Ricor PVRs To Hit Russia

BlackShirt writes "Mediacenter acts as a digital video recorder, i.e. it enables the viewer to plan his/her future television broadcast recordings. 'Live' broadcasts can also be recorded. Program recordings are stored in the video archive, and the user can playback, delete or unable deleting of recordings (here are some screenshots). I personally like their advertisements more than their product. (Shopping-tv style, wife doesn't allow to watch football, so disapponted husband knocks on his neighbors' door, as they turn their fabulous Ricor TV box from pause to play.)" It looks like this is being marketed to Russian cable companies as an all-in-one portal, since they also include electronic ordering capabilities and "near video on demand"; I wish American PVRs had all these features by default (ethernet, USB, microphone, camera inputs ...)

Comments

The reason is...

[Bugmaster]

IMO, the reason for all the features of the Russian PVR (as opposed to the American one) is that copyright enforcement in Russia is nonexistent. There is no DMCA, no patent protection to speak of (except on paper), no RIAA/MPAA, etc. A right-thinking Russian would never think of actually paying $10k for some piece of software; he'll get the bootleg version for $5.

This is bad for software/music/video companies, but good for the consumer. Unlike their American cousins, Russian PVRs don't need to be crippled just to appease some content cartel. Hence all the extra features.