Roxio sent out an email today with a new set of coupon codes. Since Roxio makes the only officially sanctioned software with TiVoToGo support, they could be useful for TiVo users picking up the software.

Through 9/30/08 save 10% site wide on Roxio.com: SAVE10ROX
Through 8/15/08 save $20 on Roxio Easy Media Creator 10: C10SAVE20
Through 9/30/08 same $20 on MyDVD 10 Premier: MDVDSAVE20

And a couple of non-coupon deals:
While supplies last buy Popcorn 3 and get a free T-shirt.
Through 9/30/08 save $20 when you buy Toast 9 and the HD/Blu-ray Plug-in together.

TiVo has released a minor update for TiVo Desktop on PCs, version 2.6.2. TiVo Desktop still requires the user to manually go into Add/Remove Programs and remove the old version before installing the new one. That’s really unbelievable, IMHO. Modern applications shouldn’t require that kind of user spelunking to update. For that matter, a consumer oriented application like TiVo Desktop really should have an ‘Update’ option within the application itself that would download and install the update - just like Firefox and numerous other applications do. Asking the average consumer to go into Add/Remove Programs is just ridiculous, they could at least include an Uninstall link in the program group menu. It just isn’t very easy and user friendly, which are normally TiVo’s hallmarks. I’m a complete geek and can’t remember the last time an application, other than TiVo Desktop, made me manually remove the old version first. I’m sure it has happened, just not often. (I usually run into it with betas and trial software.)

Anyway, nothing major in this release, it is basically a bug fix and performance release. I’ll have to see if it helps with the issues I’ve been having with 2.6.1. According to a post at TiVoCommunity:

This version has the following improvements in TiVo Desktop:

*Improved Reliability of transfers of large recordings to the DVR.
*Reduced memory usage when transferring recordings from the DVR.

For Plus:
*Improved communications with TiVo when linking to TiVo account and handling web video content.
*Improved handling of web video content when pausing or shutting down TiVo server.

Picked up from TiVo Blog.

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.