SnapStream Blog

A few months ago, we added a new plug-in into Beyond TV that allows you to pretty easily move anything playing on television onto any video-capable Apple device (i.e. an iPhone, iPod, or an Apple TV).

Once you go through the initial setup, Beyond TV’s H.264 integration should make it simple and automatic to get your favorite TV shows onto your Apple device.

I created this video to show you how it all works, all the way from getting the right hardware for Beyond TV and setting up your PC through plugging your iPhone or iPod into your PC and having iTunes magically copy all of your latest TV shows onto it. Hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!

There’s been a groundswell of interest in the Hauppauge HD PVR device, ever since Hauppauge announced it at CES in early January. I first heard about the device from Hauppauge on a visit to their offices in Hauppauge, NY back in November 2007. Since then, I’ve learned quite a bit more about the device. We’re taking a lot of interest in this new device, but until we actual get a test unit, we can’t say whether or not we’ll support it.

For those of you who haven’t heard about the new device, I’ll briefly recap its capabilities: it’ll take in component video (you know, the red, green, and blue cables on the back of your cable or satellite set-top box — the ones that can carry an HD signal) and encode it to H.264 at up to 25 Mbit/s. And it includes Hauppauge’s standard IR blaster with code library.

Anyways, here is some of what I know about it:

• Hauppauge’s calling it the HD PVR — for now. The name may change before it’s released.
• It can accept component video in (see a picture) up to 1080p
• It can encode that component video to H.264 transport streams (in hardware)
• The hardware itself is basically done — Hauppauge’s just waiting on the final case design (and Chinese New Year has slowed this down)
• It includes the same Hauppauge IR blaster & code library included with other Hauppauge products
• It’s based on a chip from a company called Ambarella (http://www.ambarella.com/)
• It’s an all-in-one chip that has a digitizer and H.264 encoder
• A similar chip from Ambarella happens to be used in popular HD camcorders
• The compression data rates works between 1 Mbit/s and 25 Mbit/s
• The H.264 encoder outputs H.264 transport streams
• The Ambarella chip also has an H.264 decoder and the Hauppauge HD PVR will ship with a video out, but…
• The video out function will more than likely NOT be activated when the HD PVR ships (and possibly never, for reasons relating to the Ambarella driver)
• You’ll need a relatively powerful PC to playback these recordings
• Hauppauge is still making some tweaks to the HD PVR’s drivers as well
• Hauppauge expects for the product to be shipping before the end of this quarter (ie before March 31, 2008)

(Note: the image above is NOT the device — it’s just a set-top box with some component video cables. I’ve requested some photographs and will hopefully have some soon.)

(Note #2: All of the information above was posted *with* permission from Hauppauge — specifically, Ken Plotkin reviewed a draft and gave me the green light to post it.)

Speculation on Hauppauge’s upcoming “HD PVR” product and general discussion of capturing HD on a PC (58 posts)

The Writer’s Strike (146 posts)

Discussion about why we’re shutting down Couchville.com (81 posts)

Scott, at Techory.com, writes a post on Entertainment PC Software (Feb 2, 2008):

“…BeyondTV is just a cleaner interface, and has a few more bells and whistles built in…”

“…the DVR area is a space where there are a lot of contenders making products, but so far BeyondTV has topped the list of products I’ve tried.”

(A few days ago, Scott also wrote about his experiences Adding HDTV to his HTPC with Beyond TV and the HDHomeRun)

…And on chron.com’s TechBlog, Jim Thompson writes about how technology makes the superbowl more enjoyable and in the comments writes:

“For re-living a game, a PVR is a big plus. I have several of my alma mater’s big games from the past two seasons stored on my homebrew BeyondTV system.”