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SnapStream TV monitoring now lets OS X users keep tabs on amusing video-blunders
The Daily Show and Colbert Report famously rely upon SnapStream's high-power Windows DVR software to monitor the insanity at the fringes of America's cable spectrum. The media-monitoring software is also used by news services, educators and shadowy government agencies to keep tabs on the subjects discussed on TV. The latest edition (version five) opens the platform up to OS X users, enabling them to run it in Firefox without messy virtualization. The OS X web player comes with a plugin to watch MPEG-2 streams that'll happily sit on top of Snow Leopard or Lion and will even let you set up customized alerts for whenever inappropriate euphemisms emerge from Oprah's mouth.
SnapStream's monster DVR records 50 channels at once, even when nothin's on
Get ready for an acute case of DVR inadequacy courtesy of SnapStream, which has pieced together what it's calling the world's largest DVR, and we're inclined to believe them. Run a coax in the back and, with a fully configured unit, you can record a whopping 50 channels simultaneously onto over 100TB of storage. The trick is it's actually five separate rack-mounted SnapStream DVRs that all join together to share storage, work across tuners, and to fight the evil King Zarkon from the planet Doom -- or at least to record all the Voltron reruns ever aired, ever. No word on the cost of a fully-configured rack, but given the size of that thing (check out the door in the background for comparison) we're thinking it might not fit in our entertainment center anyway. %Gallery-90009%
The Daily Show and Colbert Report changing video capture tech for the switch to HDTV
That switch to HD for The Daily Show and Colbert Report has more results than just a sharper image of their star hosts, but also the problem of capturing HD versions of the news clips presented for skewering daily. To achieve the goal of archiving more than 30 HDTV channels daily, the show is upgrading from the bank of TiVos it previously relied on to SnapStream Server, the business option from the guys behind BeyondTV. No word on exactly how it's pulling in the channels, Dave Zatz suggests ClearQAM, Happauge's HD PVR or component capture cards as possibilities, but it looks like a couple of years of development have reduced starter costs from $6,000 to $2,000, just in case your YouTube clip show needs a little more oomph.
Beyond TV 4.9 officially released, packs in placeshifting, h.264, ClearQAM for $99
Dumping the beta tag, Snapstream's officially rolled out the placeshifting, Clear QAM-compatible singing and dancing Beyond TV 4.9, rolling previously optional $29.99 h.264 and DVD burning plugins into the standard package, upping the pricetag for new users from $69 to $99 (upgraders who never bought the plugins and don't want them can still hop in for the old price). If watching place shifted TV via web browser isn't interesting enough by itself, Snapstream threw in beta support for the Hauppage HD-PVR, new Web admin features and more. Enough to convince you to upgrade, or dive into the build it yourself DVR market for the first time?[Via eHomeUpgrade]
BeyondTV 4.9 Beta adds placeshifting to the DIY DVR formula
Windows Media Center alternative BeyondTV is actually taking advantage of Microsoft's Silverlight technology for its latest feature, placeshifting recorded TV, Slingbox-style. Download Squad mentions the 4.9 beta release allows users to log in remotely via a webpage, view a list of stored programs, and select them for real-time transcoding and streaming. That's not all BeyondTV's added since we last checked in on version 4.3 -- real-time ShowSqueeze, the aforementioned Web Admin access and more make this worth a look. BeyondTV is $70, but there's a free trial if you've just got to start slinging HDTV around the neighborhood, or the world, right now.[Via Download Squad]
GB-PVR called "first" on the Hauppauge HD PVR over a month ago
Lots of HTPC fans have been salivating over the promise of the Hauppauge HD PVR. That pesky "analog hole" looks like it might be the best solution for our imperfect tech world. Without integrated Windows MCE support yet, the race is on to deliver some PVR software that's step above the bundled apps. SageTV has already tantalized us with advance info on the hardware, so you know support in its product is coming soon. Now we see that SnapStream has a prototype unit in its mitts, so you can assume it's cooking in everything needed for Beyond TV. But neither of them is going to be first to deliver -- that honor goes to GB-PVR, which did a wayback machine number on us and built support in to its 1.2.9 release back on March 9th. Nice 0-day hardware support! Turns out the poor developer is just "too busy with other stuff" and doesn't have HD content to really show this off right now, though (they're located in New Zealand).UPDATE: The developer himself wants to clarify the motivation behind his quote: because he's in New Zealand, which uses DVB-T for free OTA HD, he personally doesn't have a need for the HD PVR. He thinks the HD PVR will be huge in N. America, though. Thanks for the clarification and the hard work, Graeme!Read - Hauppauge HD PVR on the SnapStream benchRead - GB-PVR announced support for HD PVR in March
SnapStream Enterprise TV Server: ten tuners, 8TB of storage
And you thought WeaKnees' 2TB TiVo was hot stuff, now didn't you? Be that as it may, there's no denying that this beast puts the aforementioned DVR to shame, as the SnapStream Enterprise TV Server is available with up to ten built-in tuners and 8TB of fault tolerant storage space. In case you couldn't surmise, these units were created for enterprise use, but that's not to say it wouldn't fit right into your abode. In addition to being mighty impressive from a hardware standpoint, the software aspect is pretty svelte, too. The search feature enables users to snoop around within program meta data, and moreover, it enables owners to easily burn content to DVD, extract clips from full recordings and convert files into a variety of formats. Sure, even the "low-end" version rings up at $6,000, but if your New Year's resolution is to remain firmly planted on a sofa until 2009 (or beyond), this would probably be a sound investment.[Via TVSnob]
Your PSP can be a remote control
What do you get when you add Sony's LocationFree with BeyondTV, a PSP and a dash of inginuity? The ability to watch TV on your PSP! Since Sony unveiled the LocationFree application, PSP hacks like these have been fairly commonplace. From the annals of LocationFree FAQs, we wanted to resurface this particular video that we missed the first time around. The research this fella completed in order to get his remote working on the PSP certainly piqued our interest and warrants another look. The Tonight Show video looks pretty darn sharp, with nary a hint of lag. I do believe, this calls for watching TV poolside. [Via digg]
Say hello to Godzilla: 11 tuner HDTV DVR
Remember that time, even with a dual tuner DVR, where there were three things on that you wanted to watch at once? The guys at Snapstream never have that problem. They put together this 11 tuner box and were kind enough to provide all the info necessary to build your own, assuming you've got 11 HDTV channels in your area and enough storage.My puny Motorola box just doesn't have the same shine now that I've seen this. It's not an all-channel recorder, but it's close. Interestingly, they chose Windows XP over Media Center to run this box including 4 Fusion HDTV5 USB tuners, three Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500s, and one PowerColor PCIe x1 Theater 550 Pro. Wow.[Via digg]
BeyondTV 4 review @ eHomeUpgrade
eHomeUpgrade took a look at the latest version of the software, this time featuring HDTV suppport, and seem to be very impressed. The ability to recognize multiple tuners, DVR functions, and OTA HDTV support weigh heavily in BeyondTV's favor, it can even compress shows using DivX, unlike Windows Media Center's built in software.Anyone thinking about building a HTPC should definitely take a look at this review, it's a powerful bit of software that should work well for anyone wanting to watch HDTV on their PC.
