The Bottom Line
Beyond TV is great Media Center software for using a computer as a Digital Video Recorder. The software is simple to use and provides users with a free alternative to subscription-based DVRs like TiVo, or a cable or satellite DVR. Purchase the Beyond TV 4 software and, with an internet connection, download a free channel guide for your cable or satellite service. Use your PC to pause and rewind Live TV, or schedule programs to record in advance. A great choice for those who want a PC-based DVR.
Pros
- Great picture quality
- User-friendly interface
- Buy the software and your done - no monthly fees
- Free electronic programming guide
- Play, Pause, Rewind Live TV
Cons
- Works best with a fast computer - at leat 3 Ghz CPU
- Video a bit choppy in Full Screen mode on a 1.8 Ghz Computer
Description
- Purchase the Beyond TV 4 software and use freely with no monthly fees.
- Pause, Fast-forward and Rewind your recordings, as well as Live TV.
- A powerful electronic programming guide that is personalized to your location (U.S. or Canada only).
- Works with analog cable, digital cable, antenna or satellite signals through a TV Tuner card.
- Record free over-the-air high-definition television (HDTV) with an HDTV Tuner card.
- Record an entire TV series, a single show, or all of the new episodes of a show.
- Search for shows by actor, director, title or do a category search like sports or movies.
- Record TV shows in the MPEG-2, WMV or DivX formats.
- With ShowSqueeze, recompress any recorded show to the WMV or DivX format to save hard drive space.
- Beyond TV Link (purchased seperately) lets you stream TV to computers on your home network.
Guide Review - Beyond TV 4
I really liked using the Beyond TV Media Center software. It was easy to set up and configure, especially with the web browser interface. The Beyond TV software came packaged with a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 TV Tuner Card. I had no problems installing the WinTV-PVR-150 into my test PC. Installation of Beyond TV is straight-forward, as is setting up your TV source. A set-up wizard takes you through the process of choosing your TV Tuner card and sets up your TV signal by the type of connection you have (Antenna, Cable or Satellite) and chooses your programming via your zip code. You can even set up multiple tv tuners. I configured 2 TV Tuners to work with Beyond TV, the Hauppauge for analog cable and the ADS Tech Instant HDTV for free over-the-air HDTV. 2 Tuners is required to watch TV while recording another program or for recording 2 shows at once. I greatly enjoyed using the web interface to make changes to my settings, and to schedule recordings with the provided EPG. Another feature I liked is ShowSqueeze, which records your shows in the .wmv or DivX formats instead of MPEG-2 to save hard drive space. Like a TiVo, Beyond TV lets users play, pause and rewind Live TV, search for shows or movies by actor, title or director, and create a series recording. Beyond TV is fully customizable, and will keep you busy playing with the different settings. A good choice for anyone who wants a PC alternative to TiVo or Cable and Satellite DVRs.