Hasta La Gadget!

We’ll let the analysts make sense of TiVo’s new projection that it will lose $8 to $10 million in the third quarter, larger than Wall Street expectations while projected revenues are lower — we’re too busy adding Verizon and AT&T to the patent battlemap. Today it filed complaints against both for violating three of its DVR-related patents — Nos. 6,233,389 B1 (“Multimedia Time Warping System”), 7,529,465 B2 (“System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams”), and 7,493,015 B1 (“Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System”) if you must know — seeking damages for past infringement and a permanent injunction. We’d assumed it would wait until settling things with DISH to push forward against other companies, but it looks like we’re not the only ones getting impatient. Beyond the legal slapfight there’s a few nuggets for the bleep bloop faithful, with the Comcast TiVo on-line scheduler beginning to roll out in Boston plus further expansions on the way and the due-in-2010 DirecTV HD TiVo still on track — we’ll need a few seasons of Law & Order queued up before this mess ever gets resolved.

Read – TiVo Swings to Loss, Files Infringement Suits
Read – TiVo Reports Results for the Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Ended July 31, 2009
Read – TiVo Files Complaints for Patent Infringement Against AT&T and Verizon Communications in United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas; Seeking Damages and Injunction

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TiVo projects larger than expected losses, still taking the patent fight to AT&T and Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitsubishi has always tried to take a different tack with its Blu-ray recording DVRs in Japan — see its DVR-BF2000 model for evidence — and we’re sure someone’s glad to see them going the extra mile with these latest three models. The DVR-BZ330 combines a 1TB hard drive with the super resolution upconversion that promises to pull additional information from low res video via its Diamond HD chip. If that bit of video magic isn’t impressive(or believable) there’s always the similar DVR-BZ230 sans-Diamond HD and half the hard drive space, while true back compat freaks should opt for the DVR-BV530 with VHS playback (no recording, we know you had an LP tape you’ve been saving.) Expect these to hit the streets in October from ¥180,000 ($1,915) for the high end DVR-BZ330 to ¥120,000 ($1,270) for the DVR-BV530.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Mitsubishi’s new Blu-ray DVRs have you covered, from super resolution to VHS originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forgot to set your DVR before heading out of town for the weekend? If you’re a FiOS TV DVR customer with a smartphone, you’re in luck. The company announced Monday that it is expanding the number of customers who can remotely set their DVRs via cell phone.

Any FiOS TV DVR customers can now program their DVRs via an Internet-enabled phone. In April, Verizon announced that FiOS TV DVR customers could program their devices via the Web, but only subscribers of Home Media DVR, which lets users watch shows they’ve taped on up to six TVs throughout the house, could program via the Internet and smartphones.

“Now, if you’re a FiOS TV DVR customer, you can use the Web site or a cell phone to review, change or add recording requests, delete recorded programs, browse and search TV and video-on-demand listings, set parental controls and more,” Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe wrote in a blog post.

Verizon also expanded access to its Media Manager download, which lets customers view photos, play music, and stream videos from the PC to FiOS TV DVRs.

“Until now, Media Manager has only been available to certain subscribers, but now we’re opening up the service to any TV and Internet customer who also has a DVR. There’s no extra charge,” Rabe wrote.

Those certain subscribers include Home Media DVR customers that also had FiOS internet. Now it’s open to all FiOS TV DVR customers who also have FiOS Internet.

To access Media Manager, sign into your Verizon.net account and download the program. Then, select the “Media Manager” option on the FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide.

Neuros has earned significant kudos with techies for its hackable OSD media player / recorder and its commitment to open source software. It’s no surprise then to see the company reaching out to its loyal community for input on what should be found in the third generation of the device. Yes, technically the OSD 2 isn’t even out of the developer kit stage yet, but Neuros is planning well ahead of time, with the 3.0 model unlikely to be seen for another 18 months. Founder Joe Born has confirmed a continuing partnership with Texas Instruments on an ARM-based unit, which should be able to play and record at 1080p / 60 with support for all the relevant formats and containers. There’ll be a minimum of 2GB DDR3 RAM, as well as a HTML5- and Flash-compliant browser, but the rest of the specs are up to you — if there’s some killer feature you simply must have, hit the read link and let Neuros know.

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Neuros OSD 3 in development, makers want your input originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll go ahead and hurt the feelings of those in Asia, North America and the Cook Islands: this here set is bound for the European market only (for now, anyway), but hey, at least we know the technology is here. Over in the UK, one Cello Electronics has issued the first HDTV that records OTA (Freeview) content directly to an SD card, giving users an easy option for shuffling recorded content to portable players. The set itself boasts twin TV tuners, a built-in EPG, split-screen functionality and an integrated DVD player; as for sizes, you’ll find it in 22-, 26- and 32-inch flavors. Sadly, you’ll be stuck with “just” 1,440 x 900 pixels and no HDMI socket, but those who couldn’t care less can take ownership starting next month for TBD, £399.99 ($661) or £469.99 ($777) in order of mention.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Cello Electronics intros HDTV that records to SD cards originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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