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.

Todd (a regular commenter) encouraged me to share the news now, rather than hold off until I test the Live CD at home in a few days. So… Hot on the heels of the Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 Linux release, Mythbunto 7.10 has launched. Like Ubuntu itself, the first non-beta Mythbuntu distro attempts to provide a more consumer friendly experience by saving you the time and effort of installing the MythTV package on your own. While MythTV’s free guide data is still a thing of the past, Schedules Direct has recently reduced the rate to just $20/year.

(Image swiped from TV Squad. Thanks, Brad!)

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.

(more…)

I don’t like to think about it, but the death of my PC could have ended much more tragically. Waking up and discovering that I may have lost all of my data, I progressed through each of the 5 stages of grief. At first, I tried to deny that there was a problem, then I got angry at myself for not listening to Thomas Hawk’s advice, this was followed by plenty of promises to be more diligent, if I could only figure out how to repair the computer, and when I ultimately realized it was toast, depression set in over my loss. Eventually, realizing my problems had nothing to do with my data, acceptance was easy — it meant that I was going to transfer my digital life into an entirely new media experience.

Three years ago, I made the mistake of buying a computer from my employer. They had extra units lying around and I liked the idea of having Microsoft Office pre-installed. The computer was old, but still an upgrade over my Windows 98 PC. At first it seemed like this a good solution but, what I didn’t realize, was that all the media-related functionality had been stripped from the machine. It ran on just a half a gig of RAM, had no CD or DVD burner, the video card couldn’t support higher resolutions, and somehow they managed to disable the microphone.

As a media nut, this was a brutal mistake to make for the home PC. So when it came time to get a new machine, I wanted to make sure that I kept all my functionality options open - such as handling PC gaming and streaming digital video well.

(more…)

In browsing HP’s DigitalLife booth (for both work and pleasure), I stumbled upon a familiar site:

Sure looks a lot like the new-yet-still-destined-to-fail ReplayTV PC hardware edition. Which looks a lot like Hauppauge’s pair (PC and Mac) of USB HD tuners. Which looks like a lot like the Eye TV Hybrid.

As an occasional USB HD tuner user (Pinnacle variety), I wonder how much ATSC tuners cost these days? Perhaps it’s time to start building this functionality into most laptops (and integrate antennas into the LCD chassis). (more…)

As anyone running freeware HTPC DVR software already knows Zap2It will cease to provide free guide data as of 9/1. While I’m sure there’ll be (already are?) solutions that scrape or import programming info (from somewhere), Schedules Direct is attempting to fill the void with a pay service of $5/mo. Wonder how many PC users will migrate to Windows MCE, BeyondTV, or SageTV (all of which include guide data)? Hard core MythTV (Linux) users march to the beat of a different drummer - I don’t foresee them migrating anywhere. In fact, the majority of Schedules Direct’s board is comprised of MythTV representatives. Though it’s yet to be seen how many of these free software aficionados will actually pay up…

Missing Remote has put together a 6 month report card on Vista’s Media Center Edition functionality - hype, reality, and conclusions:

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed quite a few disappointments on the Vista front, and yet I personally run Vista and am quite happy. To be fair, in addition to the aforementioned “features,” I’ve found my Vista box to be just as capable as my XP box was, and even more stable

I wasn’t running Vista as a Media Center or HTPC, just as an occasional (and flaky) media server (to Xbox 360), so I can’t add much more to the conversation. However, I can tell you my desktop PC is much more useful (and quick) since “downgrading” to XP (Media Center Edition) earlier this week. (And I highly recommend Acronis True Image - it made restoration a breeze.)