the asinine ARccOS copy protection. ARccOS is a copy protection scheme developed by Sony that intentionally puts corrupted sectors on the DVD to prevent copying. It also tends to make the DVD unwatchable on several different DVD players on the market. It should be noted that Netflix has been replacing their inventory of these Discs and now only have these 13 titles. Here’s the FAQ on the Netflix site about the ARccOS discs.

This is just another reason I hate these copy protections that manufacturers are putting on media. It tends to penalize the legitimate customers and treat them like criminals, when those who are ripping and selling the content on the streets will still find a way to do it. In the end it costs you and I money while limiting functionality.

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

I’m impressed with the D-Link DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media Player’s interface and ease of use and the playback quality for formats supported out of the box. There is a market for this type of device, similar to Apple TV, and there’s compelling online content that will appeal to many with this media extender. Unfortunately that online content is relatively scarce. A bigger issue is the default restriction to only DivX video or MP3 and WMA audio, which limits this product to those who either already have encoded the bulk of their collection as DivX or who take the time to “hack” the unit to stream other formats. In talking with a DivX representative, I’ve learned that they are planning to provide additional format support. In fact, the next version of the server software will support Flash video support, which should help quite a bit with online content in particular.

I can recommend this device with qualifications. If you have a large DivX collection or are just starting out and like the concept of all video on DivX then this is definitely a very desirable media extender for you. If you don’t fit into that category, I still encourage you to consider the device for it’s nice interface and strong potential for online video and other online content. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a step in the right direction.

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While the throngs of iPhone and iTouch users were trying out the new mobile Pandora Radio, one of the most popular free applications, I was testing out a new Pandora Radio Application on my SageTV Home Theater PC. Pandora radio is one of the more popular internet radio services and is a perfect match for the HTPC - it’s a very welcome addition to my home.

The plugin allows users to extend their personalized radio stations from their Pandora username onto their SageTV HTPC. Select a station to listen to and as you’re listening to a song you can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down to help “teach” the station your preferences. Songs you don’t want to hear can be skipped without giving them the thumbs down just like in the Pandora web application. It’s a fairly simple interface, but very easy to use and extremely functional.

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Computer storage space has transformed over recent years to a point where we are actually talking about how many terabytes we have in our systems instead how many gigabytes. Home theater PCs are no longer limited in storage space thanks to the affordability of large hard drives. I’ve been slowly upgrading my HTPC storage by purchasing larger drives the past few years and now run two 1-terabyte drives in my main HTPC. As I was installing my most recent 1-terabyte drive I wondered how much storage other HTPC owners have in their systems.

A SageTV forum member surveyed Sage users, and I’ve created polls on the remaining two major HTPC software forums. So, the results (above) cover 230 HTPC users including SageTV, BeyondTV, and Windows Media Center (The Green Button). It’s quite amazing that 77% of the sampled HTPC respondents have capacities greater than 1 terabyte. Even more significant is 30% of respondents utilize over 3 terabytes of storage on their HTPCs.

For more HTPC storage analysis, continue reading at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

You’ve had a long day at work, come home and want to see how your stocks and the market have been doing. Okay, maybe you don’t want to know at the moment given the current market conditions but bear with me… You sit down on you couch, fire up the HTPC TV and click on Your Stocks Plugin from the HTPC menu. A snapshot of your selected stocks and indexes for the day is provided right from the 10-foot interface using a new plugin for the SageTV HTPC software.

Learn more about SageTV, GBPVR, and Beyond Media stock monitoring plugins at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

After more than a week with my Hauppauge HD-PVR, I can say that my excitement hasn’t waned. This thing brings all the channels: HD, digital, SD – everything to the HTPC user without worrying about CableCARD, broadcast flags, or other DRM issues. I’m still working out the final details for a complete review of the device, but had a few points to mention.

First, the Good:

• HD-PVR video quality is excellent. I was a little worried about how much picture quality loss I’d get since the device is essentially taking a once digital signal that is converted to analog and encoded in H.264. I can say that after testing that 1080i, and all the other formats I receive from my Time Warner cable box, and comparing it to OTA HD shows and unencrypted QAM shows from my HDHR, the picture is very, very good. I’m unable to tell the difference between an HDHR recorded show versus a HD-PVR show.
• I’ve had error-free recording and live tv viewing from the HD-PVR since day one. Not a single lockup, hiccup or problem even with heavy use and testing.
• The device is supported by SageTV (with latest beta) and GB-PVR. Beyond TV is not yet supported, but you can get it working with some effort.
• Another tidbit that might surprise some is the fact that you can have multiple HD-PVRs on one HTPC! This has been proven several times by SageTV users. The thing to remember here is that it is up to the software maker (SageTV in this case) to support multiple HD-PVR devices so this might not be the case for other HTPC software.

To experience The Bad and The Ugly, continue reading at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

Snapstream, makers of the excellent Beyond TV PC-based software PVR application have been busier than ever with their latest public beta. Join the fun with this release of Beyond TV, version 4.8.2, if you’re on the cutting edge and if the new features and improvements interest you:

• Much faster library and scheduler
• Ajax-style, scrollable Couchville-style program guide in the web interface (see screenshot above for an example). Note that Couchville was a very popular stand-alone television guide website that was discontinued but is now included with all licensed copies of BeyondTV (beta only for now).
• Many additional web interface improvements including cosmetic improvements/style changes of recorded shows and task queue pages
• Updated DivX and H.264 encoders
• Automatic HD ShowSqueeze exposed by default
• RSS Feeds and Downloads Have optional http basic security
• DivX and H.264 encoders have been updated
• Separated SD and HD ShowSqueeze profiling and exposed Automatic HD ShowSqueeze
• Library Folders now have permissions attached (you can block/allow groups from using specific folders). Good for parental control, or for separating one users shows from the other.
• Improved guide searching performance and functionality including new flags such as Is:Movie, Is:New, Is:Pilot
• Faster recorded shows screen in the ViewScape
• A new “archive all cc data” option
• Continued tweaking/improving of the H.264 profiles - especially for the support of the HD-PVR (currently in testing/improving mode since the HD-PVR is still in infancy)

Snapstream’s asking for anyone interested to join in the testing fun with the Beyond TV 4.8.2 beta. You can sign-up and immediately download & test the most recent public beta version of BTV.

Additionally, the current private beta of Beyond TV is concurrently running and supports recording unencrypted clear QAM on Hauppauge devices such as the HVR-1600, HVR-1800, HVR-950Q, HVR-1250, and HVR-1950. Unlike the public beta, the private beta requires that you apply for the private beta program. Snapstream is looking for private beta testers with the above QAM devices - if interested, e-mail matt@snapstream.com with the subject line “I want to test Beyond TV with QAM”.

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.