Nero Unveils LiquidTV, TiVo For Your Computer

bigwophh writes to mention HotHardware is reporting that Nero has decided to try a new step forward for home theater PCs by bringing the TiVo service to your computer. The new LiquidTV / TiVo PC package includes a (USB-based) high definition ATSC digital/analog TV tuner, antenna, remote control, IR blaster, Nero's LiquidTV software, and a 12-month subscription to the TiVo service for around $200. You can cut that in half if you already have a compatible TV tuner. This is the first time that TiVo has licensed their intuitive interface for a PC package. In addition to the TiVo interface, the rest of the LiquidTV software package allows you to burn your TV recordings to DVD or transfer the videos to other computers, iPods, PSP, or "other mobile devices." This service is due to launch next month.

Comments

Geeks do this w/o TiVo

[clang_jangle]

I would expect that those of us who like to use our computers for video would already have these capabilities without spending $200/yr on a subscription. I know I do.

Re:Geeks do this w/o TiVo

[ivan256]

Me too.

I pay $100 a year for the subscription.

The subscription to TiVo is worth every penny just for the lack of having to fiddle with it all the time.... Getting the updates installed with no time investment, etc...

And that's before you take into account its ability to record encrypted QAM, since it's cableCARD certified.

I used to use a home-built DVR, but TV just doesn't matter enough to me to invest the time. I'd rather throw (much) less than a day's pay at it once a year and not have to think about it.

Re:Geeks do this w/o TiVo

[jedidiah]

The "fiddling" with a home-made DVR is driven primarily by other "fiddling".

Set it up and leave it alone and it tends to stay setup. That first part is the trick.

Once you make Tivo the combination of a random collection of spare parts and some
software, you are going to blow away Tivo's strength in this area. It will be like
trying to run MacOS on a non-mac using some hack.

Simply put: Tivo is last to the party and is in serious danger of being left
behind by everyone.

If you are already accustomed to the more powerful features of PC PVR software
then a PC running Tivo software is not going to be that compelling. Otherwise
you would already just be running a Tivo anyways.

What HD capture options will it have? How open will the recordings be?

Will I be able to use the software on the platform of my choice?

LiquidTV

[Jherek Carnelian]

Does it come with Aeon Flux?

Re:Hey America

[ZeroNullVoid]

My first thoughts exactly.

MythTV has progressed into a beautiful solution over the years.

I have both TIVO devices and MythTV and I personally like the MythTV solution better.

Bout time

[kellyb9]

Great - exactly what I've been looking for MythTV- except you have to pay for it.

If it's from Nero, it has to suck.

[Animats]

Nero is notorious for installing processes you don't want that run all the time. I bought the DVD writer program (the commercial product, not the free version) and, even though I turned off everything else, it installed an "indexing service" and a "backup service", which started up at boot time. I wouldn't trust a product from them. You don't know that it's doing.

(By the way, what's a reliable Windows non-Vista product for writing DVDs of both data and video formats. I don't need "ripping", but want to transcode some of my old animation .avi files to DVD.)

Re:If it's from Nero, it has to suck.

[Bieeanda]

Nero has become almost as bad as Symantec. When I got a copy of Nero 7, I discovered that the lazy bastards hadn't even bothered to put help files on the disc-- click on 'help' and it gives you a URL to download the CHM files. It doesn't even provide an installer-- you have to download each one separately, and move the damn things manually. Meanwhile, there is no way to remove any of their cruft without removing the whole damn application suite.

Christ, these people are as bad as Realmedia.

Who asked for this?

[Control-Z]

I have a TivoHD and Series 2, which both work great. What's the advantage in running it on your own PC? Only thing I could think of is the Tivo software should be faster on a decent PC.

But if I was going to go the PC route I would install something like MythTV that would give me complete flexibility. Tivo still has to work with the networks to ensure shows are handled the way the networs want.

In response to blatent advertisement for TIVO...

[johnlcallaway]

I bought a Hauppauge card, Snapstream's beyond TV, and a Firefly RF remote. I see they are running this for about $180 on Snapstream's site. I've been using a cheaper board for several months now and think it's great.

No subscription charges, files are stored so anyone can view them or burn to DVD. It also includes compression and advertisement skipping, an hour of TV is about around 500 to 900MB. They also offer a $30 add-on so you can view from another computer on the network. I share the hard drive instead, but then the advertisement skipping feature can't be used, just standard fast forward.

Snapstream isn't the most intuitive program out there, but you don't have to pay the monthly subscription charge for access to free information once the first 12 month subscription runs out.

Re:People need to stop mentioning MythTV

[MBGMorden]

MythTV is great if you like to fiddle with your DVR hardware instead of actually WATCHING the television.

Don't know about you, but it didn't take much "fiddling" to get my system up and running. From start to finish I had my MythTV box running along in less than 3 hours (not counting the time to download the ISO for Mythbuntu, as I started that and let it run overnight). After that, it's become as much of an appliance as any other set top box I own.

As you stated, a lot of people don't want to mess with their TV's - but honestly, this whole thing from Nero sounds like as much "messing" as you'd have to do with the MythTV setup anyways. For those who don't want to "mess with their TV's", which I accept is fine, an actual honest to goodness DVR is probably a much better choice.

I mean, you have 3 choices:

1. Build homebrew DVR with free high quality software.
2. Build homebrew DVR with pay for unknown quality software.
3. Buy DVR that "just works" out of the box.

#1 is the obvious geek solution. #3 is for lazy geeks and non-geeks. #2? I just don't see much of a market for it. MAYBE OEM integration as it's something that HP or the like would probably love to bundle in with your computer and charge extra for, but other than that, not much retail market for it.

Re:People need to stop mentioning MythTV

[niiler]

On the other hand, considering this is Slashdot, you might find that the audience here actually does find fiddling with their TVs to be more entertaining than actually watching. :-)

Re:If it's from Nero, it has to phone home

[denis-The-menace]

Nero also phones home every time you launch it.

They are other ways to get HD capture

[joe_cot]

For people that might be considering this, because they have no other way to capture QAM encoded video, wait a couple months. The Hauppauge HD PVR records component video as x264, and MythTV is working on support for it. That'll be your analog hole to the bs surrounding QAM and HDCP, so don't settle for this proprietary afterthought.

Re:People need to stop mentioning MythTV

[jedidiah]

...something else that should bring up in all of this
nonsense about "how I can magically convert my free
time into little gold coins" is the fact that all of
the other PVR solutions offer far superior commercial
skipping features.

        I don't have to worry about my 30-second skip button
going away or trying to re-program it afterwards.

        My PVR skips those pesky commercials automagically.

        Nice convenience. Nice time saver.