Turning Your PC Into A PVR

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/products/story/0,23008,3635177,00.html' target='_blank'>http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/products/story/0,23008,3635177,00.html</a><br /><br /></div>"People love PVRs for tailoring TV to their schedules and not the other way around. With SnapStream's Beyond TV 3.4, a PC (sorry Mac fans) can perform the same tasks as a set-top PVR such as ReplayTV or TiVo -- plus a few extras. Beyond TV offers two main options for turning your PC into a PVR - 'Software plus hardware' as well as 'Just the software'. <br /><br />Beyond TV gives you all the functions you'd expect from a PVR. Enjoy time-shifting capabilities (pause, rewind, and fast-forward live TV), a full TV guide (from SnapStream.Net) that doesn't require a subscription, and the ability to record only new shows (similar to TiVo's Season Pass). The hardware records files in MPEG-2, so you can either record or transfer your shows to a notebook and watch on the train ride to work. Files recorded at best quality take up roughly 1.5GB per half-hour."<br /><br />Beyond TV does look like a nifty product. However, since it is connected to your PC, suddenly the uptime of your PC becomes extremely important. Most people will find (or may have already found) that set top boxes have much greater stability, although I have left my WinXP box on for weeks on end without a crash or any problems. So I feel that this is a really viable option.

[that_kid]

I've been running beyond tv for a few years now and I've never ran into any problems. I don't have any issues with leaving my pc's running, actually the only computer I ever turn off is my laptop. All my pc's stay on 24/7/365. My Beyond TV server is headless so it requires next to no power to run. I have gone a slightly different route by using the Hauppage media mvp to playback my shows from my beyond tv server to tv's throughout my house. This works well, I don't have to fight to watch what I want, I can just go to another room and watch it there or go outside and relax in my chair while streaming the show to my pocket pc.

[Todd_B]

I use the PVR feature of my HP Media Edition PC evryday. It has replaced the TV & VCR in my bedroom. I love being able to do time shift viewing and skipping :way to go: thru the commercials.

Todd

[that_kid]

commercial skip is definately one of my most liked features. Commercial......what commercial.

[Suhit Gupta]

commercial skip is definately one of my most liked features. Commercial......what commercial.
Oh, this and the stuff you describe above is awesome. I think I am going to have to try this.

Suhit

[SassKwatch]

commercial skip is definately one of my most liked features. Commercial......what commercial.
I guess I'm the sick one in the crowd. On US based 'network tv', CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox (the last being otherwise known as Dubya's official '04 campaign channel), I can't tell that the commercials are any worse than the shows they interrupt! And sometimes the interruption is a welcom relief. :)

[that_kid]

LOL sounds like commercial radio sometimes.