Tivo and Echostar DVR Patent Saga Ends With $104 Million Payout to Tivo

After getting resoundly swatted in court by Tivo time and again for walking all over its patent for a "multimedia time warping system" (cool retro-future speak for a DVR), Echostar (now just Dish) is finally admitting defeat once and for all. Following its loss to TiVo in a US Appeals court earlier this year, Echostar appealed to the Supreme Court, which just decided not to hear the case, leaving Echostar nowhere else to turn. More »

TiVo Auto-Delete Flag Returns (Thank God It Was Only Star Trek)

In case you didn't already know, broadcasters can slip "flags" into TV shows telling your DVR to not record it or to delete it when it hits an expiration date. TiVo users last had a run-in with the auto-delete flag a couple years ago (Media Center users had a more recent taste), but according to a reader of PVR Blog, it looks like it's back and haunting Star Trek fans. More »

Tivo Defeats Echostar for Stealing DVR Patent in Epic Court Battle Once and For All

Two years after initially smacking down Echostar (now just Dish Network) in court for stepping on its patent for a "multimedia time warping system" (aka a DVR) Tivo has clinched final and lasting victory against the satellite provider. Dish Network subscribers won't have to worry about losing their DVRs or seeing anything different though, since the current boxes are designed around Tivo's patents (probably because they knew they were gonna go down in court). Update: Echostar/Dish is actually gonna take it all the way to the Supreme Court! More »

Celrun TV HD Multimedia Player Supports Almost Every Codec Under the Sun

The Celrun TV multimedia player comes equipped to the back teeth. The HD multimedia player totes Ethernet, WiFi b/g for basic, network accessible storage; digital and analog TV tuners, IPTV support, DVR functionality, 320GB HDD, two USB ports, as well as RGB, S-VIDEO and HDMI outputs. Add to that the ability to playback H.264, WMV, AVI, Xvid, MOV, VOB, MPEG1/2/4 and a whole host of other supported codecs in between, the Celrun TV is certainly a souped up performer on paper. No idea as yet whether we'll see it Stateside, but if it does make an appearance, we'll be sure to let you know. [Akihabara News]

Video Demo of PlayTV, the PlayStation 3 DVR

Even though the PlayTV PVR for the PS3 was announced for Europe in the middle of '07, they still haven't managed to release it yet (target date was early 2008). The BBC managed to get a hands-on video look at the device over at Sony's UK offices and it actually looks pretty great. More »

DVico TViX HD, Your 1080p Trash Can

We like the idea of just tossing our precious HD media into the trash, which is basically what you can do with the cylindrical TViX HD multimedia hub by DVico. You can rip DVDs to the hard drive (in true .iso format), record shows via an optional over-the-air HD tuner, play back a ridiculous amount of file formats, connect through Ethernet to your LAN and add plenty more functionality through a slew of USB ports. More »

TiVo Series 4, First Mumblings

Zatz, ever watchful TiVo fan, noticed the Third Quarter earnings for TiVo make reference to a new box that can do video on demand. It's a thin thread, but we'll take it as the first piece of soil that we can use to plant those rumor seeds: More »

Sony Europe Releases PlayTV PVR for PlayStation 3

Just as we reported before, Sony's just announced a personal video recorder (PVR) add-on system for the PlayStation 3 in European/PAL territories. Starting early 2008, the dual HDTV DVB-T tuner setup and the PVR will be available in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, and you will have the ability to store shows on your PS3, watch them via Remote Play on your PSP, and auto-choose between HD and SD depending on your hookup. No US launch is planned as of yet, but we'll update if there's more info. [SCEE - Image via Joystiq]

Shinco PVR Television, Apple TV Minus Wireless Plus TV

We know what you're thinking, "didn't Mark mean DVR television?" Nope. This Shinco 32" LCD accepts USB drives along with a 2.5" bay enclosure. The drive is meant to then be taken with you to watch your shows on the road. More »

TiVo Desktop 2.5 Update Coming, Doesn't Fix Everything

Ears to the ground, we're hearing reliable sources saying that TiVo Desktop 2.5 is on its way, and may be released as early as today. The handy utility that lets you snag videos your TiVo has recorded right there on your PC and use them on other devices will finally get Windows Vista support, as well as support for our favorite codecs, DivX and XviD. Sources also say it will be easier to convert individual shows from your Now Playing list on the desktop with just a right-click. What's noticeably missing from this update? More »

Poll: TiVo Series 3 vs. Vista CableCARD Media Centers

More »

His & Her TiVo Wedding Cakes

This is the work of Debbie at DebbieDoesCakes (awesome name of a business) and it makes me wonder what kind of a couple loves TiVo so much to have the mascot as their wedding cake? More »

TiVo Series 3 eSATA Upgrade FAQ

The guys at tivocommunity have a nice FAQ up about how to upgrade your TiVo Series 3 with an external eSATA drive. Although it's not "officially supported", with the maximum 1TB external drive in addition to the internal one, you can get a good 1.25TB chunk of space to hold all your shows. More »

Rumor: TiVo Releasing Sub-$300 HD Recorder This Fall

There's not much confirmation of this yet, but a source is telling us that TiVo is planning on releasing a Series 3-like HD recorder some time this fall. Whether this will have dual-tuners like the Series 3 is still unknown, but we're sure it will be gimped in some way in order to maintain interest in the higher-priced model. More »

Dealzmodo: Refurbished Series 2 TiVo Deals

TiVo is still trying to clear out all of those oldie-moldie series 2 TiVo units. They are featuring three separate deals on refurbished units. Get an 80-hour single-tuner series 2 TiVo for free, a 80-hour dual-tuner series 2 TiVo for $50 or a 180-hour dual-tuner series 2 TiVo for $130. All three deals require signing up for a one-year TiVo service plan, but hey, you can't beat free. –Travis Hudson More »

Will Vista's Media Center Bring DVRs to the Masses?

For as long as we can remember, the only real contender in the DVR game was TiVo. After all, if your parents were to get a machine, what would they pick besides TiVo? A linux solution? Yeah, right. Even Windows XP Media Center 2005 was a stretch for most people, since they had to ask for that version specifically. More »

Rumor: TiVo Series 3 Price to Drop Significantly

Everyone loves TiVo's Series 3 player. They just hate the price. Here's a good rumor that could spell relief. More »

World's First Peer To Peer DVR From NDS

A company called NDS seems to have made the first Peer to Peer Digital Video Recorder that lets users share recorded videos with anyone on the P2P network. What does this mean to you? Well, here's an example. More »

Netgear, BitTorrent Box Streams 1080P To Your TV

New developments coming out of the Netgear/BitTorrent partnership: breaking into the universal streaming media market, Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD tries to make good by packing a cornucopia of features into its rather large box. Using draft-N, it's able to stream video in 1080p, as well as most any other media content (MP3, WMA, AAC and other music formats) from your PC to your TV, all of which is automatically recognized and can be tagged and organized with cover art and other meta-data. The unit handles all of the scaling automatically, displaying content at the highest res the TV can handle. It also has a built-in PVR (though you need a connected PC with a TV tuner card to use it) with a Tivo-esque interface. On the upside, you can control the TV tuner with your remote as well. More »

ActionDVR Records Your Uneventful Life

Ever wanted to TiVo your life so you can show your buddy Mark that the girl from Hot Dog on a Stick really did smile at you? Well you're in luck, because for just $1095, ActionDVR has the portable DVR for you. At just 21mm in diameter, this small camera fits conspicuously on your hat bill, on your shoulder, or on your belt. More »

Eco-Friendly DVR-150 from TVonics

I never could have thunk it that I could be saving the rain forest by DVR'ing softcore porn all day. But it can happen, thanks to the DVR-150 from TVonics. What makes this DVR eco-friendly is the low power consumptions and construction. While in operation the DVR-150 only uses 20W of energy and 3W while in standby mode. It is also made out of components that aren't harmful to the environment after this DVR is long outdated and destined for a landfill. More »

Time Warner Tests DVR-Like "Start Over" Service in San Antonio

Time Warner picked San Antonio as another test market for its "Start Over" service, a free upgrade to its network that lets viewers use an existing digital cable box to rewind and pause programs. It amounts to a crippled network DVR—not letting you fast-forward, which would let you skip commercials. This San Antonio test follows one that's been ongoing in Columbia, South Carolina for a while. More »

Bang & Olufsen Intros HDR 2 Hard Disk Recorder, Records in Living Color

Bang & Olufsen, the dumb blonde of the consumer electronics industry, rolled out the HDR 2, a hard disk video recorder that amounts to a PVR that stores 60 hours of standard definition video. It makes a half-hearted attempt at competing with TiVo, sorting episodes and deleting the oldest ones, but not much else. It also hooks up to the company's overpriced BeoLink system, letting you stream its recordings to any TV in the house. More »

TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder Hands-On (with Video!): Two CableCards, No Waitin'

More »

Rumor: HD TiVo Series 3, Released September 17 for $799?

A tipster who works for Best Buy revealed tantalizing tidbits about the upcoming TiVo Series 3 HD personal video recorder. Word is that the highly-anticipated high-definition PVR will be in Best Buy's inventory on September 17 for $799. Although the tipster said it would be in stores on that date, there was no info on the actual street date of the Series 3. More »

Hauppage TV Anywhere: Poor Man's Slingbox

Hauppage TV Anywhere is bundling already-free software from Orb Networks with its WinTV box to let you record shows on your PC and then stream them to you wherever you're able to access the Interwebs. The WinTV box snags those over-the-air video signals and records them on your PC via USB 2.0, and then the Orb software communicates with you, uploading that video to you wherever you may roam. More »

TiVo Wins Emmy, Deserves It

At the Interactive Television Emmy Awards, TiVo will be taking home the hardware for Outstanding Achievement in Enhanced Television Programming. The PVR software and hardware developer beat out all the other finalists in that category, including AOL Music on Demand, CNN Enhanced and DirecTV Interactive Sports.

"TiVo was the very first offering in the DVR space and it is great that they are still leading the way," said Brian Seth Hurst, Governor of the Television Academy's Interactive Media Peer Group. "The TiVo service is certainly impressive in both its offering and user experience and meets the standard of excellence. It's easy to see why the voters deemed it worthy of the Emmy."

The awards will be presented on Saturday, August 19. Well-deserved, TiVo. Well done. – Charlie White More »

Panasonic DMR-XW50: 1080p Personal Video Recorder

Panasonic announced three media recorders for the Japanese market today, the DMR-XP10, the DMR-XW30 and the DMR-XW50. Details are sketchy thus far, but the higher-end DMR-XW50 has a rather odd feature set: it can record and play back the much-adored but perhaps unnecessary 1080p video, and it can also burn DVDs, although certainly not in 1080p resolution. More »

Archos Reveals Road Map, Includes 700 TV Portable PVR

More »

ABC Trying to Kill PVR Ad Skipping

It had to happen. TiVo makes it just too damn easy to skip over commercials, so now ABC is on the warpath, trying to persuade personal video recorder (PVR) manufacturers to add a "feature" that disables the ability to fast forward a digital video recording. ABC President of Advertising Sales Mike Shaw thinks this will not be a big deal for consumers, instantly revealing to all the world that he is a clueless moron. More »

TiVo Series2: They're Giving Them Away

Here's a great deal if you're not averse to rebates: Buy.com is offering the TiVo R54080 Series2 Digital Video Recorder for a price of $0.00. Free? Well, almost. The site is selling this 80-hour TiVo, which includes the latest KidZone parental censorship capabilities, for $150, and then there's a $150 rebate. More »

"T" is for TV: Sony Vaio T Series

Sony is releasing a PVR in a box with its Vaio T, a 2.7-lb. notebook that can record 222 hours of TV programs with its digital TV tuner. Processor choices are an Intel Core Solo U1400, U1300 or a Celeron 1.06GHz, and the notebook's batteries are said to let you watch TV for four hours on its 11.1-inch 1366x768 screen. More »

DISH ViP 622 HDTV DVR Reviewed (Verdict: Convergently Great)

The TV junkies over at i4u reviewed the DISH Network HDTV DVR and found it a worthwhile purchase. The 250GB hard drive allows for 25 hours of HD programming or 180 hours of SD programming. More »

Yahoo! Go for TV — Free PC DVR Software

When Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center edition outsells their standard edition, people start to notice a trend in do-it-yourself video recording. Yahoo sure did, and is releasing their Go for TV software in order to act as an all in one video, photo, and TV player — just like Media Center. More »

Elgato releases EyeTV 250

Elgato (meow?) has released a long-awaited update to their EyeTV series. The 250 series allows cable/antenna recording and comes in a small package roughly the size of an iPod. Simply plug the coax into the EyeTV and then plug the EyeTV into the USB port on your Mac. This device isn't a strain on your Mac, it has a built in hardware encoder that will compress video down to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. It is available for $199 in PAL/SECAM for the Europeans and NTSC for North America. More »

TiVo Series 3 gets Approved, Series 2.5 gets Canned

Last week we mentioned there would be a newly updated Series 2 TiVo, with some nice changes, including a 180-hour hard drive. It seems these plans have been put on hold because Cable Labs has approved the Series 3 TiVo that we showed you earlier this year during CES. Approval by Cable Labs means that the Series 3 may be hitting the market much sooner than expected. More »