Startup Digeo won a Advanced Media Technology Emmy from the National Television Academy yesterday. It was awarded for Digeo’s Moxi Menu user interface for finding current and upcoming content in an innovative manner.

(more…)

I feel obligated to add my two cents on the now famous decision to put banner ads in Tivo when a user fast forwards past commercials. There are some pithy comments here at Build Your Own PVR, TivoBlog.com,
Thomas Hawk, Ploosh!, SlashDot, and PVRBlog (some excellent comments there too). Basically, there are two camps; one believes that Tivo is selling out and the other thinks this is no big deal. I happen to straddle between them.

First, it’s unclear how the advertising will work, and like many things, the devil is in the details. There’s a big difference in the way it’s been described as either a pop-up ad (giving one visions of having to click a close box to continue)versus a small banner ad that doesn’t interfere with your ability to fast forward past the commercial break. If it makes fast forwarding slower or harder, I’m mad as hell. If it’s just a corporate logo, I couldn’t really care less.

Part of Tivo’s problem is the timing and the perception that they are shafting their users by cutting features. Let’s look at what has happened recently. First, there’s the perception that Tivo will cut any deal with copyright holders to prevent litigation at the expense of users. Next thing you know, Tivo announces that they will be putting restrictions on pay-for-view and other high value recordings so that they won’t linger on your hard drive for too long. Finally, they appear to be screwing with our beloved fast forward button. A small banner ad isn’t the end of Tivo as we know it, but many users have a good reason to believe this is only the beginning.

I think if they played a smarter PR strategy, this would have been fairly insignificant. For instance, why not introduce this “feature” when they launch TivoToGo? Why not wrap it up with a few new features and call it the new Tivo OS? Instead, it feels to Tivo users that they are becoming a cash cow getting milked daily.

I find a banner ad minor in comparison to the privacy issues that are raised by Tivo gathering statistics. The Janet Jackson SuperBowl malfunction was a revelation for many people when Tivo made the point that it was the most replayed moment in Tivo history. I’m much more concerned by a revenue-hungry company that has so much personal information at its fingertips. With DVD players a new feature embedded in some of Tivo’s products, I can’t believe it would be difficult for a DVR to record all the DVD titles one views, and I have a feeling many people wouldn’t want their steamier movie choices revealed to advertisers.

It’s not exactly big news that Tivo needs to generate more revenues to stay in business. Part of that includes finding new customers and part of that is finding new revenue generation ideas. I’d prefer a small banner ad on fast forward over a hike in monthly fees. The big problem is that of perception and the more Tivo users feel like they are getting constantly short-changed, the more they’ll likely look elsewhere for their DVR solution.

This guy has, in favor of the very new Microsoft/Comcast product. The two features that drew him away from Tivo: dual tuner and HDTV support.

Thomas Hawk over at eHomeUpgrade has more salient points on why both Tivo and Microsoft MCE both need to get their products straightened out.

Applian Technologies, the guys who created Replay Radio, announced a new product today called Replay Video Suite. Similiar to Replay Radio, which records Internet Radio Streams with Tivo-like functionality, the announcement suggests that Replay Video Suite will include similiar features for streaming video.

Additional Info:

TVHarmony Product Tracker: Replay Radio

SageTV officially announced their release of SageTV Version 2.1. According to the press release, it has:

The software has also been enhanced to allow users greater flexibility
when searching and recording television programs. Users can browse upcoming
programs by category and record shows based on keywords (i.e. ice skating,
French cooking, etc.) in addition to specifying a specific title, actor or
program category. In addition, the software has been enhanced with improved
file management; plug-in support for on-screen display, inputs and
MediaPlayer; and revamped capture and playback systems.

I find the most compelling unique feature of Tivo is the program guide searching capability, and it will be interesting to see how it compares.

Additional Info
SageTV Website
TVHarmony Product Tracker: SageTV

CNet gave high marks to the Humax DRT800 Tivo with built in DVD-R. The downside for them was the monthly fees; the Pioneer unit with it’s higher price tag comes with Tivo Basic service for free.

Additional Info
TVHarmony Product Tracker: Humax DRT800 DVD-R

The rumors are starting to swirl around the next generation XBox, which may come in three flavors, according to this article. The plain vanilla will have no hard disk and be a game-only machine. The chocolate flavor, mid-priced XBox, will have a hard drive and some media center like functions. The Ben and Jerry’s, Chunky-Monkey flavor, high-end unit will be a full MCE machine capable of playing XBox and PC Games.

Plextor, maker of the PX-TV402U USB2.0 Video Capture Device with encoded MPEG4 support, in partnership with ElGato Systems, released ConvertX PVR for the Mac. EyeTV comes bundled with ConvertX PVR for the Mac.

It’s always nice to see hardware vendors adding support for the Macintosh platform.

Additional Info:

TVHarmony Product Tracker: Plextor PX-TV402U

(HatTip: Engadget)

Build Your Own PVR / Movie Theater points us a Tom’s Hardware article on how to build a cheap projection system using an old LCD Monitor, an old-style overhead projector, and the cunning skills of MacGyver.

Sounds like a fun project.

We’ve added another resource to the website which aggregates the latest unfiltered news headlines on a variety of topics. There’s a link on the left but you can also click here to try it out.