Aiming at Nothing

Having built a killer Home Theater PC, I needed to install some software with which to view HDTV programs. I selected SnapStream’s Beyond TV 4.3 after much deliberation, not a small amount of research, consultation of sacred chicken entrails and a coin toss. Outside of Voodoo and games of chance, I have found that the most useful information about a product or service can be found in discussion forums on line. Forums always have their share of contrarian posts authored by people who couldn’t possibly have a good day or a satisfactory experience, but on balance, the discussions bring to light limitations and features not included in a software publisher’s marketing literature. Companies will not, for instance, mention that their customer support for a given product “blows so hard it sucks.”

The four solutions I considered were MythTV (a linux-based system), SageTV, BeyondTV and ReplayTV. [There is a fifth possible solution—Microsoft Media Center—but I'd prefer to end up with files that can be used on systems other than those built by Microsoft.]

ReplayTV was first to market with set-top PVRs (even before TiVo) and I still own a pair of model 4500′s that do all of the heavy standard definition lifting in our home. Unfortunately the “ReplayTV for PC” product exists only as a press release at the time of this writing. When it is released, it will require an annual subscription for program guide updates but I was put off more by the product’s non-existence than I was by the fee.

MythTV has a devout (some might say rabid) following among the open-source crowd. As you might imagine, I’m not timid about hacking away at systems and software, but I was looking for a more “turnkey” solution; something that I could install and expect to run without a great deal of tweaking. I have set aside a partition for Linux on the PVR’s main drive for experimentation in the future, but for right now I want something that just works.

SageTV looks to be quite promising. In addition to PVR software, Sage includes a suite of media software for handling pictures, music and video clips within the same TV remote friendly menu system. (Similar integration is only available with BeyondTV if you buy “Beyond Media.”) I was almost inclined to go with SageTV until I happened upon an opportunity to pick up BeyondTV for cheap. A free trial of SageTV can be downloaded from their site so I might yet take it for a spin in my copious free time.

As mentioned above, I was able to pick up a BeyondTV with a small remote and USB-based IR receiver for $20 after rebates. I figured I’d start with this package and be able to abandon it relatively guilt-free should it turn out to be a dog. Alas, it doesn’t bark, but it’s not perfect either. I’ll try to highlight both the good and the not-so-good here as best I can.

BeyondTV includes access to a free online program guide. Once you have set up an account at SnapStream.NET and have defined your channel line-up, the software can be configured to occasionally poll the website for updates. The line-up you see here is short because it includes only local, over-the-air HD broadcast stations. I am at a loss to explain why Tyra Banks has a talk show. Note that “The Young and the Restless” is available in HDTV. Soap never looked so good.

From the grid I can set programs to record one time, every time the series airs or only when “new” episodes of a series airs. This last setting his handy for stations that air the same episode several times a day although it is also aware that most programs this time of year are in re-runs and (viewer beware) won’t record many prime-time series episodes because they originally aired in the spring. A yellow line (ala NFL down line — fourth down and tyra banks) running vertically across the grid indicates where you are in the time-space continuum.

Programs can be set up to record even if you’re away from home using a web browser and your SnapStream.NET account. I’m told, although I haven’t tried it, that the SnapStream.NET guide can be viewed on mobile devices so that you can set up to record “Who Wants to Marry an American Idol?” from the bus or train. Aren’t we lucky to be living in these modern times?

In addition to the Internet scheduling service, BeyondTV presents most of its configuration information via a web administration interface on port 8129 or another port of your choice. Disturbingly, some users have made this interface page available to the net beyond their firewalls without setting a password. SnapStream has a prominent warning in the forums about how this is a Really. Bad. Idea. Nonetheless, it is nice to be able to make changes to BTV from a laptop while the big TV is turned off.

My biggest complaint with BeyondTV is with the way it presents previously recorded shows. You have a choice: you can see a long list of every recorded show sorted by date or you can get an alphabetical list of shows by series name (i.e., all of the Law & Order shows would be grouped under one heading.) You have to click “into” the show heading to see what is (or is not) in there and then you have to click back out to get to the main list again. I would prefer to have the option of user-defined categories as with ReplayTV, but that sort of thing isn’t available. It is possible to place shows into folders but the mechanism for both creating and managing these folders is only available in the web admin interface. I would prefer to have the entire configuration available from the front-of–set menus. As with series groupings, shows placed in folders create yet another series of remote clicks to “drill” into a folder to see what is (or is not) there. This is annoying but not so much as to cause me to abandon all hope.

Finally, the entire thing is running on top of Microsoft’s fabulous program launcher called XP Home. It works. Most of the time. And it is usually hidden behind BeyondTV’s full screen menu.