BTV 4.3 review at tom's hardware!

[draiko4]

Good review on BTV 4.3 at Tom's

Great read for everyone who's on-the-fence about Media Center programs!

Linkie!

[queonda]

TOM's??? you didn't mean tom's hardware.

[draiko4]

denguru is part of tom's hardware's new news network

tom's hardware
denguru
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etc

[cfaslave]

A very objective review. Good comparison of feature sets and pros and cons of the software. I agree that the built-in commercial skipping, file compression and smartsnip features set BTV apart from the rest although there is always room for improvement like a better search function, color coded guide and full access to all functions from your remote instead of needing to go to the web admin.

Mostly, I agree with the last statement and conclusion:

"Snapstream has created a great PVR program in BTV, and it seems to be actively updating and refining its releases with new and improved features on a regular basis. The only thing that is missing with BTV is a more traditional well-rounded Media Center experience including TV, videos, pictures and music. I look forward to seeing the promised enhancements in the integration between BTV and Beyond Media."

Well said and many current and potential future users would agree with this statement. With integration & some improvements to Beyond Media, Snapstream will have a top tier HTPC software (in my opinion).
Brent

[richt]

from Den Guru review - "Snapstream has created a great PVR program BTV, and it seems to be actively updating and refining its releases with new and improved features on a regular basis. The only thing that is missing with BTV is a more traditional well-rounded Media Center experience including TV, videos, pictures and music. I look forward to seeing the promised enhancements in the integration between BTV and Beyond Media."

SnapStream --> I too would really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really like to see you integrate BeyondTV into an updated Beyond Media.

[cfaslave]

So we/I don't digress from the original post, this review was very positive towards BTV. Good job Snapstream

[mikem]

TV Tuners - BTV supports a long list of TV tuners. A complete list can be found here. BTV does not support DVB (digital video broadcasting), which is a popular digital TV format in many European countries (Snapstream hopes to be able to add DVB support sometime later this year).

This is the bit that I liked the most. I would however be more impressed if it said Snapstream will definitely add DVB support sometime later this year.

HDTV in UK will still be DVB based if using Free OTA channels. I imagine true whether DVB-S or DVB-T or DVB-C for most of Europe.

[nba1341]

Originally Posted by richt

SnapStream --> I too would really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really like to see you integrate BeyondTV into an updated Beyond Media.

YES QFT

[kamiller42]

The reviewer made an issue of the look of BTV's main screen. He felt it was very plain. He must not have seen the ultra-boring ReplayTV PC Edition software. I am surprised he didn't saying anything about the horrible default sound scheme, but instead focused on the look of the opening screen.

In regards to Divx encoding, I wonder if getting BTV to use 6.2.5 would improve things. Can BTV take advantage of the latest Divx encoder?

[rakeshagrawal]

Originally Posted by kamiller42

In regards to Divx encoding, I wonder if getting BTV to use 6.2.5 would improve things. Can BTV take advantage of the latest Divx encoder?

It would be nice, but the codec versions supported DivX's SDKs have always trailed their public releases. We were actually the very first software vendor to support DivX 6.1 last month (http://www.snapstream.com/press/pr-btv43-intel-divx.asp) and I think at that time they were shipping 6.2.something...

(BTW, you'd think the DivX guys could find some better stock imagery to use to promote 6.2.5: http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/codec/features/ I'm just not feeling any mountain goat love )