Thus far, Amazon Unbox and Netflix Watch Instantly have been the online movie rental leaders. Well, according to Evan DiBiase, the latest version of iTunes hides a little surprise. iTunes 7.5 contains strings (rental-content, rental-bag, source-rental-info, dest-rental-info, etc) related to video on demand rental functionality! This would be a great addition by Apple and would certainly make sense for their iPod and AppleTV products. (via TechCrunch)

Brent enjoys sharing his reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media. Check out more at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

DVR powerhouse TiVo, Inc. announced that they will be offering a new service that gives advertisers detailed information customer information. “Power Watch Consumer Panel,” a partnership between TiVo Inc. and Starcom USA, fires another salvo at long-established Nielsen as TiVo attempts to further monetize the data and statistics data that their DVR service gathers.

TiVo currently sells second-by-second subscriber viewing information of television programs and commercials. However, the new announcement is specific to TiVo customer demographic data including age, income, marital status and ethnicity. Before you get too panicked about the privacy thing, note that the program is is strictly voluntary and all data will remain anonymous:

TiVo recruited 20,000 households to opt-in to the viewership panel. Because these subscribers have opted in, TiVo can associate household data with the viewership data, and hence will be able to produce program and commercial viewership reports which can be looked at by aggregate demographic and behavioral audience groups. All data remain completely anonymous.

Continue reading at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

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 Missing Remote has high praise for Snapstream’s Beyond TV.

I agree with Missing Remote that the new features in this latest version of Beyond TV are great. Additional integrated and easy-to-use functionality - that’s been the cornerstone of BTV from the beginning.

However, Daniel didn’t address the lack of integrated DVD, music and photo functionality that many of Snapstream’s competitors offer. Yes, Snapstream sells the separate Beyond Media software. But it appears to have been abandoned by Snapstream and by the plugin developers that make home theater software competitive. Bottom line: If you want an easy-to-use and fairly easy-to-setup home theater PVR program that provides Tivo-like features, Beyond TV is one of the best. If you want a complete HTPC experience though, you’ll need more than just Beyond TV. And I don’t say that lightly, as an owner of both Beyond TV and Beyond Media.

Brent enjoys sharing his reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media. Check out more at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

Last-ditch efforts to avert the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike took place Sunday according to TV with MeeVee. However, those talks didn’t pan out and the picketing began today as predicted.

If the strike lingers, there will be very real consequences to the television shows you and I watch… The effects of which could be felt as soon as this week.

Here’s a quick rundown of how the strike might impact the shows on TV: Plan on very few, new late night talk shows and Comedy Central talk shows. No soaps (guess my wife will be unhappy), plus many shows will air the episodes they have written and produced and then run repeats - lots of repeats. You’ll also see tons of reality programming and not-new movies.

For the fate of your specific shows, read the breakdown at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

Just three months ago, I discussed why Netflix had already won the DVD Rental War against Blockbuster. It now seems that the company’s struggles have really taken hold and mainstream media agrees that it’s time to say goodbye to Blockbuster.

In their third-quarter results, Blockbuster reported a decline in revenue of over 5% and a net loss of $35 million. They’ve also closed over 500 stores in the past year and are now watching their stock price falter to $4.81 at Friday’s close.

For more gruesome Blockbuster analysis, continue reading at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

One new show this weekend that reality show fans will be excited about: The Amazing Race is returning Sunday on CBS. It’s replacing the unloved Viva Laughlin - canceled after only two episodes.

If you’re an Amazing Race follower, you’ll be happy to see season 12 arrive much earlier than previously planned (originally scheduled for January 2008). This season is shorter than those in the past and doesn’t include non-elimination legs.

So set your TiVos or other DVRs to record the Amazing Race at 8pm ET / 7pm CT. Note that in most TV guides it will be labeled as The Amazing Race 12 so you might need to add it manually if your last recording used Amazing Race 11 like mine did.

Additional TV shows coming soon include Project Runway (11/14), The Battlestar Galactica Razor Movie (11/24), and The Cashmere Mafia (11/27). Other than that its all Football for me for a while.

Brent enjoys sharing his reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media. Check out more at Brent Evans Geek Tonic.

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.

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