DirecTV customers with an Apple iPhone or iPod touch will be happy to hear that the new DVR Scheduler application is now available as a free download at the Apple App Store. With the app installed, DirecTV customers can perform remote scheduling and recording of DirecTV programming on their home DVR via their mobile devices – no matter where they are.

The new app “enhances and evolves” the DirecTV mobile scheduler located at m.directv.com. Features of the new app include:

• Browse the entire programming guide by channel or date/time
• Keyword search option lets you search by actor, title, and description
• Programs can be scheduled up to 14 days in advance
• View detailed program information including air date, duration, and description

[Check it out]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: DirecTV DVR Scheduler, Apple iPhone, Apple iPod touch

Wish your DVR set-top box had a lot more storage space? Sick of losing that HD program recorded earlier in the week? Well here comes Apricorn to the rescue with their new 1.5TB DVR Xpander – the highest capacity DVR external hard drive available on the market.

Featuring a dual eSATA/USB 2.0 interface, the DVR Xpander 1.5TB external drive can provide up to 843 hours of standard programming or up to 187.5 hours of HD programming to your DVR. Yes, that does mean you can record a single HD station for over 7 days straight!

Other storage capacities options are 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB with each drive supporting a wide array of DVRs including the popular Scientific Atlanta 8300 series DVR and the DISH Network ViP Series HD DVRs.

Finally, these DVR Xpander drives are rather affording. The prices are as follows: 500GB for $119. 750GB for $149. 1TB for $179 and 1.5TB for $239.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apricorn 1.5 TB DVR Xpander, DVR, External Hard Drive

Starting today, subscribers to both Netflix and TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, or TiVo HD XL services/DVRs can access the thousands of titles available from Netflix’s Watch Instantly service directly on their DVRs.  As with other devices supporting the Netflix service, this is being made available to Netflix and TiVo subscribers for free – as long as they are subscribing to both services.

CNET’s Crave blog has already published a hands-on look at the new service on TiVo HD box. Here’s what they have to say:

“The most important takeaway for us is that we watched several movies without any hiccups and each movie started up in a few seconds. While many streaming services “feel” like you’re streaming video over the Internet, this feels more like you’re expanding the recorded content of your TiVo. And while you lose some of the benefits of watching the actual DVD (special features, surround sound), we couldn’t help but notice that in some ways it’s better than DVD; movies loaded right away and with no previews.”

While I no longer use TiVo, I can say this much for the Netflix Watch Instantly service – it rocks – especially for owners of the Xbox 360 console. If there’s one single reason to upgrade the Xbox 360 to the New Xbox Experience, it would be for the Netflix streaming support. While video on-demand is free for subscribers, I for one would not mind paying a bit more for unlimited movies on-demand. Forget about renting on a per title basis. Go the music subscription route and let users subscribe to unlimited movies on a monthly basis.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: TiVo HD, TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD XL, Netflix

Victor-JVC announces the new DR-BX500 Blu-ray HDD Recorder in Japan. Coming out in November, the DR-BX500 features a 500GB hard drive, two digital TV tuners, one analog TV tuner, and a Blu-ray burner. Specs include:

• Record in MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVC/H.264
• 1080/24p support
• 10/100 Ethernet port
• HDMI, Deep Color support
• Measures 430 x 77 x 361 mm
• Supports BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-R, DVD-RW

According to Akihabara News, the DR-BX500 will be available for a price of 1299€.

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

Technorati Tags: Victor-JVC, DR-BX500, Blu-ray HDD Recorder

Ever wish you could bring the TiVo user interface to the PC platform? Well soon you’ll be able to do so thanks to the upcoming Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC package. LiquidTV | TiVo PC is essentially another DVR application for the Windows OS except this one happens to bring along the famed TiVo user interface. If you’re one to record and watch TV content on your desktop PC, then you definitely might be interested in this package.

Major features of the Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC package include the following:

• Features TiVo’s user interface
• Watch and record shows in HD or SD format on your TV or PC
• Export shows to portable media players
• Burn shows to DVD or save them to your hard drive
• Schedule TV recordings online
• Pause Live TV on your PC
• Includes 12 month subscription
• Features TiVo KidZone, Season Pass and WishList etc

Now keep in mind – this isn’t exactly a full on replacement of Windows Media Center. The Nero app won’t manage your music or photo collection for you like Windows Media Center can. However, if you’re just interested in recording television shows and having a near endless amount of storage space for TV shows, then the LiquidTV app is certainly something you should consider (along with Media Center and any number of other competing DVR applications). Now if you MUST have the TiVo interface, then heck.. this is your only way to go on the PC platform.

As this PC Mag review notes, LiquidTV is not a replacement for the TiVo DVR device. This is a package that’s designed for folks who are ok with the notion of watching and recording TV on their PCs. Also – remember that LiquidTV supports OTA ATSC which means you won’t be able to record premium HD channels unless you hook up a cable set-top box to your PC (you’ll also record lower quality video via S-Video).

Speaking of the PC Mag review, here’s what they thought of it.

Nero’s LiquidTV brings the top-notch TiVo interface and all its talents to your PC. While it’s not a replacement for a traditional TiVo DVR, it’s a solid attempt at convergence between your computer and your living-room entertainment.

Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC will be available in two packages. There’s a $199.99 hardware/software bundle that includes the software application, a 12 month subscription to TiVo, a TV tuner card with A/V cables and antenna, a TiVo PC remote control, and an IR blaster and receiver. If you don’t need the hardware, there’s also a $99.99 software package which includes the application and a 12 month subscription to TiVo.

[Check it out via News.com]

Technorati Tags: Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC

No .. this isn’t a normal ball.. it’s not even a billiard ball.. it’s called the DVR CamBall and as the name implies, it’s a small ball (about the size of a ping pong) with an embedded video camera. With the DVR CamBall, you can record video clips at resolutions of either 320 x 240 or 640 x 480. There’s even an SD card slot allowing you to up the storage capacity to 8GB. There’s also a navigational pad that allows you change settings on the cam. I’d love to be able to tell you more but I can’t machine translate the product page since the Korean text is actually a part of the web graphics.

So the real question is – what the heck would you do with such a device? Of course the first thing that comes to mind is a nanny cam.. but hey.. I’m sure many of you can figure out other good uses for this cam.

The DVR CamBall is going for $185.

[Check it out via Crave]

Technorati Tags: DVR CamBall

Sharp UK has introduced two new digital TV recorders – the TUR252H and the TUR162H – with the basic difference being the storage space on these recorders.

The TUR252H features the following specs:

• Freeview+ (previously known as Freeview Playback)
• One touch recording
• 8 day TV guide
• Pause and rewind live TV
• Twin digital tuners
• Simultaneous 2 channel recording whilst watching a pre-recorded programme
• 250Gb hard drive (up to 125 hours disc capacity)
• Series recording
• Split recording
• Multiple/Alternative recording
• Subtitle recording
• Setanta Sports compatible (Subscription and CAM required)

The MSRP is £199.00 (currently sold out at Sharp’s website).

Meanwhile, the TUR162H Digital TV recorder features the following specs:

• Freeview+ (previously known as Freeview Playback)
• One touch recording
• 8 day TV guide
• Pause and rewind live TV
• No subscription
• Twin digital tuners
• Simultaneous 2 channel recording whilst watching a pre-recorded programme
• 160Gb hard drive (up to 80 hours disc capacity)
• Series recording
• Split recording
• Multiple/Alternative recording
• Subtitle recording

This system has an MSRP of £149.00 and is available.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sharp, UK, TUR162H, TUR252H, Digital TV recorders

TiVo and Amazon are looking at ways to bring product placements to a whole new level with the introduction of a new service called “Product Purchase.” With Product Purchase, viewers of certain television shows will be able to switch over to Amazon on their own TV sets and purchase items mentioned during the show directly from their remote control. No PC is needed for this to work – just shop from your chair or couch. The service launched today with support for four shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Colbert Report, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Burn Notice. This service takes user/television show interactions to a whole new level and could bring new meaning to the impulsive shopping. Imagine, seeing a piece of clothing on Oprah’s show and then easily buying it the next minute on Amazon.com. Yeah.. better keep those credit cards secure if you ask me! Those of you with broadband connected Series2, Series3, and TiVo HD DVRs will able to use this service.

[Check it out via GearLog]

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Amazon, product purchase

I must admit – I’ve been eyeing this device for some time now. It’s the Hauppauge HD DVR and it was just reviewed by ExtremeTech here on their website. Before I get into their review, let me just quickly go over what the HD DVR is exactly. It’s basically an external video capture device that allows you to record video via component video inputs at resolutions up to 1080i. Video is encoded in H.264 using a hardware-based encoder and audio is recorded in either AAC or Dolby Digital. The unit comes with an IR blaster that allows it to control external set-top boxes. It’s also important to note that the HD DVR requires a PC to work. The PC is used to run the HD PVR application and is also used to store the resulting recordings since the HD DVR does not come with any storage itself.  Sounds like a bit of a pain eh? Yeah.. sure seems it. This basically means you’ll need a PC near your cable box to use the Hauppauge HD DVR.

Now on the plus side – this device captures HD video (granted it’s 1080i/720p video) via component signals. This means you’ll be able to hook this device up to your cable/dish box and record HD premium channels via the component outputs. Now granted this is not necessarily the highest quality video but let’s be real here – cable video is only at most 720p these days anyhow. You do get slightly lower video quality since the device captures via an analog signal as opposed to digital – but it’s still much much better than say recording from an S-Video or Composite input.

So, what did ExtremeTech think of the unit? Here’s their verdict:

If you’ve been looking to record high def video on your PC from set top boxes, then the HD DVR works fine as a time shifting device. But expect conversion to other formats to be problematic.

Yeah.. apparently ExtremeTech found the included conversion utility to be rather buggy.. but if you have the time and patience you can probably find other workarounds for that. Another interesting notion mentioned in the article – don’t forget that you can now record HD content from other types of devices via component outputs. This means attaching say an Xbox 360 and recording your game play onto your PC for others to view.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Hauppauge HD DVR, ExtremeTech, Review

Soon.. very soon TiVo users.. soon you will have access to YouTube (assuming of course you have a Series3 box or a TiVo HD box.. which means, sorry Series2 owners – you’re out of luck here). As typical for their software upgrade process, TiVo will be rolling out their upgrade to these boxes over the next several weeks. With the new update, you’ll be able to log into your YouTube account directly on your television set to access videos, channels, and playlists on YouTube. All I can say is.. about time!

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: TiVo, YouTube, Series3, TiVo HD