SnapStream Blog

Justin at the New York Times’ Freakonomics blog writes about the economics of watching TV with a DVR, calculating that his DVR saves him 2 hours a week and the net present value of that savings every week for the rest of his life is about $200,000. And he ends the article wondering why more people don’t have DVRs (only 3 in 10 U.S. households don’t have a DVR). What do you think? Why don’t more people have DVRs?

Here are some recent new posts from the SnapStream Enterprise Blog*:

• Using SnapStream to study children’s television (November 27, 2008): an update from the front lines journalism research, Dr. Nancy Jennings checks in to share her experiences with SnapStream’s TV search appliance
• Automatic TV searches with SnapStream email alerts (November 26, 2008): learn how you can track the latest relevant TV mentions of things you’re interested in.
• Looking back on one year in ‘TV search’ (November 20, 2008): it’s been about a year since we shipped our first version of SnapStream Enterprise. A look back at what we’ve accomplished.
• SnapStream TV Search in the World of Politics (October 31, 2008): learn about how the Hillary Clinton Campaign for President and The Jed Report benefited from SnapStream Servers during the 2008 presidential campaign season.

* If you’re wondering what SnapStream Enterprise is, it’s our TV search technology. Like Beyond TV, it lets you record television. But unlike Beyond TV, SnapStream Enterprise also allows you to search inside those TV shows to locate mentions of whatever you might be looking for on television… a celebrity, a political candidate, a topic you’re writing about, your government, a country, a person, etc. And it’s delivered on turn-key pre-configured hardware (the SnapStream Mini and the SnapStream Server).

Since our last Beyond TV release we’ve been working diligently on two major new features: Clear QAM support and place-shifting! And after spending many long Friday nights in the office preparing beta releases and sifting through bug reports early Monday morning we are ready to release Beyond TV 4.9.

Clear QAM Support: With version 4.9, Beyond TV adds Clear QAM support. This means that all of you cable users out there can now record any channels that are transmitted in unencrypted QAM in their native digital format. Most cable providers transmit the local networks in unencrypted QAM, at a minimum, and there are often more channels on top of that like ESPN HD, Discovery HD.

Before this, the only way to record TV shows in Beyond TV in their native digital and possibly HD format was using an over-the-air antenna and clear QAM now adds a way to record more channels digitally. Using clear QAM in Beyond TV requires you to use one of the clear QAM cards that we support. Briefly, we support most of the Hauppauge devices that support clear QAM, including the Hauppauge HVR-1600, the Hauppauge HVR-1800, the Hauppauge HVR-1950 and the Hauppauge HVR-950Q. And on top of that we support some ATI TV tuners, the HDHomeRun, and some Avermedia TV tuners.

Placeshifting: We have incorporated a video player in the web admin, allowing you to access and watch all your TV recordings via the web interface! This new feature adds unlimited possibilities to where and when you watch your TV recordings, whether it be in a hotel room while away on business, or just on a different computer in your home. Here’s a screenshot of placeshifting in action:

iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 Firmware Bug Fixed: When Apple released version 2.0 of their iPhone and iPod Touch firmware, it introduced an audio/video sync issue for SnapStream recordings. The issue is fixed now in Beyond TV 4.9, thanks in part to our H.264 codec vendor MainConcept.

Beyond TV 4.9 also adds beta support for the Hauppauge HD-PVR (read the note at the bottom of this page for the caveats on using the Hauppauge HD PVR with Beyond TV).

And for an entire list of new features and bug fixes check out the release notes.

Along with these new features and updates we have decided to make what used to be the DVD Burning & H.264 “plug-in” a standard part of Beyond TV. So the price of Beyond TV, for any new purchases, is now $99 (Beyond TV was $69.99 and the plug-in used to be $29.99).

And if you already own Beyond TV and never purchased the DVD burning and H.264 plug-in, that’s fine — you can still upgrade to Beyond TV 4.9 without the plug-in. And you can still add the plug-in at any point in the future using the upgrade store.

So download Beyond TV 4.9, whether you’re an existing user upgrading or a new user looking to try it out!

Updated (11/22/2008, 12:28pm): clarified the combination of Beyond TV and the plug-in and elaborated on the new features in this version.
Updated (12/8/2008, 11am): added link to “footnotes” about the HD PVR and highlighted the iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0 firmware fix in Beyond TV 4.9.

HDTV Cable Kit for Dummies is really just for suckers – 11/13/08
This supposedly simple package gets confusing right from the get-go by coming in two versions — as if HDTV newbies will really understand which one to go for. Beyond that, the only difference between the HDTV Cable Kit For Dummies and the HDTV Premium Cable Kit For Dummies is the number of HDMI cables (two and three, respectively). via Engadget

Automatically cut commercials with Beyond TV VideoReDo plugin – 11/11/08
This month BeyondTV forum member “razormoon” released a plugin called “BTV RedoSkip” that integrates the excellent VideoReDo program with BeyondTV. via GeekTonic

DVR users younger, shifting half their programs – 11/07/08
Across the major broadcast networks, the median age for a time-shifting viewer is younger than those who watch live. The median age for NBC, ABC and CBS’ DVR audience is 10 years younger than those watching live. For FOX, the difference is five years; for the CW, it’s two years. via NewTeeVee

The Sate of the Blue-Ray in HTPCs – 11/05/08
Although it is relatively easy to get full-resolution Blu-ray video from a Home Theater Personal Computer, it is extremely difficult to get full-resolution audio. Here is a run-down on the current state of HD Audio on the HTPC. via CarltonBale.Com

HTPC remote control: USB-UIRT review & giveaway – 11/04/08
If you delve very far into the world of home theater PCs (HTPCs), one of the first things you’ll want to tackle is freeing yourself from the keyboard and mouse. To really transform your HTPC into more of a set-top box and less of a computer, you’ll obviously want to control it with a remote – aka the 10-foot interface. via ZatzNotFunny