Filed under: Cable TV, Hacks, HDTV, Tips, DIY

If you want to record television shows directly onto your PC from cable it is possible for a number of channels. The FCC requires that all cable boxes have a firewire port allowing you to connect your PC and Cable Box together.

Unfortunately it’s not as simple as connecting your PC and Cable Box with a firewire cable (pictured right) and starting to record. You’ll need to install various software and drivers first.

Also it is unlikely that you will be able to record any premium channels as they will be encrypted. All regular broadcast channels must however be open, if they are not get on the phone to your cable operator and tell them to sort it out.

Uber Lounge has the full steps for recording cable TV in both SD and HD to your PC.

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/24/record-tv-from-your-cable-box-to-your-pc-even-in-hd/. Continue reading Record TV from your cable box to your PC, even in HD →

Filed under: News, Support, Tips, DirectTV, DIY

Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs.

DirecTV then said that it had fixed the problem but DirecTiVo users still continued to have the same problems. Now DirecTV spokesperson Robert Mercer told TVPredictions.com yesterday that “a reboot will clean it up and the unit will start recording again.”

So the age old trick of “turning it off and on” should hopefully put your DirecTiVo back on track.

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/24/directivo-owners-reboot-now/. Continue reading DirecTiVo Owners Reboot Now! →

Filed under: Hacks, News, Software, TiVo Series 2, TiVo, Home Networking, Streaming

Announced at the TiVo Community forum was a neat piece of Windows software called TiVo.net that allows you to use your TiVo as a media extender so you can play a variety of video formats from your PC.

A list of video formats and codecs that TiVo.net supports can be found here. The software works by converting the video on the fly to MPEG2 TiVo compatable video that can then whizz across your home network to your TV screen, via your TiVo.

TiVo.net is an open source project so others can get involved. It’s early days for the software and if you experience any bugs it would be worth pointing them out to the developer.

[Via TiVo Lovers]

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/24/tivo-net-play-almost-any-video-file-from-your-pc-on-your-tivo/. Continue reading TiVo.net – Play almost any video file from your PC on your TiVo →

Filed under: General, HDTV, News, Software, Home Networking, Streaming

The HAVA Gold HD has been launched today at the highly respectable price of $129. For this small price you can turn a regular Windows PC into a PVR and also stream MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video to multiple PCs on your home network, and also over the internet, just like a Slingbox.

Additionally when used with Windows Media Center (both XP and the soon to be released Vista MCE) it opens up the option of using the HAVA Gold as a TV Tuner appearing on the PC as an installed TV Tuner card.

The HAVA Gold HD will connect to any TV source such as Cable, Satellite, DVD, TiVo or a Camcorder allowing you to spread your TV to any PC over your home network or the internet.

Unlike the higher end HAVA Wireless HD model it does not come with built-in wireless features and fewer I/O options.

I have to say as an entry level Slingbox device I like the specs and I like the price.

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/23/hava-gold-hd-entry-level-high-definition-slingbox-competitor-rel/. Continue reading HAVA Gold HD Entry Level High Definition Slingbox Competitor released →

Filed under: Photos, TiVo, TiVo Series 3

Ever wonder how your 13 inch TV and Series3 HD TiVo home setup measures up against other TiVo users’? The folks at the TiVo Community Forum have posted a number of photos of their TiVo units in action and at rest.

Popular TiVo playmates seem to be large screen TVs and Xbox 360s. While some users seem to find beauty in a simple setup that hides the wires and most of the AV components, others seem to revel in showing off as many AV boxes as possible. My personal favorite is a shot on page four of the 16,000 wires used to plug in what appears to be a Series3 TiVo, several DirecTiVos, some serious audio hardware, and what might very well be a possibly a warp drive.

[via Davis Freeberg]

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/23/gallery-of-tivo-series3-boxes-at-home/. Continue reading Gallery of TiVo Series3 boxes at home →

Filed under: General, News, Apple, Home Networking

Not so long ago I expressed my views that the Apple TV was an extremely disappointing device which brought us nothing that we couldn’t really do already using non-Apple alternatives and did not innovate in any way.

At the point of writing the article I felt pretty confident that the Apple TV is not going to have major penetration into the living room with only true Apple enthusiasts taking it on board.

The San Francisco Chronicle also supports this argument by raising the point that people’s living rooms are already over-packed with consumer electronics and adding another one just isn’t appealing not to mention the number of established companies that Apple is competing with here.

Its my personal belief that an Apple TV type product will only really hit mainstream when it becomes integrated into a PVR, or with a games console, like has already been done with the successful Xbox 360.

[Via TVPredictions]

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/23/no-room-in-the-living-room-for-the-apple-tv/. Continue reading No room in the living room for the Apple TV →

Filed under: General, Hacks, News, DirectTV

The Xbox 360 comes with some great features extending it beyond a Games Console to a DVD player and media extender connecting your PC to your TV via your home network.

For this reason it’s quite nice to have the Xbox 360 remote control, but unfortunately this little convenience will set you back $30. That is unless you have a DirecTV remote control.

The instructions below explain how you can use your DirecTV remote control to control your Xbox 360. There are little details on what restrictions it has but it appears that it will only allow you to skip chapters on a DVD, view the main menu and use secondary select.

1. Switch the DirecTV remote to AV-1. Point the remote away from your receiver. Press and hold the select and mute buttons until the light above the AV-1 switch blinks twice.
2. Press 991, then press 2. Now press Power.
3. Press Ch. Up 35-40 times, pausing between each press. The light above AV-1 should go on every time you press it.
4. When your Xbox 360 turns on, immediately press Select.

This Xbox 360 hack was done with the RC-32 DirecTV remote control.

[Via Gaming Bits]

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Read more at: http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/23/how-to-program-a-directv-remote-to-control-an-xbox-360/. Continue reading How to Program a DirecTV Remote to Control an Xbox 360 →

Yesterday at CES in Las Vegas, Tivo debuted the new Series 3. This is the Tivo all Tivo Lovers have been waiting for. It has the ability to record two shows at once or record a show and watch another show. It can even do this with 2 HD channels if you have two HD cards.

It also adds HDMI , Component Video (woohoo) SVideo and Composite Video. On the audio side of things, it has Optical Digital Out and RCA Stereo. Finally getting smart, there is a built in 10/100 Network connection, USB and get this, an external SATA port. Thats right. You can add a SATA drive to your Tivo without voiding the warranty.

Now, before you start thinking you can share your stuff with this external drive, keep in mind it runs the internal hard drive and external hard drive in an array where data from one show will be stored across both drives. Remove the SATA and you loose everything stored on both drives. I know it sounds like a PITA, but its a smart move if you ask me. You will be able to easily add HD space for all that HDTV hard drive eating content and they keep the evil Media Moguls off their case for allowing people to easily pirate content.

You can get the full scoop on the Tivo Lovers Website along with a whole bunch of mirrors of the Pictures taken at CES.