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

Let the gigabeat go on!.. ok. that was a little lame I know. In any event, Toshiba has updated their gigabeat V lineup with their new gigabeat V81 portable media player. The V81 features 8GB of storage space and comes with an SDHC compatible media card slot. The card slot is important because the V81 comes with an integrated TV tuner. Recorded television shows can then be copied onto the SDHC card and then brought over to another PC or device for playback.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Toshiba, Gigabeat V81

SE2 Labs had a smooth booth at CES 2008 showcasing their ITC One - their personalized all-in-one home entertainment solution. With each ITC One, custom installers or end users can design a personalized system from the SE2 Labs website. According to SE2 Labs, every ITC One is then built and shipped within two weeks. You can choose from the following components for the ITC One:

• Microsoft Xbox 360 console
• Xbox 360 HD DVD player
• Nintendo Wii
• DirecTV
• High Definition TiVo
• Dish Network DVR
• National Cable Providers DVR including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox Cable etc
• AMX Netlinx Control System
• High End Digital Surround Processor
• Bryston Pre-Amp Processor with full digital outputs
• IcePower High End D Class Amplifers
• High End Video Processor
• Front Touchpanel Screen
• Apple Video iPod with Dock
• Proprietary Remote Control
• Power Conditioning
• Super Quiet Cooling System
• Super Easy 2 Connect Rear Panel
• Transparent Cabling and Cable Harness
• Anti-Noise and Vibration System

The idea is simple enough - do you want to build a complex home theater system yourself or do you want to purchase an all inclusive system that’s put together by a system integrator? I just wish the box was a bit more.. attractive looking??

What’s even better - once you’ve designed the ITC One on the website, installing it is a cinch - simply connect the power, video source, and speakers, and then turn it on. There’s no cabling to deal with - no racks to install, and no integration issues to deal with.

Starting prices for the ITC One is $24,995.

Here’s the side profile of the ITC One:

Here’s the back panel

Here are some official press images:

Finally, SE2 Labs won the “Best of Innovations 2008″ for the Integrated Home Systems category.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: SE2 Labs, ITC One, CES 2008

Ever wish you could have TiVo’s user interface for the PC platform? Well your wish will be coming true shortly as TiVo and Nero announced yesterday that the two companies would be bringing TiVo’s user interface (UI) to the PC platform via a Nero based DVR application. No word on when this would actually happen but a DVR application is something that Nero sorely needs to complete their suite of applications that comprise Nero 8 Ultimate Edition. So which would you rather have? TiVo’s UI or Windows Media Center’s UI? Personally.. I’ll take Media Center any day.

[Check it out via PC Magazine]

Technorati Tags: TiVo, Nero, DVR

If you’ve been thinking about purchasing a new TiVo HD DVR but you weren’t all that impressed with the 160GB hard drive found inside, then you might be interested in what WeaKnees.com has to offer. They are selling  TiVo HD DVR boxes with different hard drive storage options to meet your exacting needs. You can purchase the standard TiVo HD DVR box with 160GB for $299 or you can go up to a pre-configured TiVo HD DVR box with a whopping 1 terabyte hard drive inside for $1049.

[Check it out via PVRBlog]

Technorati Tags: TiVo HD DVR, WeaKnees

Here’s another review of the newly announced TiVo HD DVR system - this time from the folks at CNET. You’ll find both a written review as well as a video review on the site. CNET rated the box a 7.7 out of 10 and had this to say as their verdict:

While it’s not compatible with your cable company’s pay-per-view and video-on-demand services, the TiVo HD’s excellent onscreen interface and long list of network and Internet features puts it in a class above the generic high-def DVRs offered by most cable providers.

Curious about the cons? Here’s the list from CNET:

Until expandable storage option is supported, the TiVo HD is limited to 20 hours of HD video capacity; requires monthly fee in addition to cable bill; sluggish transitions between menu screens; does not work with pay-per-view, video-on-demand, and switched digital video services; no TiVo To Go or Multi-Room Viewing functionality; must program 30-second skip; no picture-in-picture.

The problem I have with their cons is the mention that the box doesn’t perform pay-per-view nor video-on-demand. This will never work with any third party set-top box except for ones provided by the cable company. So you might as well say this is a con for any Windows Media Center based HTPC too. That’s where the added value comes into play from the cable company’s vantage. So the real question to all of you is - how valuable is the pay-per-view and video-on-demand services to  you at the end of the day? I never use mine so I’d gladly switch to TiVo for their awesome UI.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: CNET, TiVo HD, Review