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Snapstream reviewed

Snapstream is reviewed favorably by the AP tech writer.

Beyond TV [the name for the Snapstream software] also blows away the competition by letting you stream programs over the Internet for viewing on another computer. You're not limited to another room in the house like with TiVo's Home Media Option, which costs $99 and requires a second TiVo.

The software streams to Web browsers, so you don't have to buy another copy for remote viewing. It's fairly simple to enable security so strangers don't have access to your television signal or recordings.

Beyond TV handles all the personal video recorder basics well. Users can pause live TV, rewind and set up recordings — all without an advanced degree in VCR technology. And like TiVo's Home Media Option, recording can be scheduled over the Internet.

But SnapStream also added commercial break recognition, which vastly simplifies ad skipping. It also supports a variety of video formats and lets you easily convert to a more tightly compressed file.

If there are any Snapstream users among our readers, please feel free to leave us your thoughts on how it is working for you. What do you like/dislike about the system?

REVIEW: Proving That a PC Can Rival TiVo [news.yahoo.com]

by Gen Kanai March 4, 2004 in Product Reviews

Comments

I've been using BTV for a few months now. It is definitely a great program for anyone who already has a TV tuner card. Several different cards are supported and SnapStream also has deals set up that let you buy a card and the program for a slight discount.

The reason why I'm the most impressed with BTV, though, is that they are continually releasing updates to the program. It proves that they're listening to the users' problems and ideas and improving the program. The only problem right now appears to be that communicating that an update has been released can only be found by going to SnapStream's website. Other than that, the program is great...I'm now attached to my computer/TV when I get home from work. (Well, that's good and bad.) :)

Posted by: Ryan at Mar 4, 2004 10:44:52 PM

I didn't spend enough time to formulate a completely solid opinion on it, BUT - BTV does seem to be really picky when it comes to preferred hardware. I have an ATI AIW 9700 and to say that the software and hardware "didn't get along" is an understatement. I'm suspecting that unless you have something like a HAUPPAUGE WinTV PVR-250 or 350, it's not worth it.

definitely try before you buy.

Posted by: joel at Mar 5, 2004 10:06:39 AM

I'm currently using it for the free trial period. I have only one complaint (but I may just be using it wrong).

When you set it to recoord a show, you have three choices: Record this episode, record all episodes, record all new episodes.

So, if you set it to record all episodes, it will record the same reruns over and over again. There is no setting for it to NOT record an episode that already exists in your library.

Posted by: ErikZ at Mar 7, 2004 2:24:26 PM

I've suggested a fix for the record all option in future releases too. It does get pretty annoying. The only way around it is it won't record a show again if it has already been recorded and stored on the computer. Of course, this only works with there's guide data for that particular show/episode.

Posted by: Ryan at Mar 8, 2004 10:18:50 PM

I've been using Beyond TV for a month or so -- and I love it. Rather than watch whatever is on, we now watch what we've recorded at odd ours of the day and night. It's also cool to come home at 8:15 and start watching a show that started at 8:00 -- while it's still recording. We're no longer slaves to the broadcast schedule.

My biggest complaint on making my computer function as a PVR and home entertainment server (video, pictures and music) is the cost! With the addition of a 120G hard drive, I'm now into this project for about $400.

Components Purchase:
HAUPPAUGE MediaMVD (sends video, pictures and music to tv)
HAUPPAUGE WinTV PVR-250 (tv capture card)
Beyond TV (PVR software, manages hard drive space)
120G Harddrive (dedicated to video)
Connecting cables

Posted by: Clark at Mar 9, 2004 6:37:49 PM

I find it a bit buggy, but it's convenient - especially since my alternative was myhtpc and playing with Girder for hours to get it to tell my IR Blaster (myBlaster, which setup perfectly) to change channels before it started recording.

But sometimes I'll try and load it up and it will just hang. Not sure why. It'd be nice if you could see more channels in the Program Guide as well - it leaves you a pretty small window, and even at full screen 1600x1200 the font/buttons just get bigger. The online snapstream.net program guide is a lot better.

Streaming apparently works fine (according to my brother- since the port is blocked at my work).

Oh, and I'm using an AIW 9600.

On a side note - does anyone know of any software that does demuxing? I use DVD Lab to burn some shows to dvd, and it'll demux an mpeg2 into two seperate files (audio/video). It'd be cool if I could setup a program to automatically demux things I've recorded.

Posted by: kyle at Mar 11, 2004 5:12:42 AM

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» Beyond TV from Panbo
SnapStream, but also several open source projects, are good competition for Microsoft's MediaCenter and boxes like TiVo's. They even enable some features that aforementioned parties cannot offer due to 'political' reasons. For a good, but somewhat shor... [Read More]

Tracked on Mar 5, 2004 2:23:13 AM