The Akimbo story isn’t over yet… As Om Malik reported yesterday, Akimbo has picked up $15 million dollars from a variety of investors including Cisco and AT&T. Not so coincidentally, Akimbo will be providing content downloads for AT&T’s upcoming Homezone service. While Akimbo’s hardware revision has been pushed to the fall, PC Magazine just published details on the updated hardware and service. Given Akimbo’s intended partnership with Movielink, it’s no surprise they’re moving to a Microsoft platform that supports Windows Media Video (and DRM). As announced at CES, RCA will manufacture the box. They estimate it’ll cost $200 - $300 and include basic content downloads at the current $10/mo price point, while prime content and movies will incur additional fees. Movielink’s fairly large library (much larger than MovieBeam’s 100 flicks) is compelling, but paying monthly service fees plus rental fees on top of a hardware expense doesn’t sit well with me and I don’t think the market will support this model… We’ll see how things play out in the fall and learn if this is indeed their final pricing scheme.

Never enough time…

• Which new DVD format? Neither just yet. (NY Times)
• Akimbo raises $15 million. (GigaOm)
• AT&T’s fiber option television service U-verse goes live. (San Antonio Business Journal)
• PC Mag gives S2 DT TiVo 3.5/5 stars. (PC Mag)

By default, the new TiVo Desktop software transcodes recordings to 320×240 for portable devices. According to TiVo VP Jim Denney this decision was made to limit potential piracy. However, there may be times when you’d prefer something a bit larger. For example the PSP (480×272), various PMCs (up to 640×480), various PDAs (up to 640×480), and (hopefully) future video-capable iPods all support higher resolutions. Additionally, if you’re interested in manipulating these files on a Mac with iMovie/iDVD why cripple your content? (For best results, do not transcode to a higher resolution than your source material.)

Step 1. Open up C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\Support\encodeprofiles.xml in Notepad and study the various tivotrans:Profile name entries (in quotes) to determine which method you’ll be using for your device. You can confirm your selection in the My TiVo Recordings for Portables subfolder. Within the relevant profile, edit the hrez and vrez variables to the desired dimensions. Before going down this path, it would be prudent to make a backup copy of encodeprofiles.xml.

Step 2. Use TiVo Desktop as you normally would and/or… To transcode immediately open a command window to C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop, type this, and hit enter: TiVoConverter.exe /profile=”xxxxxx” “C:\yyyyyy\zzzzzz.tivo” Substitute xxxxxx with what you researched above, yyyyyy with the TiVo Recordings directory path, and yyyyyy.tivo with the show you want to transcode.

Step 3. There is no Step 3. (more…)

One limitation of the new TiVo Desktop software is that it only allows you to transcode newly downloaded recordings for portable devices… Or so we thought! If you’re not scared of the Windows command line and perusing a small XML file, you can transcode any .tivo show on your system — new OR old.

Step 1. Open up C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop\Support\encodeprofiles.xml in Notepad and study the various tivotrans:Profile name entries (in quotes) to determine which method you need for your device. Confirm your selection in the My TiVo Recordings for Portables subfolder.

Step 2. Open a command window to C:\Program Files\TiVo\Desktop, type this, and hit enter: TiVoConverter.exe /profile=”xxxxxx” “C:\yyyyyy\zzzzzz.tivo” Substitute xxxxxx with what you researched above, yyyyyy with the TiVo Recordings directory path, and yyyyyy.tivo with the show you want to transcode.

Step 3. There is no Step 3.

Someone should be able to whip up an executable in about ten minutes to make this a bit more efficient (drop-down for profile, text box to paste .tivo file name). If we don’t see one in the next few days, I’ll borrow VisualBasic and crank it out.

Never enough time…

• Free ABC.com shows outperform iTunes downloads. (Reuters)
• Sony Blu-ray player delayed again. (HDBeat)
• Broadcast Flag sneaks into telecom bill. (Engadget)
• Netflix CEO Reed Hastings doesn’t matter. (Hacking Netflix)
• Slingbox set to launch in Japan. (jkOnTheRun)

Sling Media is sponsoring the NASCAR Dodge/Safe Mart 350 this weekend and they brought along a spiffy truck. The tags read I SLING. TiVo’s Mini Cooper probably gets better gas mileage, but wouldn’t stand a chance head on.

I don’t care what Wikipedia says, I choose to believe post-herpetic neuralgia is an anxiety disorder caused by that large lizard who stared me down in Belize. Originally leaked to the public a few months ago, yesterday TiVo and Core Medical began piloting video downloads for physicians. While the initial Healthcasts service relies on leasing air time and recording broadcasts for later playback, this pilot uses the same technology as CNET downloads to serve broadband-connected Series 2 units. In the long run, Internet distribution should be more efficient and economical for TiVo and Core Medical.

Core Medical Publishing, in partnership with Tivo, presents this medical education pilot activity, featuring TivoCast, a new way to receive information on your TV via broadband. Please view the following program and respond to the follow up survey that will be sent to you in one week. Thank you for participating in this pilot activity.