Apr 20

Verizon Expands Remote DVR Programming to all FiOS Users

Posted in: dvr, Today's Chili, verizon
remote fios dvr.jpg
Forget to set your DVR for the big finale, latest reality-TV train wreck, or daytime TV confessional? FiOS TV DVR customers are in luck. Any Verizon FiOS TV customer will now be able to remotely program their DVRs from the Web, while Home Media DVR customers will also be able to do the same from any Internet-enabled cell phones.
Verizon introduced remote DVR programming in January for subscribers of Home Media DVR, which lets users watch shows they’ve taped on up to six TVs throughout the house. Those Home Media customers were also able to program their DVRs via using the Verizon Wireless LG EnV2, LG Chocolate 2, or LG Voyager handsets.
Verizon is now expanding Web-based DVR programming to all FiOS TV DVR customers, and allowing Home Media customers also program their machines from any cell phone with a data plan, not just Verizon-based handsets.
Web programming is available at http://www.verizon.com/fiostvcentral, and the 
wireless application for Home Media DVR subscribers is available at http://m.verizon.com/tv from phones with a data plan.
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Apr 12

Western Digital 1TB DVR Expander pre-orders up at Amazon, Apricorn add-ons get a face lift

Posted in: dvr, tivo, Today's Chili, usb

We understand, you’re not ready to let go of the BSG season finale just yet even though Tiger and Phil are charging up the back nine at Augusta, but keeping a lot of HD on the DVR can fill up space quickly — which is where these two come in. Amazon is now taking pre-orders of the long-awaited 1TB edition of Western Digital’s TiVo compatible (or other eSATA enabled box) DVR Expander, although no ship date is listed, and Apricorn took our advice on its fugly 500GB, 1TB or 1.5TB sized boxes, giving them a sleek new look. It’s dual USB 2.0 / eSATA compatible, but not TiVo, so Scientific Atlanta 8300, DirecTV and DISH ViP owners can claim this one at $219 for the 1.5TB, while the WD will set you back $183.

Read – Apricorn Unveils New Look for the DVR Expander
Read – Western Digital WDG1S10000N My DVR Expander 1TB eSATA (Black)

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Western Digital 1TB DVR Expander pre-orders up at Amazon, Apricorn add-ons get a face lift originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 06

TiVo update brings pause menu ads to Series3 & TiVo HD owners

Posted in: ads, dvr, firmware update, FirmwareUpdate, tivo, Today's Chili

TiVo heard you liked ads, so it’s putting ads in your pause menu so you can watch ads while you skip ads. Already rolled out on older Series2 hardware last December, Dave Zatz posts that the 11.0c software update for Series3 / TiVo HD hardware brings the new “feature” of ads popping up while viewers are time shifting. That can show up as a “More information” prompt for some shows, as seen above, but will hold advertisements on certain programs. The prompt will only show up once per recording, but if this new form of advertising bugs you, TiVo Community user bfdtv instructs that permanently hiding the progress bar can be achieved by pressing pause, press down to hide the popup, press play again, then enter SELECT-PLAY-SELECT-PAUSE-SELECT, which can also be reversed by using the code again while watching a recording. Still, we doubt the ad skipping arms race will end here.

Read – TiVo’s Pause Menu Spam Hits S3/HD Units
Read – TivoHD Overview, Q&A, Setup, Tips

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TiVo update brings pause menu ads to Series3 & TiVo HD owners originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 01

Motorola, Time Warner mixing up multiroom, tru2way cable setups due later this year

Posted in: dvr, motorola, Today's Chili

Ok, we’ve seen multiroom setups, mostly from IPTV providers, and tru2way has had a limited rollout so far, but Time Warner Cable and Motorola are teaming up to be the first to bring the two together in customers homes. Follow Me TV is already available on FiOS, but the Dolby Digital Plus-supporting DCX3400-M DVR we saw at CES in ’08 and DXC-3200M set-top box will make it happen on cable, shifting high definition video around the house via Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) connections. Hopefully tru2way’s interoperability lets customers choose what equipment makes up their home video network, not just the cable company, but we should find out more after launch later this year.

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Motorola, Time Warner mixing up multiroom, tru2way cable setups due later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 30

Echostar shows off its SlingLoaded T2200S HD DVR for cable

Posted in: dvr, Today's Chili

It didn’t take long for Echostar to turn its ViP 922 SlingLoaded DVR for DISH into a tru2way powered HD DVR for cable viewers ready to placeshift live and prerecorded TV, and now we’ve got a glimpse of what it will look like. The specs show off a 1TB hard drive ripped from its still-yet-to-launch predecessor, but new for the T2200S is a backlit capacitive touch control mounted up front, while that no numbers required touch remote the 922 flashed at CES is so far missing from the mix. It’ll be at least Q4 before these go into production, but you can believe Echostar is pitching them to all willing to listen at Cable Show ’09 this week, while interested customers are being advised to contact their cable provider and let ’em know they want a piece.

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Echostar shows off its SlingLoaded T2200S HD DVR for cable originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 09

Hands On: iRecord Pro Personal Media Recorder

Posted in: audio, dvr, iPhone, ipod, Today's Chili, video

iRecord_Pro.jpg
With only two buttons, intuitive indicator lights, and familiar connectivity options, the iRecord Pro from Streaming Networks is easy enough for literally anyone to use without even reading an instruction manual. Simply connect a video source using the included cables, attach any of a number of compatible devices using a USB cable, and hit Record. The iRecord Pro transfers video in a compatible format from sources such as a cable box or CD player directly to your iPod, Microsoft Zune, Nokia N95 cell phone, PlayStation 3, or even USB flash drive or external hard drive–you get the idea.

The list of compatible devices goes on, with even more added on a regular basis through firmware updates.

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Jan 19

Sony boosts capacity of its mountable, high-def, BRX-series DVRs

Posted in: dvr, sony, Today's Chili
Sony boosts capacity of its mountable, high-def, BRX-series DVRs

Those used to recording dozens of hours worth of SD video on DVRs with just a few gigs of storage often have a bit of a surprise when they move into the HD realm; a couple episodes of Pushing Daisies and Lost leave no room for any other prime-time drama. While not matching TiVo’s capacious 1TB HD XL, Sony is doing its part with a larger, 320GB version of its BRAVIA BRX-series DVR, the BRX-320. It can tackle about 90 hours of HD content yet is small and light enough to be mountable directly on the back of many Sony displays. No word on what price tag will be affixed when this releases in about a month, but the 250GB model is going for about $300, so you can make your own guesses. Oh, and since that earlier version hasn’t made it to US shores yet, don’t hold your breath on this one.

[Via AV Watch]

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Sony boosts capacity of its mountable, high-def, BRX-series DVRs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 08

CES 2009: Seagates Three New Storage Products

Posted in: dvr, hard drive, Today's Chili

seagate.jpg

Seagate unveiled three new products on Wednesday at CES: the FreeAgent Theater HD media player, a complete home theater system; the Showcase DVR Expander, 500GB of capacity for your DVR; and the Pipeline HD Series, two new hard drives for DVRs.

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD media player (above) is a new accessory made to work with the award-winning FreeAgent Go portable hard drive. It lets people easily store digital media, including videos, photos, and music, and play it directly on their TVs, rather than computer monitors.

One feature that makes the Seagate FreeAgent Theater so easy to use is the number of supported audio and video formats. It media player supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, and DIVX files with video resolutions for NTSC, PAL and HD up to 1080i–and even provides support for subtitles.

Available in March, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD media player can be purchased as a standalone unit for use with any USB storage device, or a complete solution with a FreeAgent Go portable drive included, starting at $129.99.

More new Seagate products after the jump.

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Jan 08

Echostar announces Sling Monitor for in-home placeshifting

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, dvr, Today's Chili

That funky angled screen is the just announced Sling Monitor (yes Virginia, it is HD), designed to work with the SlingLoaded ViP 922 DVR to take video anywhere in the house via WiFi. With 922, you can perform the usual Sling-type activities streaming video over the net and as many as three devices in the home, including HD over wireless. The model right now is 14.9-inch, but according to President Charlie Ergen nothing definite has been decided yet before the expected launch this summer.

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Echostar announces Sling Monitor for in-home placeshifting originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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