dvr

It's a busy job being president of CBS Interactive, but Jim Lanzone takes an hour to sit down with CNET's The 404 Podcast to talk shop, so we're minding our Ps and Qs, our Fs....Ss....Bs....and Ds.

Jim kicks off the conversation and tells us about his experience in the start-up world with eTour, Clicker, and Ask.com, then we explore his ideas about the future of television and how Web programming will compete with DVRs.

We'll also chat about GameSpot and EA teaming up for The Controller, a competition reality show where the best pro-gamers from around the country battle in a high-stakes competition without ever touching the controller.

Finally, we're taking questions from the live chat room and talking with Jim about today's tech news headlines, like the new Lytro camera that captures light in every direction in every point in space (whoa), the most annoying tech words in Web 2.0, and a reminder to turn off Siri access in your iPhone 4S's lock screen!… Read more

Michael Robertson, founder of such companies as MP3.com and Lindows, appears to be daring big radio and music companies to challenge him on copyright again.

Robertson's latest company DAR.fm, billed as a TiVo for Web radio, is expected to announce tomorrow that the service will enable users to capture the radio shows they record instead of just streaming them to their PCs or Web-connected devices. In the future, DAR.fm users can record talk shows and music and download them to iPads, iPhones, or Android devices, Robertson told CNET today. Not surprisingly, DAR.fm users can store their recordings at Robertson's digital-locker service, MP3tunes.com.

The new feature is available for free for the first series, which means that if you listen to say, NPR's "All Things Considered," DAR.fm will record it and download it daily for free. For more series, up to 10, a user must pay $39.95 a year.

So, how is this different from subscribing to a podcast?

Remember that not all radio shows offer a podcast. Fans of Rush Limbaugh must pay a yearly subscription. Some shows post their podcast three days after they air and some offer only highlights. Robertson promises that DAR.fm can record any show on the Web, period.

The download feature will certainly be reviewed closely by the big radio companies, such as Clear Channel and CBS Radio ( which shares the same parent company as CNET), as well as record companies. "Yes, it's hard to imagine that the record labels are going to be excited about this," Robertson conceded. … Read more

I'm a longtime fan of Windows Media Center, which I've used as the hub of my entertainment center for many years. It's vastly underrated as a DVR; indeed, I'd say it's better than TiVo.

Just one problem: the only available CableCard adapter (a vital component for watching and recording cable TV) was Ceton's InfiniTV 4-- a great product, but expensive and compatible only with desktop PCs.

Finally, there's an affordable, external solution. The Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 is a dual-tuner CableCard adapter that plugs into a USB port. Pair it with a Windows 7-powered desktop … Read more

TiVo officially announced, today, the eventual retail arrival of a four-tuner TiVo, the Premiere Elite. The existence of the Elite was exposed in June after being mentioned in an FCC filing; a service-provider-only version called the Premiere Q was announced earlier that month. So, yeah, not exactly a secret surprise, but it's always nice to have an actual announcement.

The main reason to care about the Elite is that it has four tuners allowing you to record four programs at once and still watch something previously recorded to its 2TB of storage--twice the room of the TiVo Premiere XL. It'll hold up to 300 hours of HD programming. … Read more

The HDHomeRun Prime is a new CableCARD TV tuner that plugs into your home network router. The HDHomeRun app piggybacks on that, letting you watch, pause, replay, and even record live TV right on your iPad. It's pricey, limited, and a little buggy, but it works.

Just to clarify, the app requires an HDHomeRun Prime, which sells for $249.99. I'm in the process of reviewing it, and so far it's fabulous. The app costs $17.99, which definitely seems steep, but for the moment there's nothing else quite like it.

After running the initial setup of the HDHomeRun Prime on my PC, I installed the app on my first-gen iPad. It immediately detected the tuners, and in seconds I was watching live TV. And I found I could continue watching it even while another live show was playing on my PC. (The Prime provides three tuners, so I still had one to spare.)… Read more

A couple of weeks ago, TiVo announced the Premiere Q, a quad-tuner DVR available only through cable service providers. According to a recent FCC filing by TiVo, though, it might be headed to retail soon, too.

Gleaned from the filing is a new retail name, the Premiere Elite, and that it'll have "increased recording capability, increased capacity (300 HD hours), reduced power consumption, and a space-saving design."… Read more

Google has acquired SageTV, which develops software for DVRs and home-theater PCs, for an undisclosed sum.

SageTV has been developing its software since 2002. The platform allows people to record live television, including full seasons, thanks to support for antenna TV, cable, and satellite. A place-shifting feature lets people start watching a show on one device, such as their PC or Mac, and continue watching it elsewhere, including on mobile devices or even in the car.

Though speculation abounds over what Google has planned for SageTV, one possibility is that the service will be integrated into Google TV. That platform, … Read more

TiVo has unveiled two new hardware products to bolster its appeal to service providers.

Dubbed the Premiere Q, TiVo's latest DVR is the first from the company that can record up to four programs at the same time. In addition, the device comes with support for streaming content when connected to the Web via Ethernet or home-entertainment networking standard MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance). Up to three HD streams can be accommodated over those connections.

According to TiVo, the Premiere Q will support a full range of services from cable and satellite providers, including video on demand, pay-per-view, and … Read more

Yesterday I posted this item as a bonus deal, and it sold it out very quickly--at least on Amazon's site. However, you can still get the Ceton InfiniTV 4 card for $265.16, plus $8 for shipping, and allow me to explain why it's worth having.

If you have a spare Windows 7 desktop PC you can devote to media center duty, the InfiniTV 4 will turn it into one of the best DVRs on the planet.

It's a PCI card that accommodates a CableCARD tuner from your cable company. Once installed, it bestows four digital tuners. (… Read more