If you’re one of the many SageTV users waiting for the return of SageTV HD Extenders, your wait is now over this CyberMonday. The SageTV store has the new version of the HD100, known as the SageTV HD Theater (HD200), available for $200. The smaller replacement model functions just like the former $200 HD100 extenders – handling all of the same video and audio formats plus some, acting as Placeshifter client, etc. The SageTV HD Theater also functions as a standalone media player without requiring a SageTV server connection and can also run without a PC to play media it finds on your local network or on a local USB storage device.

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TVTonic, one of the more popular Windows Media Center applications, is shuttering their service for the time being:

In these tough financial times we are faced with the need to take down the TVTonic service while we restructure for the future. Although the service is being retired, you’re free to continue to use TVTonic to download and watch your favorite RSS video channels. Please check back for news at a later date. Thanks for all your support.

TVTonic basically provided a way for the HTPC user to get online content to their TV via a 10-foot remote control interface. They offered a good deal of HD content and included many podcasts and RSS feeds all organized in a nice UI. And the company got a good deal of press during the Olympics this past year as NBC provided downloadable content of the games. This move isn’t a good sign for the folks at TVTonic, or Waveexpress the company that runs the service, and there’ll be many dissapointed Media Center users out there.

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

Handbrake, my favorite media converter, has just been updated. Version 0.9.3 includes some significant improvements and features that make this a must-download, free application – for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Handbrake 0.9.3 changes include:

• Convert from all video types (not just DVDs)
• Improved video quality – uses latest H.264 encoding library improvements.  Significant picture quality improvements and speed optimizations
• More Control over multiple audio tracks
• Better organized presets (you’ll just have to try this, but it looks much easier and nicer then past versions)
• Audio/video synchronization improved (fewer lip-sync issues)
• Linux graphical user interface
• Multi-threaded deinterlacing (use those extra cores for those of you with dual-core or quad-core processors)
• Linux graphical user interface
• Many other improvements to all interfaces

The one negative is they’ve removed integrated DVD decryption as part of the update. This was obviously done to keep them out of trouble with the anti-decryption police. If you use Mac, just install VLC 0.9 and you won’t notice the difference. If you’re on Linux you can just install a library – read more at the Handbrake forum. And if you’re on Windows… I don’t actually see a fix for Windows, so I’m wondering if I’d have to decrypt before using this tool – which would make me very sad. (via Macworld)

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

YouTube has updated their standard web player from the 4:3 aspect ratio to a widescreen format. (All 4:3 videos display vertical black bars on the sides.) YouTube moving this direction is notable since it is the best known and most popular of the online video sites. And along with YouTube’s move towards full-length films (so far, just from MGM), this will allow them to compete more in the Hulu space while maintaining their dominance over other video sharing sites that offer widescreen playback such as Vimeo, Viddler, and Blip.tv.

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

Curious about those DirecTV tuners coming for Windows 7 Media Center? You know, the ones everyone was told would arrive for Vista eventually…  Well, Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD is in Seattle visiting with the Microsoft eHome offices and got a bunch of photos of those DirecTV HDPC-20’s in action. For those of you interested (this means most Media Center users) this EndgadgetHD post is a must read.

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

The Financial Times reports that Hulu.com, the upstart video streaming and sharing site founded by NBC and backed by News Corp, is projected to equal or possibly even surpass YouTube in U.S. advertising revenue next year. This doesn’t remotely surprise me despite the fact that Google has been trying to monetize since acquiring YouTube two years ago. Why? Well, ask any young person, especially college students, how they’re getting their television. It seems most of them get at least some content online, and many are using Hulu.com as a source. Do kids (and others) still get TV from torrents? Some do, but it’s hard to beat Hulu for quickly and easily catching up on a show. YouTube is better known for user-generated junk (UGJ). Yes there’s some good stuff in there, but the catalog is so polluted that it’s nearly impossible to find the good stuff. And other than a few CBS shows, you’ll not find much “broadcast” television to catch up on.

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Microsoft is polling members of the Green Button community to find potential beta testers for Windows 7 Media Center. You can learn something from a poll like this and as I read through the questions, I noticed an emphasis on satellite TV – which further confirms the DirecTV support coming in Windows 7. Here are the instructions for completing the survey and putting your name in the hat to be a beta tester:

If you are chosen as a Media Center beta tester, we will follow-up with an email when a beta will be available. Please take a moment to complete the following instructions to access this survey.

1.       Go to http://connect.microsoft.com.

2.       Please enter the following invitation code on the Connect main page, where it says “Were you invited to join Connect?”: WMC-JM7K-RRM6
3.       Complete Survey.

You are only allowed to complete this survey once. Please chose just one (1) dedicated PC for testing when responding to this survey.

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