Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Turning Your PC Into A PVR
Posted by Suhit Gupta in "ARTICLE" @ 02:00 PM
"People love PVRs for tailoring TV to their schedules and not the other way around. With SnapStream's Beyond TV 3.4, a PC (sorry Mac fans) can perform the same tasks as a set-top PVR such as ReplayTV or TiVo -- plus a few extras. Beyond TV offers two main options for turning your PC into a PVR - 'Software plus hardware' as well as 'Just the software'.
Beyond TV gives you all the functions you'd expect from a PVR. Enjoy time-shifting capabilities (pause, rewind, and fast-forward live TV), a full TV guide (from SnapStream.Net) that doesn't require a subscription, and the ability to record only new shows (similar to TiVo's Season Pass). The hardware records files in MPEG-2, so you can either record or transfer your shows to a notebook and watch on the train ride to work. Files recorded at best quality take up roughly 1.5GB per half-hour."
Beyond TV does look like a nifty product. However, since it is connected to your PC, suddenly the uptime of your PC becomes extremely important. Most people will find (or may have already found) that set top boxes have much greater stability, although I have left my WinXP box on for weeks on end without a crash or any problems. So I feel that this is a really viable option.
Beyond TV gives you all the functions you'd expect from a PVR. Enjoy time-shifting capabilities (pause, rewind, and fast-forward live TV), a full TV guide (from SnapStream.Net) that doesn't require a subscription, and the ability to record only new shows (similar to TiVo's Season Pass). The hardware records files in MPEG-2, so you can either record or transfer your shows to a notebook and watch on the train ride to work. Files recorded at best quality take up roughly 1.5GB per half-hour."
Beyond TV does look like a nifty product. However, since it is connected to your PC, suddenly the uptime of your PC becomes extremely important. Most people will find (or may have already found) that set top boxes have much greater stability, although I have left my WinXP box on for weeks on end without a crash or any problems. So I feel that this is a really viable option.
