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Archive for the ‘Consumer Electronics’ Category

A few years ago DirecTV entered into a deal with TiVo and began making several models of their DVR running the TiVo software. But, when DirecTV was purchased by News Corp they were forced to halt sales of the DirecTiVo and begin using DVR software from another company that News Corp also owned.

Now that DirecTV is out from under the News Corp thumb they announced back in July (2007) that they would once again support their TiVo boxes and users, like myself, soon got a software update. The most noticeable part of which was the addition of folders. And further updates were planned for early ‘08 (see Engadget).

But, to confuse things once again, in December (2007) DirecTV purchased ReplayTV (see Engadget). It would seem that DirecTV simply bought up ReplayTV for its patents and will not continue the hardware line. the ReplayTV website is of no help - as today is January 13, 2008 and the website is nothing but an ad for ReplayTV Personal HD “coming in November 2007″! That’s it. Not even a link to click on.

So, for now, I will assume that DirecTV will be, as they said last year, continuing their TiVo updates.

At this point though, DirecTV is still not offering the TiVo option to new customers, only their own DVR. A search of their web site found nothing of interest either.

So, on to the TiVo web site… Here I had some luck searching for DirecTV info. The first match to my search was this bit of not-so-good news:

Did you know that if you are a DIRECTV TiVo customer, you are not receiving the full spectrum of TiVo features such as Amazon Unbox, Home Movies by One True Media, Multi-Room Viewing and TiVoToGo?

On top of that, DIRECTV is also not providing its complete HD channel lineup to your TiVo DVR.

We believe all TiVo customers, regardless of whether they are a cable or satellite customer, should be treated equally. All of our customers should be able to enjoy our new products, services, and features.

To help create change, we recommend you reach out to the leadership at DIRECTV, as it is also important for them to understand your needs as a DIRECTV subscriber.

Please contact Chase Carey, DIRECTV President and CEO, at chase.carey@directv.com and Paul Guyardo, the Executive Vice President of Operations at pjguyardo@directv.com and voice your opinion.

We value you and your support. Thank you for your loyalty to TiVo

Unfortunately, that was all I found that was of any relevance on TiVo’s site.

Further searching found this on ars technica:

(dated August 1, 2007)

The recently launched TiVo HD has DirecTV’s leadership itching to look like anything other than a dead end for TiVo fans. Come 2008, DirecTV’s TiVo users will get a major update to their DVRs. The message from DirecTV HQ appears to be “don’t bail on us yet, TiVo users.”

In early June we reported on signs of renewed courtship between TiVo and DirecTV’s new ownership, Liberty Media. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers hinted at the possibilities between the two parties when he noted that Liberty isn’t in the business of making DVRs, unlike DirecTV’s previous owners, News Corp. TiVo’s profitable relationship with DirecTV came unraveled years ago when News Corp’s influence led them to roll their own DVR solution and begin phasing out TiVo altogether.

Clearly the road map has changed, as the two companies today announced something that I thought I’d never see: a series of major updates planned for Series 2-based DVRs. This includes all TiVo units DirecTV has rolled out in recent years, including the HD TiVo HR 10-250, which is based on the Series 2 platform.

According to the announcement, early 2008 will bring three much needed updates: web-based scheduling (”Remote Booking “), the Recently Deleted Folder feature, and Overlap Protection. The announcement was not exhaustive, and also noted that additional updates are coming, as the two companies “will continue to explore ways to bring future enhancements.”

“It is important to us that our customers with TiVo service also have access to the latest DVR technology and we look forward to exploring additional opportunities with TiVo,“ said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Strategy and Development for DirecTV, Inc.

Beyond all of this I was unable to come up with much concrete information anywhere on the web about what is going on. I am going to continue persuing this and, hopefully, get a rep from DirecTV to grant an interview. My initial call was met with a recorded message and, after selecting an option, the recording said “Thank you. Goodbye”!

Things are getting thin now. Only one item that I found of interest.

• Actiontec’s zControl home automation device is now offical. More on Engadget.

Just a couple of things of interest today:

• From Engadget: Check out Denon’s new processor and amp combo. Denon makes some great equipment. I had a Denon CD player a while back. Lately I have stuck mainly to Yamaha, but I like the description of this set enough to give it future consideration!
• Also from Engadget: A new line of products from Control4 home automation.

If anyone out there sees something they think I should know about, please let me know. Meanwhile, I will keep scanning the CES tech news.

In day 2 of my, “I’m not there, but I can get it all on the web”, coverage of CES, here are some things that caught my attention:

• Comcast and Panasonic announce a portable DVR. Check it out on ars technica.
• Shuttle, the PC “mini” people we all love, have announced a $200 Linux box. Perfect for the living room. The Inquirer.
• Engadget is covering the mega Compact Flash Cards. They come in sizes ranging from 16GB to 48 GB from Pretec.

I have been scanning the blogs today looking for items from CES 2008 that catch my interest. The following are a few that I have found.

• Netgear announced an array of new products for getting your whole home together on one network. Check it out on the Tech Talk Blog.
• Sharp plans to bring it’s 108″ LCD to market in ‘08! Check it out on Engadget.
• A new line of Vizio LCD’s and Plasmas. I can vouch for this - I purchased a Vizio 37″ LCD a couple of months ago. Now it’s almost obsolete! Check out the new line, also on Engadget.
• Skype is coming to a PSP near you! Courtesty of Gizmodo.

There’s much more out there and I will continue to sort through it.

I just read on Gizmodo of the upcoming release of the Ziova CS615 (press release). This sounds like something I have been looking for for sometime now. For a couple of years I have been looking at all the options for pulling the content off of the PC network and into the living room.

Recently I have been using a Y-cable plugged into the Yamaha RX-V661 A/V receiver (the other end plugged into either the laptop or the Zune) to access our music collection on the external hard drive in the office.

Our TV (Vizio 37″ LCD) has a PC monitor (VGA) input, but I have yet to hook the laptop to that to try video and pictures yet.

I had been planning to pick up a used PC on the cheap and add RAM, a large hard drive, TV tuner card, etc and run XP MCE, but perhaps Ziova will change my mind on that option.

I am hoping to get a test box to review and we will see from there if things live up to the hype.

Here’s a quick tip for those DirecTV TiVo users out there.

If you’d like to enable the 30 second skip that TiVo took away (probably at the behest of the big media companies) after version 1.0, and, if you are running a DirecTV TiVo then here is a simple hack.

• Begin playing any recorded show.
• While the show is playing press: SELECT - PLAY - SELECT - 3 - 0 - SELECT.
• You should hear three tones which verifies the feature has been enabled.
• Use the ->| button to skip 30 seconds.

If you lose power or reboot your system you will need to go through this process again.

If you want to disable the skip feature you can repeat the same process.

For over a month my children (ages eleven and eight) have obsessed about getting an MP3 player of their own. They have eyed the new Zune I bought. They begged for the old Gateway MP3-Photo Jukebox I passed to my wife (a casual user of these devices).

On Black Friday, I passed on the crowds and craziness of the brick and mortar stores and went to CircuitCity.com and purchased 2 Sansa Sandisk 1GB players.

This has been highly rated and, last time I checked, was the number one seller on Amazon.

Now I am looking forward to their presents on Christmas morning so that I can see what all the rage about these little devices is all about.

Stay tuned for a review.

I have been using the new Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation) player now for about 3 weeks and I think it’s fair to give my review.

The Interface

I can’t say enough about the new user interface on the Zune. It’s clean and the menu is large and easy to read.

A big addition is the support for podcasts, which is the main source of my daily listening. In addition, it does pictures, video and, of course, music. The settings menu allows you to use one of your pictures as the wallpaper as well.

The “Squircle” (Microsoft’s word not mine) is actually quite easy to use and scrolls very nicely through long menus.

Video

The video produces a surprisingly clear picture for the screen size. I would have no trouble watching a show on it while on the road.

The nice part about this is that videos play in wide screen format and when you turn the Zune sideways for viewing the “Squircle” turns with it so you can still control volume, forward and rewind in the logical way.

Wireless Syncing

There is a misconception I have heard several times now, even from Leo Laport. It goes like this: “The wireless syncing can only be done when the device is plugged into its dock.”

This is absolutely NOT true. While wireless syncing happens automatically when you plug the Zune into its dock, it is not the only way. You can go into the Settings menu, choose Wireless and then choose Sync Now and it will sync wirelessly.

A word of caution though - wireless syncing is SLOW. I used it a couple of times just to see how it worked, but now I just plug into the PC.

The other wireless feature - sending a song or podcast to another Zune within WiFi range - is something I have not tested.

Zune Software

Nothing major to report here. The software is clean and easy to use. The podcast category is growing quickly. The only issue I have is that non-podcast video content (music videos, etc.) is hard to find.

Output to Another Device

I used a standard Y-cable to connect the Zune to our A/V receiver and played music through the stereo with no noticeable loss of sound quality, even at high volume.

The 4 and 8GB versions do not do video output so I will reserve comments on this for now. But maybe an 80GB player with video-out is in my future…

One Issue I Have

I have encountered one very strange issue. When I plug the Zune into my PC, my scanner (Canon Canoscan LiDE90) immediately calibrates. This is followed by a message from the system tray that an unrecognized USB device has been encountered and could not be installed. For lack of any other solution I now unplug the scanner first.

Wrap-Up

As you have probably gathered by now, I am very happy with this player. I have no problem recommending one to others. The only problem you may have is if you have invested money in music from other services. The DRM for Microsoft’s Play-For-Sure and Apple’s ITunes is not compatible.