With the cost of solid state disks like Compact Flash and USB thumb drives coming down in price, they have become an attractive option to use as a replacement for hard drives on home entertainment PCs. They are noise free and generate very little heat. This article describes how I was able to get BeyondTV Link, a .Net application, running Windows XP Home using an inexpensive compact flash card. As a disclaimer, please not that your mileage may vary when doing this procedure so please don’t blame me if things go badly, your spouse leaves you, and/or your dog bites you as a result of this article.

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Walter Mossberg, who runs a highly regarded personal technology column in the Wall Street Journal, published an article on PVPs (Personal Video Players) such as the Creative Zen. His message to the average American:

“So unless you’re a techie or a hopeless gadget freak, stay away from the Portable Media Centers for now. If you want a portable video device, you’re better off buying a portable DVD player. They can be bought for half the price or less, come with larger screens, and are able to draw from an almost unlimited selection of content.”

He describes on how difficult it still is to get legal video content on one’s computer, and even then, how difficult it is to get it on to a player. His point is generally valid unless you are one of the growing users of home built DVR users where content can be created much more easily. Mossberg tried downloading legal copies of movies and baseball highlights and had very little success. Even with the introduction of TivoToGo, I am going to guess that it will be difficult to move them on to a standard PVP because of the DRM limitations involved.

At this point, I agree with Walter Mossberg on the cost and ease of use of using a portable DVD player. DVD recorders and DVD media are already stunningly cheap and the software to build a DVD from a MPEG2 stream (or to copying a DVD) is fairly straightforward. It would be nice to see software titles like BeyondTV and SageTV incorporate this feature directly into their product like MP3 software did ages ago, but even without a one button interface, it’s trivial to burn a DVD from the MPEG2 recording. If it’s twice the price and perhaps more difficult to transfer to the PVP, what is the point?

I haven’t given up on the value of PVPs as a useful product category, but they need to do a better job at making it an easy choice. I’d love to have all my music, photos, and a few videos all on one gadget when I travel; it would make business hotels and cross country flights a little more palatable. Unfortunately, Walter Mossberg may be right when he says, “It’s not ready for prime time yet.”

Additional Info:

TVHarmony Product Tracker: Personal Media Players

(Hat Tip: atmaspheric endeavors)

Ever wonder who uses Microsoft’s MSN TV product, a device that connects your television to Internet content? Well, just ask the guys down at your local senior center.

I always thought it would be a useful device for older people, but I was shocked by this quote from Andy Sheldon, senior director of product marketing for MSN TV:

“Our average user is 57 years old. These people are getting to the age where they don’t want to deal with complicated ways of connecting to the Web.”

Given how quickly time is flying these days, it won’t be all that long before I’ll find myself donning a wide brim hat, hopping in my Buick, and slowly driving home in the fast lane so I can email the grandkids on my television.

(Hat Tip: TVPredictions.com)

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.

According to Digital Spy, Hauppauge just released patches for their line of DVB tuners which overcomes some bugs introduced by Windows XP, Service Pack 2.

DishNetworks slashed their price for their DVR-921 HDTV DVR from $999 to $549 according to Home Theater Blog. Personally, I think all the HD DVRs out there are over-priced at $1000, squeezing early adopters until all the change falls out of their pants pockets.

Hopefully, this is the start of a trend.

Actiontec has introduced what could be called the next generation Digital Media Player, a wireless unit that supports HDTV output.

It has great support for the latest A/V standards including:

• Supports MP3, AC3, AAC, WAV, WMA and Ogg Vorbis audio formats
• Supports JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, TIF, BMP, and PNG image formats
• Digital audio: 18-bit stereo and S/PDIF
• Supports the following video formats: MPEG1/2/4, Xivd, RMP4
• RCA connectors for 2 left and 2 right stereo audio output and composite video output for Dolby 5.1, DTS, MTS, Surround Sound
• Digital Optical Output available for true sound fidelity without the need for RCA Cabling
• Support for HDTV

(Hat tip: Engadget)

Scientific Atlanta announced an agreement with Sonic to bundle their DVD authoring software with future Scientific Atlanta DVRs. In my mind, this is quickly becoming a “must have” feature in future DVRs as the cost of the DVD-R drives are driven lower. Who needs the hassle of having a DVD player for viewing movies and a VHS recorder for backing up content, when it can all be put in one unit at a small incremental price. With internal DVD-R drives now at retail for $60, it’s a small additional price for DVR companies to add this functionality.

It’s a “no brainer” except for the MPAA, of course.