Advance of HDTV, the biggest technological addition to the realm of television has been the DVR or Digital Video Recorder. DVR technology allows you to pause, rewind, and record live TV for later playback. It gives you the functionality of a VCR without the extra equipment and hassle.
The most popular brand in the DVR market is no doubt TiVo. Not only were they one of the first ones to take advantage of the technology, but the
TiVo name has become synonymous with DVR in general. Well, the next evolution of TiVo and DVR technology has come and it is the Nero LiquidTV.
The LiquidTV system essentially turns your PC into a DVR
unit by adding a USB TV tuner as well as the TiVo software that comes prepackaged on your set-top box. The system also comes with a remote control and infrared receiver so that you can watch your TiVo/PC from the comfort of your couch.
The LiquidTV has several quirks that make it unsuitable for home DVR replacement, so for now it is just a prototype of a technology that can later be developed to further integrate television and PC use.
Required Hardware
TV Tuner Card
System Requirements:
- CD/DVD ROM drive
- Windows XP Home/Pro with SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or Windows Vista x86/x64
- DirectX 9.0c or higher
- 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV processor or AMD Athlon XP 3200+ or Dual Core CPU with less GHz for analog channels and digital HD channels ñ 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV processor or AMD Athlon XP 2000+ or Dual Core CPU with less GHz for digital SD channels.
- 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM for Windows Vista and/or HDTV)
- 500 MB hard drive space for standard installation of all components
- Minimum of 20 GB available hard drive space on a separate partition for TV recordings, EPG data storage, and temporary DVD files (= up to 10 hours of recording)
- Minimum of 40 GB available hard drive space for HD recordings is required (= about 5 hours of HD recording)
- Graphics card with at least 64 MB video memory, a minimum resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, and a 32-bit true color setting. The graphics cards must be completely compatible with DirectX 9.
- Supported TV sources: analog cable, analog and digital antenna; digital cable and satellite via Set-Top-Box
- BDA-compatible TV tuner or video capture card for analog and digital recording (included in the retail box ñ free USB port required).
- 16-bit Windows compatible sound devices and speakers
- Broadband Internet connection
- Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
- Latest version of all device drivers must be installed
