SnapStream Blog

Double the viewers, double the TV – 10/30/08
Texas Instruments, the maker of the DLP Cinema chip, is developing technology that might reduce the common problem by allowing two people to simultaneously view two different programs — on the same TV. via Hollywood Reporter

How to make your own USB IR receiver – 10/25/08
Don’t want to pull out the keyboard every time you pause, adjust the volume, or fast-forward? There are a few ways to deal with this. The easiest is the USB-UIRT, but lets say you’re handy with electronics and want to make your own IR receiver…. via GeekTonic

Share media with your HTPC and Dropbox – 10/14/08
The idea is so simple it is pure genius – kudos to the boxee team for thinking of this. It gives you a way to sync media files you may stumble across while at work, on the road or anywhere with an internet connection back to your HTPC. via GeekTonic

Bad economy hitting HDTV Sales? – 10/14/08
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Craig Moffett tells the The Wall Street Journal that amidst economic turmoil, sales of HDTVs seems to be suffering. While there are no specific stats for HDTVs, Moffett points out overall sales in electronics were down 14 percent year-over-year in September. Best Buy revealed a 2 percent drop in same-store sales in September, after it had been predicting 4 percent growth during that period. via NewTeeVee

Brad over at AOL’s Download Squad blog writes a short piece on why Beyond TV is one of his favorite apps to pay for and in doing so, has a nice overview of Beyond TV. A snippet:

But probably the main reason I prefer BeyondTV to the alternatives is that it has an intuitive feeling user interface but allows you to dig around in advanced menus if you want to tweak things.

Thanks Brad, glad you like it!

An enthusiast custom-modified an old TIVO case to house his home theater PC. He’s running XBox Media Center, a piece of open-source media center software, but if he were running Beyond TV and he wanted to complete the theme, he could grab the community-created TIVO look alike skin for Beyond TV and the community-created TIVO-like sound effects. Ha!

(via Missing Remote)

Down for the count Dish to pay TiVo $104 million – 10/06/08
The nation’s highest court today shut the door on EchoStar’s and Dish Network’s petitions for a final appeal of their patent infringement case. Now all they can hope is for mercy from TiVo, if they are to continue producing DVRs in the US. via Beta News

RealNetworks banned from selling RealDVD – 10/06/08
Less than a week ago, RealNetworks announced its RealDVD DVD-ripping software. About 24 hours later, they received news that six movie studios were suing to stop those software sales. The studios have won, it seems—at least temporarily. via Electronic House