TiVo updates on-box Amazon Unbox applications

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 by MegaZone

Today TiVo pushed out an update to the on-box ‘Download TV & Movies’ and ‘Universal Swivel Search’ applications, found under the ‘Find Programs’ menu. The update is mostly under the covers, but the most noticeable change is in ‘Find programs -> Download TV & Movies -> Amazon Unbox’ where there is now a ‘Search for more from Amazon’ option. Selecting this tunnels directly into the Swivel Search application with searching restricted to only Unbox content – something I wished for when the application was first released! It is a nice usability tweak.

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Sony turns the PS3 into a DVR

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 by MegaZone

Hey, remember this post from earlier this month? Looks like I was right pretty much across the board.

Sony is launching an add-on for the PlayStation3 that, on top of being a Blu-ray player and gaming console, will make it a DVR. The PlayTV add-on is a dual-tuner receiver that, along with a software update, allows the PS3 to act as high-definition DVR. Of course, as I said in that post, it is a DVB-T tuner – which means it won’t work in the US. It will be available in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain in early 2008, with other PAL territories to follow. (Presumably New Zealand since that’s where the original leak came from.)

The PlayTV supports full 1080p video for high-def recording. A seven day EPG will be provided to scheduling recordings. Users will also be able to transcode video to load on the PSP for viewing on the go. Furthermore, using the PSP’s Remote Play feature you’ll be able to control the DVR remotely, and even watch video streamed over the network. (I’m betting that’s based on Sony’s LocationFree software.)

So, a decent addition to the PS3. Not really a TiVo killer or anything like that, based on what’s been released, but a solid, basic DVR. Storage capacity would be a big issue, especially with HD content. 20GB and 60GB drives just aren’t going to cut it, even the 80GB drives of the largest PS3s will be tight for HD content, even SD for many users. Fortunately, upgrading the drive in a PS3 isn’t that difficult. And I suspect Sony will be offering some kind of storage expansion to go along with PlayTV. It isn’t like them to miss an opportunity to sell an add-on.

We’ll have to wait and see if they release something for NTSC/ATSC territories, especially for CableCARD in the US.

Posted in Blu-ray/HD DVD, DVR, Gaming | Leave a comment

Three more TiVoCast channels: Fast Lane Daily, Pulp Secret, and Veracifier

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 by MegaZone

I noticed these this morning before heading off to work, just getting around to blogging about them. TiVo has added three more channels to TiVoCast: Fast Lane Daily (cars), Pulp Secret (comics), and Veracifier (um… news analysis I suppose).

As with Channel Frederator from the other day, you can find these on your TiVo under TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies or sign up via the TiVoCast website.

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TiVo and SOX and PCI, oh my

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 by MegaZone

OK, this is another one for the geeks. Following hot on the heels of their recent article on TiVo’s disaster recovery plan, Network World has a new article on some of TiVo’s tactics for compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act and the Payment Card Industry data security standard. As a geek, especially an IT geek, it is interesting getting little peeks like this inside companies I’m interested in. Though knowing they use SAP, I’m not sure if I’d still want to work there. ;-) (I had a, shall we say, unpleasant experience with SAP when I worked for GTE Internetworking. Barcodes still give me flashbacks. If you don’t get it, be happy. If you do, you have my sympathy.)

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Sling Media launches affiliate program

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 by MegaZone

Sling Media has launched an affiliate program for websites via Digital River oneNetworkDirect. If you have a site and you’d like to earn credit for referrals for purchases of Slingboxes, you can sign up here.

Of course, I’ve signed up – and you can save $10 on a Slingbox AV or save $25 on a Slingbox Pro via those links. Support the site and save money – win-win! ;-)

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