On Tuesday SuperSync 2.3 was released, the new version adding a server to stream MP3s from your iTunes collection to TiVos on the local network. SuperSync is a software application for Mac or Windows which allows you to synchronize iTunes collections between multiple machines. So if you have music on one PC (or Mac) and different music on another PC you can consolidate the collections to have all the music on both machines. TiVo serving is not the only new feature:

SuperSync 2.3 added a number of product enhancements, including:
* A new help system - searchable and also online
* Improved transfer statistics
* Made iTunes playlist transfer more intuitive
* Added compatibility for access by other DAAP music players such as Rhythmbox
* Improved ease-of-use of some features (such as the filter table.)

You can download SuperSync and check out the trial mode for free and if you like what you see it is $29.00 for two machines (after all, it doesn’t make sense to ’sync’ with less than two machines), $39.00 for five, and $59.00 for ten.

The TiVo support is nice, but it appears it only works with MP3 files. If you keep your iTunes collection in another format, such as AAC, it won’t work for you. (Of course it won’t work for DRM protected music in any format.) Since the TiVo only accepts MP3 files, servers need to transcode other formats to MP3 before sending them to the TiVo. Since I prefer AAC to MP3, I use Dan203’s plug-in for TiVo Desktop to play the AAC files on my TiVo. (Mac users can do something similar with LAME.)

Since I’ve been pretty busy I haven’t had a chance to keep up with all the tech news recently, and one of the items that’s slipped through the cracks is the Hauppauge HD PVR USB device. I last reported on it a few weeks ago when it had been delayed, but in the meantime it has gone up for pre-order and some software support has been announced. Zatz Not Funny, BrentEvans Geek Tonic, and PVR Wire @ TV Squad have all been covering this:
- BEGT: Hauppage HD PVR available for pre-order @ $249
- ZNF: Hauppauge HD PVR specs
- ZNF: SageTV Says HD PVR support is coming
- ZNF: SnapStream & Elgato evaluating possible HD PVR support
- PVR Wire: Free GB-PVR already supports HD PVR

And I think that catches it all up.

G4’s ‘Attack of the Show‘ has a segment called ‘The Loop‘, which recently interviewed TiVo’s Jim Denney about TiVo’s new Web Video feature in TiVo Desktop 2.6, as well as the general future direction for TiVo with broadband content, YouTube, the TiVo brand, etc.

Jim did misspeak at one point. He said “delivering content right to your PC via the home network” when he meant “delivering content right to your TiVo via the home network”.

And if you want a really circular experience, and you have TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6, go to Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browser Other Videos -> All -> Attack of the Show’s Daily Video Podcast and sign up for an SP, because this interview is the latest download on that channel. So you can watch Jim Denney talk about TiVo Web Video using TiVo Web Video.

TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 has been released - and anyone running 2.6 will want to grab it. TiVoPony announced the release on TiVoCommunity:

It has improved recovery from interrupted transfers between the PC and DVR, but it also provides an updated Windows Certificate for TiVo Desktop. The certificate used in prior versions of TiVo Desktop is about to expire, so you’ll want to get 2.6.1. Without this certificate update it will not be possible to manually transfer programs from your PC to your TiVo DVR (all other Desktop functionality should continue to work fine however).

I’m glad to hear about the improved recovery, because this has been a major issue for me with TiVo Desktop 2.6 and it was one of the major issues I had with 2.6 while writing my review (which I will finish and post soon, I promise!). Hopefully 2.6.1 will eliminate at least this one issue.

You can download TiVo Desktop 2.6.1 here.

Now, if you’re running an older version of TiVo Desktop and you can’t, or won’t, upgrade to 2.6.1, you still need to update the certificate. There is a certificate updater under the first step on this page.

DirecTV’s HDPC-20 tuner card for Windows Media Center has been vaporware for a couple of years, but after a sighting in January it looks like it is slowing moving toward release with a beta program. EngadgetHD has a screen capture of the invite that was sent out.

As I originally reported from CES TiVo Desktop 2.6 adds support for Web Video, if you purchase the TiVo Desktop Plus upgrade. And TiVo is making Desktop 2.6 for Windows available starting today. Since all TiVo units currently only support MPEG-2 video, this works by using TiVo Desktop Plus to transcode web video from whichever format is is distributed in (H..264, Quicktime, etc) into MPEG-2 and then transferring it to the TiVo. There are two ways to do this ‘native’ feeds and folder monitoring.

With the native feeds you can select one of the video feeds pre-selected by TiVo from the new interface on your TiVo. These feeds use the RSS client built into TiVo Desktop to download the videos. Unfortunately, only videos listed by TiVo can use the built-in RSS engine. There is no interface to add your own feeds. For unlisted feeds you need to use another client, such as iTunes. You then have TiVo Desktop monitor the download folder used by that external client. When a new video is downloaded into that folder TiVo Desktop will automatically transcode and transfer it. That does mean you can have TiVo Desktop monitor any folder to transcode and transfer - which could include a BitTorrent folder, etc.

Since this news just broke this morning, I’m working on a more detailed look at the software and hope to have my review up in the next day or two. Note that this functionality does require the purchase of TiVo Desktop Plus for $24.95, since that licenses the codecs needed for transcoding. And this is limited to Windows, while TiVo says: “TiVo continues to work with Roxio on delivering equivalent functionality on the Mac platform.”

There are other improvements in TiVo Desktop 2.6, such as the ability to publish multiple video folders for access from the TiVo. Unfortunately, and very disappointingly, the content of these folders is all lumped into the single group in the TiVo’s Now Playing List, so we’re still lacking folder support for PC content. Very frustrating. If you have a TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD, 2.6 will also provide higher quality transfers. HD content will be transcoded as 720p video. AC3 audio will be preserved. And it has better handling of different aspect ratios. And even SD video gets a higher bit rate.

Certainly welcome additional functionality overall. Still, transcoding through the PC is a stop-gap for the Series3 & TiVo HD until native H.264 and WMV/VC-1 decoding is supported. That will allow those units to download the majority of web videos directly. I’ll have more to say once I’ve had time to do my full write up.

In the mean time, here’s TiVo’s press release for Desktop 2.6:
Read the rest of this entry »