While it's not free, nor open source, it's the most incredible PC-based PVR I've seen to date. At only $59.95, it's a bargain. Program guide data is FREE! Upgrades are FREE! And the pace of development has been outstanding.
In it's current build, it supports; - Multi-tuner, multi-lineup recording (satellite on one card, cable on the other.. or two cable captures, or five.. whatever.) - Recording to either Mpeg2 or Mpeg1 format (for easier portability to DVD-R or VCD.) - Network streaming to other PCs - Automatic recording of favorites, as well as suggestions based on your viewing history (which is easily disabled.) - XMLTV listings import (if for some reason, free listings aren't good enough for you.) - Dscaler support and plugins (much better quality than MythTV, Tivo, or Replay on my HDTV.) - Audio library management..
Features they're saying will come 'soon' include; - HDTV Support - DVD Playback
It's not free, but it's definitely a value. The way the guys at Frey Technologies are adding features is just unbelievable. Sometimes, free solutions are not the best.
From the sounds of it, this is the early stages of research which might benefit UI design at some point (though maybe not very soon.)
The article mentions near the end that most people experience this to a degree. Think about it, we do this all the time. Sharp cheese, hot women, ec. It's so much a part of our lexicon that we don't even realize it at a concious level.
Anyhow, if most people can experience this to a degree, would there be advantages to displaying and interacting with data in a similar way?
Boy, can I relate to this. My company recently aquired an office which is set up using 202.202.202.0/24. Then They're NATing it for internet access. Apparently someone know enough to use NAT, but didn't know to use RFC1918 addresses. Thankfully, we're going to be re-numbering this office soon. As luck would have it, they're the biggest whiners about the shortest amount of downtime so it's been a pain trying to get them to let us change it. I mean, is 10 minutes of downtime at 3am on a Sunday all that bad?
At least they didn't dole out/8s.. course, most of the people around here don't even understand that anything but/24s exist.
It's essentially a tivo and a DVD player sharing the same box. You can't put tivo'd shows onto DVD, and you can't record DVDs to the tivo. They're two seperate devices for most purposes, though there is an option on the tivo menu to 'play dvd' that's as far as the integration goes.
Is anyone else noticing their BitTorrent downstream to be VERY slow? I'm uploading at over 150k/s, but downstream is only going 15k/s after over 30 minutes of transferring (so it's not the slow ramp up that someone mentioned previously.)
Why should I want to use this as opposed to a downstream-only FTP where I can get 10x the speed?
Sadly, American schools spend little time teaching how the stock market works. For that matter, they don't even teach how compounded interest works or how to balance a checkbook. And then we wonder why we're up to our eyeballs in debt.
Re:Libertarian party has some interesting views.
on
Strike on Iraq
·
· Score: 1
I agree that the Pearl Harbor attack was terrible, but to me that still doesn't justify pre-emptive attacks to avoid it.
By your rationale, we would've started a nuclear war with the Soviet Union some years ago. Would that have been in the national interest? It would've protected us from the chance that they could hit first, but it would also have made certain the fact that they'd hit second. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of US citizens would've died, and we'd still be suffering the effects of what would've quickly become a nuclear war, if we were here at all.
I certainly don't think Saddam is a good person, and his actions are indefensable. However, if it is violations of international law that have led us to attack, why has so little of the international community decided to help?
If we attack everyone who may pose a threat to us at some date in the future, we'll end up at war with everyone. There are several countries which pose a much greater immediate threat to us, yet they are ignored. Iraq has little to no air force, they have no long range weapons capability. So far, this war hasn't turned up evidence of any nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons which we were told existed despite UN inspection reports to the countrary. In the meantime, Korea has nuclear capability, and the capability to reach the California coast. Why is it that we've chosen Iraq to fight?
We should lead the world as an example of peace, and not an example of pre-emptive warmongering. Attacking on the basis of what might happen if we don't makes it certain that one thing will happen. Children will grow up remembering how their parents will killed by the US. And what do you think those children will do when they're old enough to strap explosives on their chest and run into a crowded area? You think they'll thank us? I certainly don't.
I'd rather have 720p too.. but in many cases (NBC, ABC) they're broadcasting 1080i. I'd rather see that in the best possible light than downconvert it.
Well, if you use something like powerstrip to put out an HDTV resolution signal from your video card, the transcoder isn't really converting the resolution. It just sits there and converts the signal from VGA to component. It's a somewhat simpler solution.
For information on specific transcoders, I'd recommend checking out the AVS HTPC Forum.
I haven't actually set up an HTPC yet, as my HDTV is on order.. but I've seen em in action and I can tell you, it does work and it does look quite nice. In fact, you can even play quake in HD:) With good HT speakers, a 10" subwoofer, and a big HD image it's pretty damn cool.
It sounds like you're talking about the 34XBR800. List is $2499, but it can be found for much lower. I realize what you're saying, but it's still a heck of a lot better than a normal monitor will show, plus it's larger, and 16:9. To me, that's worth the price, and to those for whom it isn't, prices are dropping QUICKLY.
Are you dead set on a projector? At $2000 you could get a really nice direct view tube, something like Sony's 34XBR800, and use a VGA->Component video transcoder for the PC stuff.
A 1024x768 image and a full 1080i 1920x1080 image are pretty far apart.. Granted, this is an inexpensive solution that will get you better than standard definition quality, but it's not quite HDTV quality.
You can get a pretty good 34" HDTV set that'll show the full res for about $2000. And also, it's 16:9 aspect ratio. Much better bang for my buck in my mind that this thing for $400, and still having to buy a monitor (call it $200) for a total of $600 for what, a 19" 4:3 less than HDTV quality image? Of course there's less expensive HDTVs, smaller ones, and 4:3s as well. If non of those fit my price range I'd rather wait a year or so than fork over that kind of money for an inferior product.
According to the article, this thing's maximum resolution is 1280x1024.
1080i HDTV is 1920 x 1080. 720p HDTV is 1280 x 720
So this thing, while capable of displaying 720p can't display the more commong 1080i standard natively. It'll display the image, but what you'll see isn't the full 1080i resolution.
That's not entirely true. Using something like Powerstrip you can run your PC at HDTV resolutions. At that point, you're HDTV is really just a BIG, high resolution PC monitor.
Libertarian party has some interesting views.
on
Strike on Iraq
·
· Score: 1
The Libertarian party website has a piece up titled 10 reasons not to go to war with Iraq. It's really an interesting read, whichever side of the debate you're on.
I happen to agree with most of what's said here, so I posted it here in hopes that others may find it interesting. I'd certainly like to see some rebuttal to those points.
When all is said and done, I sincerely hope that every one of our brave men and women return home safely. I also hope that as few Iraqis as possible, be they soldiers or civilians, are injured or killed.
Back in '02 my CIO put out an RFP on OSS. He found that the ROI was better than for an MS NT solution. Despite the ROI shown by the OSS RFP, we went with MS NT because it was easy to get some MCSEs on H1s to handle WINS, DHCP, and DNS on MS NT. RH put together a nice OSS proposal along with HP, but in the end MS and IBM won out.
-- The above story is fictional. The TLAs have been changed to protect the guilty.
Dang, I just posted a message about this place, but I guess it's a dupe.
Anyhow, this store is incredible. Many a science fair has been fueled by their warez. I agree that it was better at their old location, but it's still the best place in the city I know of for random bits and pieces.
Slashdot Mirror
In addition to the conference call number, you can listen to the SCO conference call online.
They're Investor Relations Page says, you can listen here.
Here's a blurb from their page;
You may also join via listen-only web cast by clicking on the url located at http://ir.sco.com/conference.cfm or www.companyboardroom.com.
I'm noticing a lot of posts along the line of 'This is why you should use MythTV..'
Don't overlook SageTV!
While it's not free, nor open source, it's the most incredible PC-based PVR I've seen to date. At only $59.95, it's a bargain. Program guide data is FREE! Upgrades are FREE! And the pace of development has been outstanding.
In it's current build, it supports;
- Multi-tuner, multi-lineup recording (satellite on one card, cable on the other.. or two cable captures, or five.. whatever.)
- Recording to either Mpeg2 or Mpeg1 format (for easier portability to DVD-R or VCD.)
- Network streaming to other PCs
- Automatic recording of favorites, as well as suggestions based on your viewing history (which is easily disabled.)
- XMLTV listings import (if for some reason, free listings aren't good enough for you.)
- Dscaler support and plugins (much better quality than MythTV, Tivo, or Replay on my HDTV.)
- Audio library management..
Features they're saying will come 'soon' include;
- HDTV Support
- DVD Playback
It's not free, but it's definitely a value. The way the guys at Frey Technologies are adding features is just unbelievable. Sometimes, free solutions are not the best.
Specifically, the HTPC forum might have some of what you're looking for. It's geared mostly towards HD PVR, DVD Playing, etc.
From the sounds of it, this is the early stages of research which might benefit UI design at some point (though maybe not very soon.)
The article mentions near the end that most people experience this to a degree. Think about it, we do this all the time. Sharp cheese, hot women, ec. It's so much a part of our lexicon that we don't even realize it at a concious level.
Anyhow, if most people can experience this to a degree, would there be advantages to displaying and interacting with data in a similar way?
Boy, can I relate to this. My company recently aquired an office which is set up using 202.202.202.0/24. Then They're NATing it for internet access. Apparently someone know enough to use NAT, but didn't know to use RFC1918 addresses. Thankfully, we're going to be re-numbering this office soon. As luck would have it, they're the biggest whiners about the shortest amount of downtime so it's been a pain trying to get them to let us change it. I mean, is 10 minutes of downtime at 3am on a Sunday all that bad?
/8s.. course, most of the people around here don't even understand that anything but /24s exist.
At least they didn't dole out
Tivo no longer subsidizes hardware. Series 1 hardware was subsidized, but Series 2 is not.
"With the Series2, we're out of the subsidy business," Ramsay said.
That's TiVo Chief Executive Mike Ramsay as quoted at news.com
It's essentially a tivo and a DVD player sharing the same box. You can't put tivo'd shows onto DVD, and you can't record DVDs to the tivo. They're two seperate devices for most purposes, though there is an option on the tivo menu to 'play dvd' that's as far as the integration goes.
Is anyone else noticing their BitTorrent downstream to be VERY slow? I'm uploading at over 150k/s, but downstream is only going 15k/s after over 30 minutes of transferring (so it's not the slow ramp up that someone mentioned previously.)
Why should I want to use this as opposed to a downstream-only FTP where I can get 10x the speed?
Sadly, American schools spend little time teaching how the stock market works. For that matter, they don't even teach how compounded interest works or how to balance a checkbook. And then we wonder why we're up to our eyeballs in debt.
I agree that the Pearl Harbor attack was terrible, but to me that still doesn't justify pre-emptive attacks to avoid it.
By your rationale, we would've started a nuclear war with the Soviet Union some years ago. Would that have been in the national interest? It would've protected us from the chance that they could hit first, but it would also have made certain the fact that they'd hit second. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of US citizens would've died, and we'd still be suffering the effects of what would've quickly become a nuclear war, if we were here at all.
I certainly don't think Saddam is a good person, and his actions are indefensable. However, if it is violations of international law that have led us to attack, why has so little of the international community decided to help?
If we attack everyone who may pose a threat to us at some date in the future, we'll end up at war with everyone. There are several countries which pose a much greater immediate threat to us, yet they are ignored. Iraq has little to no air force, they have no long range weapons capability. So far, this war hasn't turned up evidence of any nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons which we were told existed despite UN inspection reports to the countrary. In the meantime, Korea has nuclear capability, and the capability to reach the California coast. Why is it that we've chosen Iraq to fight?
We should lead the world as an example of peace, and not an example of pre-emptive warmongering. Attacking on the basis of what might happen if we don't makes it certain that one thing will happen. Children will grow up remembering how their parents will killed by the US. And what do you think those children will do when they're old enough to strap explosives on their chest and run into a crowded area? You think they'll thank us? I certainly don't.
{insert catchy reference to garoyles here}
And the pearl harbor attack was so much worse than perpetuating anti-americanism and the persistant terrorist attacks that have resulted?
Oops, I meant CBS.. but yeah, HDNet, ESPN, Discovery, HBO, etc.. all 1080i.
I'd rather have 720p too.. but in many cases (NBC, ABC) they're broadcasting 1080i. I'd rather see that in the best possible light than downconvert it.
Well, if you use something like powerstrip to put out an HDTV resolution signal from your video card, the transcoder isn't really converting the resolution. It just sits there and converts the signal from VGA to component. It's a somewhat simpler solution.
:) With good HT speakers, a 10" subwoofer, and a big HD image it's pretty damn cool.
For information on specific transcoders, I'd recommend checking out the AVS HTPC Forum.
I haven't actually set up an HTPC yet, as my HDTV is on order.. but I've seen em in action and I can tell you, it does work and it does look quite nice. In fact, you can even play quake in HD
It sounds like you're talking about the 34XBR800. List is $2499, but it can be found for much lower. I realize what you're saying, but it's still a heck of a lot better than a normal monitor will show, plus it's larger, and 16:9. To me, that's worth the price, and to those for whom it isn't, prices are dropping QUICKLY.
Are you dead set on a projector? At $2000 you could get a really nice direct view tube, something like Sony's 34XBR800, and use a VGA->Component video transcoder for the PC stuff.
A 1024x768 image and a full 1080i 1920x1080 image are pretty far apart.. Granted, this is an inexpensive solution that will get you better than standard definition quality, but it's not quite HDTV quality.
You can get a pretty good 34" HDTV set that'll show the full res for about $2000. And also, it's 16:9 aspect ratio. Much better bang for my buck in my mind that this thing for $400, and still having to buy a monitor (call it $200) for a total of $600 for what, a 19" 4:3 less than HDTV quality image? Of course there's less expensive HDTVs, smaller ones, and 4:3s as well. If non of those fit my price range I'd rather wait a year or so than fork over that kind of money for an inferior product.
"Most HD broadcasts are 920p"
Umm.. 920p doesn't even exist.
And it depends what you watch, there's a lot of 720p stuff out there, and there's a lot of 1080i.
Me? I want to see both at native resolution. Sure downsampling is better than standard def TV, but it's not HDTV either.
According to the article, this thing's maximum resolution is 1280x1024.
1080i HDTV is 1920 x 1080.
720p HDTV is 1280 x 720
So this thing, while capable of displaying 720p can't display the more commong 1080i standard natively. It'll display the image, but what you'll see isn't the full 1080i resolution.
You'd want to have a projector capable of displaying appropriately high resolutions. At that point, you may as well just get an HD Projector.
Taking a high def image and displaying it at 1024x768 wouldn't make much sense.
That's not entirely true. Using something like Powerstrip you can run your PC at HDTV resolutions. At that point, you're HDTV is really just a BIG, high resolution PC monitor.
Detailed information can be found on the AVS HTPC Forum
The Libertarian party website has a piece up titled 10 reasons not to go to war with Iraq. It's really an interesting read, whichever side of the debate you're on.
I happen to agree with most of what's said here, so I posted it here in hopes that others may find it interesting. I'd certainly like to see some rebuttal to those points.
When all is said and done, I sincerely hope that every one of our brave men and women return home safely. I also hope that as few Iraqis as possible, be they soldiers or civilians, are injured or killed.
Blood leads to blood.
Back in '02 my CIO put out an RFP on OSS. He found that the ROI was better than for an MS NT solution. Despite the ROI shown by the OSS RFP, we went with MS NT because it was easy to get some MCSEs on H1s to handle WINS, DHCP, and DNS on MS NT. RH put together a nice OSS proposal along with HP, but in the end MS and IBM won out.
-- The above story is fictional. The TLAs have been changed to protect the guilty.
Dang, I just posted a message about this place, but I guess it's a dupe.
Anyhow, this store is incredible. Many a science fair has been fueled by their warez. I agree that it was better at their old location, but it's still the best place in the city I know of for random bits and pieces.