TiVo Makes Its Way to the PC

Written by Liane Cassavoy.

Tivo’s excellent software is coming to a PC near you. TiVo and Nero have teamed up on a new product, called Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC, that will turn your PC into a TiVo-equipped TV.

The $200 product will include a copy of the TiVo software, 12 months of TiVo service, a Nero/TiVo remote, a TV tuner card (with an AV cable and an antenna), and an IR blaster and cable. A $100 downloadable version, including just the software and the subscription to the TiVo service, will be available for PCs already equipped with TV tuners.

It will compete both with standalone TV tuners — like Pinnacle’s PCTV HD Pro Stick and Hauppauge’s WinTV-HVR-950Q — and desktop PVR software, like SageTV’s Media Center. Both the Pinnacle and Hauppauge TV tuners, which cost about $100, include basic software that allows you to view live TV and schedule recordings. Software, like SageTV’s $80 app, meanwhile, is designed to add the features of a DVR to your existing TV tuner card.

Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC will be a bit pricier than the competition, but it should have a couple advantages. The first is the first-class TiVo remote; in photos of the product, the Nero-TiVo remote looks to be simply a TiVo remote with Nero’s branding. That’s a very good thing.

Another advantage is the usability of TiVo’s software. Nero says this product will bring the experience of TiVo to your PC: It will let you watch, pause and rewind live TV and schedule recordings for viewing later. Most software packages include these options, but none that I’ve seen offer an interface that can rival TiVo’s.

Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC will include TiVo’s Season Pass and WishList features. And if your computer has multiple TV tuners, you’ll be able to record one program while watching another. (Nero says it will support up to four tuners.)

Content will be stored on your computer’s hard drive, and can be burned to DVD or saved to portable devices like iPods and PSPs. You’ll also be able to share content with any computers or TVs connected to your home network, though Nero has not said whether you’ll be able to use the product to transfer other content from your PC (such as downloaded videos) to devices on your network.

Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC will only work with Window XP and Vista PCs, so Mac users are out of luck. In addition to a Windows PC, you’ll also need plenty of hard drive space — especially if you plan on recording much high-definition content. You can find a complete list of system requirements on Nero’s web site.

Nero says Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC will be available in mid-October; you can reserve your copy on Nero’s site.

Liane Cassavoy has been writing about and reviewing technology for the past 10 years. She was a staff member of PC World magazine and has contributed to Entrepreneur, About.com, and other publications, and recently authored a book that will be published by Entrepreneur Press later this year.

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