Wow! This just in from Matt Haughey PVR Blog about satellite television service VOOM‘s new HD DVR with networking that will allow home users to view content from any monitor in their house via a thin client.

The Satellite Guys have a demo video online from the recent CEDIA EXPO, which they describe as perhaps the “most powerful DVR ever”.

Ok, I’ll hold off on that description because you can do much of this now with MythTV, but the VOOM DVR is certainly woth a look once it comes out officially.

Today, there was a /. post about a new MythTV plug-in called Torrentocracy that extends the included MythNews RSS Aggregator to support RSS Enclosures and Bit Torrent.

Torrentocracy is not the first to mesh RSS Enclosures, Bit Torrent and PVRs.

In fact, NewsGator released NewsGator Media Center Edition back in April and two weeks ago, Ray Slakinski’s Nucleus application, which can be used in a similar way on just about any environment.

I’ll definitely give Torrentocracy a test on my STeVo. However, what I’ve been thinking about is the next iteration of these tools…

An Australian company is selling pre-built MythTV-based PVRs for 1,799 AUD (~$1,345.50 USD) (via Boing Boing)

Although the price is roughly twice what it cost me to build my own MythTV box, I think this is a good trend.

There’s some excellent threads regarding this box on /. and the Myth-Users mailing list.

I’ve got to try WinMyth on my Laptop. It’s simply a .Net-based Windows front end for MythTV.

And now with spring approaching, we can watch our Stevo outside!

However, I suppose I could simply re-boot with KnoppMyth, but since I run XP as my primary OS on my laptop, I’m hoping it will be simpler with WinMyth.

Note: WinMyth requires the dsMyth, which contains the DirectShow filters that enables playback of MythTV .nuv files on windows. (Also very cool!)

I was just looking for an RSS feed for the mythtv-users mailing list and I stumbled across David Jeske post regarding an “experimental archive browse/search software” that he co-developed with Brandon Long.

In addition to search and threaded views of posts, their tool also includes RSS feeds in many flavors … although the feeds only include summaries and there’s no Atom feed yet, but suffice it to say, I like this trend.

I learned via PVRBlog about Andrew Grumet’s proposal to the TiVo and DIY PVR communities regarding sharing your recordings among friends via RSS — in essence, Andrew’s idea is an application of social networking, but perhaps you’re best served by reading through Andrew’s proposal.

Here are a few choice quotes:

“Today my TiVo is networked and programmable. Do-it-yourself PVRs are on the rise, and we know that the open source ones like MythTV are programmable. Perhaps some of the commercial ones are too. So maybe it’s time for us to flex some programmer muscle and code up our PVRs to leverage the power of the Net. We ought to at least be able to add the ability to share our great taste with friends. But probably a lot more.”

This time by IBM luminary Sam Ruby. The post details the start of his experience building a dedicated MythTV box based on Debian, but the wisdom will eventually…

“… be automated, published, and shared.”

“But, first I have to get it working repeatably…”

We expect nothing less from you Sam ;-)

It sounds like Tom Walsh over at Newsforge and I share many of the same first experiences and conclusions in regard to building and using a Home Theater PC (HTPC) based on MythTV.

Tom Walsh writes: “Would I say that anyone could put together their own PVR? No! It takes a level of competency and comfort with Linux to attempt such an undertaking. You need a good deal of patience with often time-confusing documentation. But if you persist, ask questions of those in IRC, and purchase high-end hardware, I am confident that you too will be satisfied with your results.”

Last week I finally completed building my Home Theater PC (HTPC) — aka PVR (personal video recorder), DVR (digital video recorder), homebrew-TiVo or what my wife Catherine lovingly calls STeVo ;-)

On my Wiki I put together some of my initial observations and install notes for those of you interested in building one these boxes yourself [more here]

Since the hardware is now on order, I suppose I have committed myself to building what Catherine has branded “STeVo“, which is my feeble attempt at a constructing a homebrew PVR (personal video recorder).

Wish me luck!

Gen over at PVRBlog pointed me to an excellent Slashdot thread that’s talking about building a homebrew digital video recorder on a budget, which is very timely for me.

In fact, I just updated my wiki with a rough spec for my own PVR. Now I need to refine and price out the equipment because I think I’m already over budget.

Matt Haughey’s PVRBlog gives some more insight about Comcast’s new PVR box:

“Comcast was testing the PVR waters, but it looks like the rollout will soon be going full-force.”

Brandon has assembled a comprehensive Linux Home Theater PC HOWTO, which is definitely worth a read if you’re planning on building your own Homebrew TiVo-like device.

Joe Stump over on the O’Reilly DevCenter puts together a well-rounded overview of The State of Home-Brew Personal Video Recorders on Linux (Think: Open Source TiVo). The article also includes a good threaded discussion as well. Well worth a read.

Incidentally, I’ve decided to investigate putting together my own PVR. I was inspired mainly by a recent InfoWorld article on the savings you can expect by build your own systems.

I’ve set my budget to be about $400 and so far I’m leaning toward using MythTV and ideally the KnoppMyth Bootable CD MythTV Install to make things easy, which is based on the amazing Knoppix Live CD Debian Distro.

Matt Haughey of PVRBlog has an extensive review of SnapStream Personal Video Station 3.0:

“Would I trade a TiVo for a small PC running Snapstream? After playing with it for a few weeks, I’d have to say it is certainly possible. A home theater PC can do more than a TiVo (play videos, any audio format, photos, show the web on your TV, etc), and this package certainly covers the TV recording features that TiVo pioneered.”

Dyne:bolic is another bootable Linux distro that’s focused on “Media” application. However what makes this one special, in addition to the multimedia applications, is that it will boot on a PC or an XBox (yes, XBox!).

It’s not quite an Open Source version of the Tivo software on a bootable CD, but it’s getting there. (link via /.)

Catherine sent me a link to this report about TiVo in the NY Times, which I’m sure is making waves with privacy advocates…

“TiVo, the maker of digital video recorders, plans today to begin selling information about the viewing patterns of its customers to advertisers and programmers. The company says the reports offer far more precise data than traditional rating methods.

Because TiVo’s are essentially computer hard drives connected to a central server, the company can monitor viewers’ second-by-second behavior. It can tell how many viewers in a certain ZIP code clicked away at what moment in a commercial, for instance, or when a particular character appeared on a show.

I think it’s safe to assume that Brad Choate really-really likes his TiVo. However, he has made some interesting points about TiVo’s future uses:

“I also expect that weÂ’ll be using the TV for video e-mail and home-to-home video conferencing. ThatÂ’s a killer application waiting to happen. Something that would drive a market to broadband faster than Superman puts on his tights.”

“Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center” (via SlashDot)

“[TiVo] was surprised by the popularity of 802.11b wireless-based home networks and decided that the best way for TiVo subscribers to access and share digital content was to simply piggyback on wireless networks”

I want one of these … freeplayTV is an attempt at a working, low-cost, replacement for TiVo and ReplayTV Digital Video Recorder systems (also called PVR or “Personal Video Recorder”).” (Thanks Per)

Kevin Werbach nails it again with this comment,

“… the growth of PVRs is inevitable. Almost every Tivo user will tell you that controlling the TV experience is a killer app. The costs are falling inexorably because the devices are based on familiar hardware and software. Broadcasters won’t be able to stop them; they need to develop new business models and marketing mechanisms that don’t depend on 30-second commercials.”

“PRISMIQ has developed a high-end yet affordable networked set-top box that supports your personal media (such as MP3s and digital photos), digital television, IP-based video on demand, musical/digital jukebox, and web
access.”

All for $249.95 … not bad …

and … “[PRISMIQ has a] flexible architecture that can support a variety of additional components like a Personal Video Recorder (PVR). Our unique hardware and software solutions are built from the ground up to take advantage of the home network from Ethernet, to WiFi, to HPNA, to HomePlug. We put the fun in your home network.”

From CNET : “Sony’s PlayStation 2 video game console will gain TiVo-like video functions with software to be announced Monday by two start-ups.”

I think I’ve found a new toy …

“ReplayTV 4000 is the first home-networked DVR, a revolutionary product with broadband connectivity that lets consumers store up to 320 hours of television or other media, share video clips between rooms in the home or with friends outside the home, as well as playback recorded programs without commercials.”