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Rovi introduces latest cable guide that you'll never see
Long before Macrovision bought TV Guide (formerly Gemstar) and change its name to Rovi, we've been seeing guide demos that are worth getting excited about. But after years and years of the same old crap from big cable, all the excitement is dashed instantly as we realize we'll never see 'em deployed. We'd love to believe that the new TotalGuide for Service Providers announced this week at The Cable Show would change all that, you know with its slick looking user interface and unified search -- which appears to be a better implementation than TiVo's. If the screen shot above looks familiar it's because it looks similar to the TotalGuide for CE (used to be codenamed Liquid) that is currently available to CE manufacturers. More pictures and screen shot after the jump.
Rovi TV Guide widget debuts on Samsung HDTVs
The agreement between Rovi (formerly Macrovision) and Samsung for EPG data has taken an odd turn with the debut of the TV Guide widget for Samsung's Yahoo! Widget enabled HDTVs. Check the pictures to get an idea of what it looks like, though with host of these televisions likely hooked up to satellite or cable boxes, the usability of these abbreviated "what's on" listings when another click of the remote would bring up a guide that will actually tune to those stations. Still, check the pics for an example of the flexibility of the widget platform, including the option to load up Daily Hotlists from Rovi's editors daily, complete with personal profiles but aren't exactly satiating the appetite we've developed for the Liquid guide demoed earlier this year.
Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR
There aren't many times where we're caught off guard by a new product enough to think, why didn't we think of that, but this is one of them. The set-top-box manufacture, Pace, has just launched one of the coolest multi-room DVR solutions we've ever heard of. Not only does it over come the limitations of other so called solutions by not being limited to two tuners (for the whole house), a 160 GB hard drive, copy control flags (it streams, not copies) and a scattered recorded TV list; but it doesn't require even a single extra wire to be run in your house -- no, it doesn't use WiFi. What Pace has done is to work with Rovi and load up new software on its standard dual tuner HD set-top, the DC700X. This new software paired with a MoCA 1.1 NAS (pictured above) makes every DC700X set-top in the house a multi-room DVR. If this sounds like what you've been waiting for, then you'll want to click through past the jump to learn all about it -- or just to see another picture.UPDATE - Pace announced deals with Buckeye Cablevision, Mediacom Communications, NCTC and Sunflower Broadband to deploy this.
Samsung signs up to use Rovi EPG technology
What this means for consumers is yet to be announced, but with any luck that cool new guide called Liquid, that we saw last month from Rovi, could be coming to Samsung HDTVs. Where all of this fits in with tru2way still remains to be seen as well, but with more and more TVs coming equipped with network connectivity and thus access to accurate guide data and VOD services like Amazon and Netflix, makes us wonder if tru2way will even matter. We suppose this CES will be the real indicator, when we see if CableCARD makes a comeback and if tru2way is a part of it.
Macrovision re-invents itself as Rovi, kicks off with new guide "Liquid"
Hold on to your hats folks because the company that we love to hate is turning over a new leaf by kicking off its old DRM shoes and leveraging its acquisition of Gemstar in a big way. What we mean is that this is the first time in the history of Macrovision that we can remember being excited about an announcement; and boy does it make perfect sense that it comes with a new company name. Rovi's first consumer product should be available in various HDTVs next year, and among the new jazzed up looking guide you can expect a full DLNA client that is designed to be a single access point for all of your content. This includes internet sourced content like Slacker radio, YouTube XL, BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand, and CinemaNow; as well as anything you might have on your PC like pictures, music and even videos. Add in a little social networking from sites such as Flixster and we might have ourselves a new way to watch TV. No word yet on what new TVs will feature Liquid, but we'd expect to hear more at CES '10. The full release is after the jump.
