Behold: the dawn of the $20 DVR...as software
Diego Inc, has announced the beta of Moxi TV for PC, at long last putting those computer things you read about to use in recording and playing back scheduled shows from your television...without a TiVo.
Diego's Moxi TV for PC is a video software application that provides all the features of a set-top DVR. It offers a menu of upcoming programs reaching as far as two weeks into the future, search and filtering, pause, rewind, and fast forward functions during both live and recorded TV programming, Web-based scheduling, personalized channel lists, and parental controls.
Moxi claims to be attempting to bring the DVR away from the high-tech enthusiast, and more toward the mainstream. Therefore, the requirements to run the program are modest: Windows XP (no Vista support is listed); Intel Pentium 4, Celeron or AMD Athlon processors at 1.8 GHz and up; DirectX 9, and an Analog or Hybrid tuner card.
These requirements, however, are not particularly remarkable, as they are quite similar to other software DVR solutions.
The list of successfully tested tuner cards is also only eight entries long: ATI TV Wonder 650, Diamond XtremeTV PVR660, AverMedia Hybrid Ultra, and Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150, PVR-500MCE, HVR-950, and HVR-1600. Naturally, during the beta this list will grow.
To see if your tuner is supported, sign up on the Moxi site to become a beta tester. Some of the market's cheapest video tuner cards may not have even been tested yet.
Moxi is also accepting signups for its Moxi HomeCinema HD DMR hardware. The unit, scheduled to come to retail in 2008, is a multimedia home theater component incorporating TV, DVDs/CDs, photos, games, and MP3s.
With an integrated digital amplifier, the user needs no external stereo components -- aside from speakers -- for full 5.1 surround sound. It features all the DVR functions mentioned earlier, as well as a dual HD tuner with 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i resolution, terrestrial analog and digital ATSC tuning, and PC linkability.
It is not, however, compatible with satellite television or CableCARD, and video-on-demand and pay-per-view are not available.