Yahoo Go TV takes Meedio and does it for free

Instead of merely devouring DVR software developer Meedio and leaving us to wait months for the results, Yahoo is releasing their new Meedio-based Yahoo Go TV software a mere week after announcing their acquisition. There's minor Flickr integration, and the software seems bent on answering the call of Front Row, along with the standard WMCE fare. If sounds like your thing, we've got even better news for you: it's free. At least for now, Yahoo! has the public beta of Yahoo! Go TV as a free download, so unless you have a certain aversion deep blue and purple stylings (lets hope the theming community jumps on this one right quick) there isn't much holding you back from giving it a spin.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

[Gobba @ Apr 26th 2006 5:57AM]

US and Windows XP only.

Pass.

[Christopher Price @ Apr 26th 2006 6:01AM]

Hopefully MS will make Media Center more pervasive in Vista as the (free) competition rises. Oh, morning everyone...

[koffeekan @ Apr 26th 2006 6:01AM]

pass. it'll cost money soon and frontrow looks better.

[Matt Cox @ Apr 26th 2006 7:45AM]

Gutted. If only there was a UK version... and a mac version. Heh.

[Johan S @ Apr 26th 2006 7:47AM]

These things need an easy remote. Well the touchscreen remote vendors out there can step up here with an interface (maybe displaying a shrunk version of the media interface screen simultaneously on the TV and on the remote?) for fast selection and scrolling through of menu items. Instead of an ipod style circle, maybe they can use a releaux triangle which is easier on the joint movements or a tilted ellipse. Remote controls need to evolve to take advantage of this stuff. Also, the broadcast companies need to make it MUCH easier to purchase their content (not to mention make everything available). For example, why haven't cable or tv companies like NBC or even radio companies like XM or Sirius made it much easier to buy music or radio shows off devices like the tv or radio. Or maybe it's the content producers holding this up? Purchased media (comes to the home station via email or a background IM type service if you buy it on the phone or from a different location) can go to some standard folder that tries to organize itself and is universally available to all devices a person owns. For buying off radio, all it would need is some sort of GSM wifi, or a deal with cell phone companies. Another option is to announce a short "song code" after playing a song that you SMS via a normal cell phone to a common 3 digit number and details for buying the song come up. Sure the cost of the radio with integrated GSM may go up for those who want this convenience but it'll pay for itself in value and this way the broadcasters are getting paid for their marketing of content.

Oh yeh and get rid of DRM, pirates will pirate anyway.

Ok i finished my rant.

[kent @ Apr 26th 2006 7:49AM]

grrrr

I had hoped the US only thing was just because they don't provide an EPG for anywhere else, but they do an IP check!

No reason for it, I use Meedio perfectly happily from the UK.

[Paul F. @ Apr 26th 2006 7:52AM]

I tried it out and it sucks....almost all the links on the supplied content are broken...and this requires a TV tuner to really get the most bang for your buck, so that limits the number of people significantly.

[Michael Hainsworth @ Apr 26th 2006 8:49AM]

The US only is disappointing, that's for certain, but I'm happy with my existing Meedio set up for now. Unfortunately, despite paying good money for the product, they've pulled Meedio from the website so if my hard disk goes down, I'm screwed. I guess I better go back up my machine, now.

I was looking forward to learning about the Flickr integration. That looked neat.

I wonder if Meedio themes work with Yahoo to Go?

Oh, and thanks for not telling me, Yahoo, that this was U.S. only until AFTER the Yahoo ID registration.

[Luke @ Apr 26th 2006 8:51AM]

"6. I tried it out and it sucks....almost all the links on the supplied content are broken...and this requires a TV tuner to really get the most bang for your buck, so that limits the number of people significantly."

Did you expect a DVR to not require a tv tuner???

[Dro @ Apr 26th 2006 8:54AM]

Kent:
Use one of these US bases proxys and you should be fine! ;-)
http://www.samair.ru/proxy/

[Tyler @ Apr 26th 2006 8:57AM]

Well I tried it out, and I have a TV tuner, and it wouldn't recognize it.

[Nort @ Apr 26th 2006 9:32AM]

Isn't 'Go' the name of Disney's/ABC portal?

[Matt @ Apr 26th 2006 9:34AM]

It's not MCE or Front Row, but this is very promising for an initial beta. Just make it skinnable.

[Andrew @ Apr 26th 2006 9:36AM]

So Meedio skins and plugins won't work with this?

[Phoenixfury @ Apr 26th 2006 10:32AM]

I like the interface and it did detect both my tv tuners. Unfortunatly though for some odd reason Yahoo Go doesn't have my local tv broadcast listings which is a huge problem for me. Sure I could just use the scan option, but what good is a EPG if it there aren't any guide listings? Hopefully Yahoo will correct this in the future. Otherwise it doesn't look like a bad setup. If they ever make it work with their widget engine, they may have something that will eventually gain my interest. But first Yahoo needs to add my local broadcast listings.

[LD @ Apr 26th 2006 10:34AM]

Andrew, they will and they won't. They won't work in the beta release.

http://www.meedio.com/forum/about29513-0-asc-0.html

[David Hall @ Apr 26th 2006 11:28AM]

Just Installed the program, looks like the typical Interface, but wouldn't recognise my freakin tuner card....Lame, only Hauppage card it has is an external usb.....Uninstall and wait for more card support...

[David @ Apr 26th 2006 11:38AM]

Those colors make me nauseated.

[Griffon @ Apr 26th 2006 12:09PM]

Yeah, it pretty much left me cold too.
No randomization options for photos (Uh, hello anyone awake there).

No transition effects

Very limited tuner support. Most tuners like dvico work fine through the generic window drivers with 3rd party apps, but for some reason the yahoo offering only has proprietary support for a couple tuners.

No sort albums

Under settings, there is no settings, just a links to various documents like the EUL, weird.

Worked fine with my stream zap remote but the menu structure lacks short cuts, I had to walk all the way back out of the file structure each to time to go somewhere new... I might have missed somthing here but it seemed pretty kludgy to me.

It did work though, played music, pictures and divx files fine without effort. Still nicest thing I can say about it is that it's free.

[Kevin Tu @ Apr 26th 2006 1:36PM]

I haven't tried the software, but I'm sure it has its flaws as with any first generation material. But the concept is definitely intriguing.

[Digital Inspiration @ Apr 26th 2006 2:07PM]

Gobba, Kent

Here's a little trick to run Yahoo! Go for TV outside the US:

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-to-run-yahoo-go-for-tv-anywhere-in.html

HTH

[Jon @ Apr 26th 2006 3:11PM]

The thing I like most about this...is that Google seems to copy everything everyone is doing and do it simpler and better. So hopefully Google will have an answer that is truly worth using in a year or so.

[steeef @ Apr 26th 2006 3:25PM]

If you want an alternative for Windows, try MediaPortal:
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

It's open source and in active development. I made the switch from Meedio a week ago and I'm liking the interface a lot more. The amount of plugins is less compared to Meedio, but as it's a new and growing HTPC interface, we'll see a lot more soon.

[Justin @ Apr 27th 2006 2:18AM]

I wonder if this program will solve the HBO recording restriction problems I'm having with WMC?

I know this is a little off topic but I don't suppose anyone knows of any hacks so that I can record HBO on WMC?

Thanks :-D

[theMike @ Apr 27th 2006 3:28AM]

Phoo on both MS and Yahoo's offerings. I use GBPVR. Its free. It works. Thanks you. Now GFU.