Never enough time…

• Record every new fall season show with BeyondTV. (SnapStream)
• Hand’s on with the MPEG4 HD DirecTV receiver in LA. (DBSTalk)
• Portable Sirius receiver outed by Crutchfield. (Orbitcast)
• How-to replace dead drive in a DirectTiVo. (Engadget)
• RealNetworks to offer open source support for WMV on Linux. (ZDNet)

I assume you recall that TiVo went to court, spanked EchoStar, traded press release posturing, and then… nothing. A bench trial was held at the end of June, but the judge has yet to rule on treble damages or TiVo’s request for a permanent injunction. In the meantime, EchoStar appears to be manipulating the system by dragging the case out (including not providing court ordered documents) — TiVo called them on it last week in two letters to the court:

Delay is a benefit to EchoStar and a harm to TiVo. Every day without an injunction allows EchoStar to continue to expand its market share based on products found to infringe TiVo’s patent. TiVo respectfully submits that the Court can and should rule upon TiVo’s pending motions without waiting upon EchoStar’s prematurely-filed post-judgment motions.

If the BBB can rate these guys, why not me? I’m a stickler for good service — I won’t patronize companies providing inferior service. When I had a billing problem with Sprint about 5 years ago and the phone rep called me a liar, I switched to VoiceStream (Jamie Lee Curtis had nothing to do with it). Conversely, I’m willing to pay for good service: Apple’s not cheap, but they generally take care of you.

The most important aspect of customer service is being treated with respect. If you hear me out and professionally attempt to resolve my issue you’re doing a good job. Obviously, the next set of criteria is being able to actually resolve the issue efficiently. Online forums, support docs, and web apps make me happy too — I’d rather research the problem myself or manage my account if you give me the tools.

With that in mind, here are my ratings of several companies I’ve dealt with over the last year. Feel free to contribute your own ratings in the comments.

Never enough time…

• CinemaNow-burned DVDs likely to fail in many commercial DVD players. (BoingBoing)
• Humax DirecTV LCD reviewed. (CNET)
• Dolby to offer 3D projection system. (Engadget)
• ZigBee and other RF specs face possible litigation. (eHomeUpgrade)

Until AT&T expands their U-Verse IPTV offering, they’ve partnered with Dish in providing a networked DVR which includes home media features and movie downloads. Beginning today, residents in Ohio and San Antonio can rent a Homezone box for $9.99/mo… on top of their existing monthly Internet and satellite subscription fees. I can’t imagine the few extra features will compel many folks to migrate from a typical Dish DVR and PPV.

Reuters says: The box contains a TiVo-like digital video recorder, or DVR, that records the satellite TV signal on a hard drive. Recordings also can be scheduled remotely via a Web site. Homezone also downloads movies on demand through from the Internet-based Movielink service for additional fees — $4.99 for new releases. AT&T expects to add support for the video-on-demand service Akimbo in the future. Among other functions, the box can show photos and play music from a home computer connected to the Internet gateway.

Never enough time…

• TiVo now selling at Radio Shack. (Davis Freeberg)
• Echostar invests in CinemaNow. (HDBeat)
• Check out PVR-oriented podcast. (TechLore)
• Cingular launches HBO series for cellphones. (Reuters)
• UPnP AV network specs updated. (eHomeUpgrade)

Anyone live near LA? In two weeks the American Film Institute (AFI) is hosting a pretty interesting digital media gathering. Some of the compelling sponsors include presenter Starz (aka Vongo) and exhibitor Brightcove (a TiVo partner). More importantly TiVo and DTV have been nominated for Interactive/Enhanced Television Programming Emmys and the winners will be announced here. The event does cost $150, but access to the cocktail reception is included.

Reuters says: “This is monumental — that any TV distribution over broadband will now be eligible across all categories for the Primetime Emmys,” said Hurst, explaining that content created exclusively for the broadband platform now can compete against network content. Finalists in the category of enhanced or interactive programming include AOL Music On Demand, from AOL/Time Warner Cable/Zetools; CNN Enhanced, CNN; DirecTV Interactive Sports, DirecTV; and TiVo Service, TiVo.

I don’t believe any of my blogging buddies will be attending, so if anyone can provide photos and commentary we’d all very much appreciate it!

Never enough time…

• DirecTV HD TiVo getting upgraded to 6.3! (HDBeat)
• Optical component reads Blu-ray and HD-DVD. (EETimes)
• Court rules against “film sanitizing.” (AP)
• Audio interview with Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Fred von Lohmann. (eHomeUpgrade)