Vote for Beyond TV at Lifehacker

[rakeshagrawal]

If you use Beyond TV and like it, leave a comment voting for us here on Lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/5126559/best-dvr-applications

[ZetaVu]

Depends, is it a vote for recording only or a complete htpc experience? (It's 2009, I can start bitching about integration )

[TomXP411]

There are a lot of WMC lemmings in there... lots of Mythers, too. I guess free applications would tend to get the most votes, though.

[lsilvest]

I didn't have any problem supporting BTV. The trouble with that kind of poll is that it lumps DVRs and PVR apps which are really 2 different animals. BTV and other apps let us use our recordings as we wish and transfer to DVDs or portable media. If we fry a computer, we still have our recordings once it's fixed (if we diligently backed up). Dish has a great HD DVR, but lacks some of the best features of BTV like SmartSkip (my favorite since I hate commercials). TIVO has really outlived it's usefulness and just isn't worth the expense anymore. All DVRs use proprietary formats, so the recordings are locked in.

I bitch about some glitches in BTV too, but I can't recall any app that has given me more bang for the buck.

[Asmordean]

Results so far:
Windows Media Center 34% (341 votes)
MythTV 24% (236 votes)
TiVo 20% (202 votes)
Other: 7% (73 votes)
BeyondTV 5% (53 votes)
GB-PVR 5% (46 votes)
SageTV 4% (44 votes)


Ouch!

[SmokeWatcher]

Not if I have to give them my info and create a login....forget it!

[MarcP]

Very little interaction from Snapstream with the user base, but then they do, it's to ask for votes. Please vote for us.

I didn't.

[rakeshagrawal]

Originally Posted by lsilvest

I didn't have any problem supporting BTV. The trouble with that kind of poll is that it lumps DVRs and PVR apps which are really 2 different animals.

Agreed... I thought it was strange that they included both of them in the same survey. But oh well. The results skill skewed towards the DIY solutions.

It's interesting that Windows Media Center had the most votes followed by MythTV -- and that both together were more than half of all votes cast.

[ZetaVu]

What's interesting? MCE has a massive following because its included with windows, is an actual HTPC, and most people don't like to buy things twice. Mythtv is the linux solution, and the techie favorite (even for a lot of windows users). htpc's are appliances, why should someone have to pay for windows on their appliance? I agree with this but I like beyondtv better than myth so my appliance has to have windows, I would prefer a linux solution, but SS is not interested in multiplatform (and after struggling with Media Portals scraping guide, I think SS definitely could work something out, offering a buy solution or yearly guide subscription fee, but that's another thread)

I would have expected more Sagetv votes, they outnumber btv users by a large margin, I assume no one made a big announcement there.

And yes, I think Rakesh you have been a little too quiet lately (other than this post), how about you tell us what 2009 has planned for btv, or is it that bad?

[rakeshagrawal]

Originally Posted by ZetaVu

And yes, I think Rakesh you have been a little too quiet lately (other than this post), how about you tell us what 2009 has planned for btv, or is it that bad?

We're going to continue to focus on our "enterprise" product (that lets organization records lots of TV and search inside of it) and some of the new stuff we add will also be rolled into Beyond TV.

Is that bad? You'll have to tell me....

As far as specifics go, I don't have any to share at this point.

To look back at last year's Beyond TV releases, we added QAM, place-shifting, HD-PVR support (unofficial) and a slew of other new features, improvements, and bug fixes in three releases:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/b...ease_notes.asp

[ZetaVu]

It's all in the specifics, I've got no problem with enterprise products getting rolled into BTV, it would be cool if you could tell us what you're planning to do specifically. Maybe a list of features currently being worked on, etc.

How about online sources, Hulu, Netflix, youtube? Don't these organizations want to scan the internet as well as tv? (yes, netflix doesn't fit there but since placeshifter and netflix both use silverlight I figure it should be simple to implement this in btv).

And of course the ability to customize viewscape, add plugins, wouldn't some enterprize customers want this as well? (ok, now I'm turning this into a feature request, but hell, I got your attention)

[Xiadix]

First I would like to say that for the longest time I was a VERY BIG BTV supporter. I was pulled to BTV when I an just on a whim I just did a trial before going to MythTV. I stayed because I am really a Windows person and BTV fit my needs.

But ok, I will step on some of the worms. I tried to ignore the can you opened, but since you started to spread them around. Lets look at what you have done.


Sure, you have added:
-QAM
-Place-shifting
-Some new features
-But I not giving you credit for HD-PVR since you pulled official support for it to push the release out the door instead bringing support to your satisfaction.
-You have also fixed many bug


Now lets look at where you have fallen behind:
-You have killed your TV guide project which I enjoyed.
-You killed your Media Front end which is essential for me. That alone is making me have to look for another product and find a way to INTEGRATE it (first time I joined that band wagon) nicely with BTV to make a simple remote only interface for all my media.
-You have not developed a set top box when some of your competitors are on their second version supporting HD.
-You have also basically raised the price by requiring us to purchase the new h.264 codecs and DVD burner. I understand the reason for this and normally I would not mind.
-The interface just seems slower...on my newer rig.
-You are REALLY starting to fall behind in the market.

Face it, this thread was a booty call to boost your rank in that poll. Unfortunately, your second class citizens here are starting to feel like it.

Originally planned to purchase 2 BTV license to go with my BM license and Link license run 1 BTV and Link as a front end and the other BTV as the big server with my main recording. Right now all my purchasing including the DVD and codecs are on hold until I see what Snapstream does and maybe what v5 is like. Frankly if I find a better INTEGRATED product or I don't like what I see in 5, I hate to say that I will have to leave.


KevG <still hanging on to a thread of hope to see something good.

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

We're going to continue to focus on our "enterprise" product (that lets organization records lots of TV and search inside of it) and some of the new stuff we add will also be rolled into Beyond TV.

Is that bad? You'll have to tell me....

As far as specifics go, I don't have any to share at this point.

To look back at last year's Beyond TV releases, we added QAM, place-shifting, HD-PVR support (unofficial) and a slew of other new features, improvements, and bug fixes in three releases:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/b...ease_notes.asp

[TomXP411]

I'm having issues similar to Xiadix. Let me start off by saying that I love Beyond TV. I think it's the best PC based PVR product on the market, and I've tried most of them.

I appreciate HD-PVR support, and I depend on the features in BTV. ShowSqueeze and H.264 support are the two things that set BTV apart from the competition, and I use those every day.

However, SageTV is almost there with a ShowSqueeze like solution, and there are free products that can transcode to H.264 (I wrote my own front end for ffmpeg back during the "iPhone outage of 2008"). The only thing you can't do right now with Sage (and a combination of free products) is automatically transcode HD-PVR recordings.

But I'm concerned about the statement that home users are playing second fiddle to the enterprise product, and I'm more than curious about Snapstream's stance regarding things like CC decoding (I know you can do it, so why isn't it in BTV?) and Media Center support (why isn't there even rudimentary support for integrating BTV in to a MC solution?)

I'm getting the feeling that SnapStream wants to focus on Enterprise applicances, and the home users have become a burden for SS's product development. If that's the case, then that's perfectly fair. There are more than enough PVR products on the market right now (I can think of at least 4 full-featured commercial and 3 FOSS products off the top of my head), but don't you think you owe it to us to come out and say it? Stop selling a product you don't want to support and focus on your commercial appliance.

But I'm betting that BTV is a great lead-in for the appliance. How many 5-figure sales come as a result of the $99 product you're selling? If that's the case, then BTV is really worth more than its $99 price tag, and you need to step up and provide just a little more support.

But the key here isn't support. It's not product development. Quite frankly, I think that the integration of ClearQAM, HD-PVR, and H.264 support in the last 2 years is plenty.

The problem is that you make public statements like the one above: "We're going to continue to focus on our 'enterprise' product (that lets organization records lots of TV and search inside of it) and some of the new stuff we add will also be rolled into Beyond TV." Is that a bad thing?

Hell yes, that's a bad thing! We didn't hand over hard earned money in the hopes we'd be told to our faces that we're second-class citizens.

EVEN IF IT'S TRUE, don't ever say something so STUPID again. EVER.

You need to step in and reaffirm that Beyond TV users are a priority to SnapStream. Honestly, all of us are looking at "4.9" and thinking "what's 5.0 going to look like?" Right now, a lot of us are starting to think that there won't be a 5.0, and instead, we'll have to start all over again with SageTV or even Media Center (imagine Media Center with HD-PVR support...)

Frack, whad do you think your wife would say if you told HER that she comes in second to someone else?

Treat us (in a business sense) like you treat your wife. Tell your customers that you love them. Tell us you need us. Tell us that we're the most important people in your lives. But by God, don't piss all over us by telling us that we're the other fracking woman!

Most of us are willing to put up with a lot of crap because we love BTV. We really do. But every time you say "the Enterprise product comes first", you're telling us we don't matter. And customers are even more fickle than wives (or girlfriends or husbands or boyfriends.) Tell us we don't matter, and well go find someone else that tells us what we want to hear.

[mayhem70]

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

We're going to continue to focus on our "enterprise" product (that lets organization records lots of TV and search inside of it) and some of the new stuff we add will also be rolled into Beyond TV.

Is that bad? You'll have to tell me....

As far as specifics go, I don't have any to share at this point.

To look back at last year's Beyond TV releases, we added QAM, place-shifting, HD-PVR support (unofficial) and a slew of other new features, improvements, and bug fixes in three releases:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/b...ease_notes.asp

Is it bad? No, you have provided features and support that the other PVR software competitors implemented in 2008. And I'll even raise a glass at adding Silverlight2 placeshifting.

I was even hoping that you would hint about Divx 7 at CES and what that means with BTV. But it feels like we get a lump of coal for consumer news from Snapstream.

But by the response, it sounds like Snapstream has no roadmap for development outside of Enterprise. When 5.0 does come around, your consumer base will be faced with the option of paying for a superior PVR product + additional cost of h.264 transcoding and dvd burning - no official hardware extender - no BM integration. And speaking honestly, I'm having a hard time justifying why there needs to be a computer in my living room. We saw PCAlchemy.com go the way of the dodo, so finding a machine that is small and form factor that fits neatly into a living room setup is highly difficult. BTV Link works fine for Enterprise, but in the end, doesn't really meet the consumer base now left in the HTPC enthusist demographic.

With a roadmap that Snapstream is still looking at viable options for a hardware extenders, I would guess that would keep alot of people happy...even if it still was a longshot or anything. But as a consumer faced with that question above along with a potential upgrade cost of BTV and having to pay extra for h.264 and dvd burning while the other competitors offer more with roadmaps of future development...you have to also respect our upcoming decisions as well. All we simply ask is give us, the consumers, something to be excited about.

[richt]

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

We're going to continue to focus on our "enterprise" product (that lets organization records lots of TV and search inside of it) and some of the new stuff we add will also be rolled into Beyond TV.

Is that bad? You'll have to tell me....

As far as specifics go, I don't have any to share at this point.

To look back at last year's Beyond TV releases, we added QAM, place-shifting, HD-PVR support (unofficial) and a slew of other new features, improvements, and bug fixes in three releases:
http://www.snapstream.com/Products/b...ease_notes.asp

Is that bad? -- YES!!! In effect what you just said "Home users don't count much". Well I am a home user you just offended me. I wonder if you treat your enterprise customers with the same cavalier attitude.

I have been with Snapstream since before version 2. Your company's current attitude towards enhancing the retail / home product just plain stinks!

Let me ask this question. Would the home market have gotten QAM if the enterprise market hadn't demanded it? Probably not. Probably the same can be said for place-shifting and unofficial HD-PVR support. We're already only getting trickle down from Enterprise. We can expect more of the same next year. Our only hope is that the Enterprise market starts to mature and demand some of the things the consumer market wants.

Oh, wait. That's not our only hope. Since we will be forced to PAY more money this year for a 5.0 upgrade, there is always the choice of spending that money someplace else...