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)

Never enough time…

• Five-second ads try to counter TiVo. (USA Today)
• Hi-Def codec face-off: WMV-HD vs. DivX-HD. (eHomeUpgrade)
• Vista Media Center features won’t require NTSC tuner. (jkOnTheRun)
• Real Rhapsody on Squeezebox. (Engadget)

CNET Tech News has been available for almost two months on broadband-connected Series 2 units. I regularly watch the weekly 15-minute shows, though I find myself fast forwarding through about 50% of each installment (some of these editors are not meant for TV; I don’t care about Best Buy or Sony commercials).

In the latest episode, Bonnie Cha gives us the low-down on Motorola’s Q. I know most of you come here for hard-hitting, investigative reporting so when I saw what looked to be a real phone number on my TiVo… I called it. This happens to be Bonnie’s CNET line — they’re using ShoreTel IP phone tech. While I was hoping for Molly Wood’s cell, I did leave a message thanking Bonnie for a nice review.

Both TiVo and Netflix posted interesting job openings this week…

First up is Netflix, who’s looking to hire an interface engineer. Based on the description it seems they’re interested in exploring Vista’s GUI functionality to possibly produce a front-end for on-line movie distribution. Keep in mind Vista will bundle Media Center Edition features… which currently include Xbox 360 streaming.

This research team will be investigating new ten-foot user interface models for browsing a huge catalog of movies on a on a TV. Rich interactivity will be key to collecting user tastes and preferences and helping the user find the right content easily. We will be exploring various technologies such as Windows Presentation Foundation, which means we are looking for someone able to pick up a new tools and execute quickly and effectively. (via Hacking Netflix)

And speaking of Windows, TiVo’s job opening prominently mentions Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1/WMV9) which both Blu-ray and HD-DVD support… and what a variety of current movie download services (Movielink, CinemaNow) utilize in conjunction with Microsoft DRM. MPEG-4 is also mentioned, a format many consider compressed enough for the possibility of wide-scale TiVo video downloads.

TiVo is seeking a manager for the Media Architecture team. This team is responsible for the real-time streaming functionality that drives the TiVo digital video recorder features: real-time record and playback of synchronized audio/video data.

• This person will have knowledge in at least one of the following areas: MPEG-2 video and systems, MPEG-1 audio (including MP3), or MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264) video
• In addition, this person will have working experience in 3 of the following areas: VC-1, WMV9 and WMA, Dolby Digital (AC-3), network streaming audio and video, DVD playback and recording, digital right management (DRM) technologies

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