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Television Media Hardware

Ricor PVRs To Hit Russia 80

Posted by timothy from the medical-men-horse-lovers-etc. dept.
BlackShirt writes "Mediacenter acts as a digital video recorder, i.e. it enables the viewer to plan his/her future television broadcast recordings. 'Live' broadcasts can also be recorded. Program recordings are stored in the video archive, and the user can playback, delete or unable deleting of recordings (here are some screenshots). I personally like their advertisements more than their product. (Shopping-tv style, wife doesn't allow to watch football, so disapponted husband knocks on his neighbors' door, as they turn their fabulous Ricor TV box from pause to play.)" It looks like this is being marketed to Russian cable companies as an all-in-one portal, since they also include electronic ordering capabilities and "near video on demand"; I wish American PVRs had all these features by default (ethernet, USB, microphone, camera inputs ...)
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Ricor PVRs To Hit Russia More

Ricor PVRs To Hit Russia

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  • Sky Digital? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by AndyFewt ( 694753 )
    This sounds amazingly like a machine that some Sky subscribers in the UK have. Sky plus allows live pause, recording, playback etc etc etc. I can do all this already, but its nice to see this stuff catching on in Soviet Russia

  • tivo (Score:2, Funny)

    by freedommatters ( 664657 )
    looks nice but you'll have to pry my tivo from my cold dead hands
  • PVR Records YOU!

  • No kidding (Score:5, Interesting)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @03:52PM (#6601293) Homepage Journal
    It's just incredibly asinine that companies which broadcast their content through to open air or pump it into our homes can even think to sue people who make PVRs that aren't to their liking. Go after someone who posts copied shows on their website or Kazza sure, but suing a company because their PVR has an eithernet port.

    It's just assinine.
    • Maybe it's just business. Not that I disagree with your sentiments, BTW.
    • Agreed. But the company makes no false assumptions that this technology will make stealing their content easier and more wide spread. It's the way they operate, smash anything that threatens their $$ and while you're at it try to get a little more of the green stuff because you certainly don't have enough if all you can afford is a giant teams of fulltime lawyers, congress, and well, the government in general.

  • Features... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03, 2003 @03:53PM (#6601296)
    Put Myth TV [mythtv.org] on a computer with a hardware encoding TV tuner card and you'll have a damn fine PVR.
    • - Themeable GUI driven frontend
      - Watch live TV
      - download XML programming scheduals
      - schedual tools make it easy to find what you want to record
      - MythWeb extention allows you view schedual and flag programs for capture from remote web browser
      - MP3, Ogg rip and playback with visuals
      - Xmame frontend (and generic emulator frontend)
      - Weather center
      - mplayer frontend
      - image browser

      It can be some work getting it all working, but DAMN it's cool. I would like to see the developers integrate a nuplevideo converter t

  • Inputs (Score:2, Informative)

    by Wyatt Earp ( 1029 )
    My older ReplayTV has RCA inputs which lets me hook up my digital camera, and it has S-Video inputs that lets me hook up my All-in-Wonder or my camcorder.
    • but does it have an infrared blaster?!? lol.. can anyone tell me what that's supposed to be? thanks,

      Reece,
      • Mine came with one.

        My IR blaster hooks up to the back of my Replay, and the little IR nodule/lens sticks to the front of my cable box over the IR port.

        You tell the Replay/Tivo you are using it, it asks you what kind of cable box you have, then it will tell the cable box to change channels while you are steering the Replay/Tivo around and picking shit to watch and record.

  • build your own (Score:2, Informative)

    by SHEENmaster ( 581283 )
    I'm sure a sound card, video capture card, and video card could be thrown into a pentium2/ultrasparc/powerpc with Linux for all of those features and then some.

    A router/pvr/fileserver should sell well in the US if properly advertised.
    • Yes, and the best thing is that it would only take two weeks to configure, and then you'll have almost synchronized video and sound! Yeah!

      • Re:build your own (Score:4, Informative)

        by Ella the Cat ( 133841 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @05:09PM (#6601587) Homepage Journal
        I use a Pinnacle DC10+. It creates HUGE but beautiful mjpeg files at 768x576 (PAL) using lavrec (mjpegtools), gobbling 8.1 Gbytes/hour(!), but with mencoder I can shrink these files down to manageable DiVX size. Nice thing is, the DC10+ -always- gets video and audio in sync, it does not load the CPU or gobble memory bandwidth (it has hardware compression), and it can playback to the TV. It supports NTSC and PAL. It can't do pause while recording unfortunately but I prefer nice quality recordings to such features so I'm happy. At least it's a different approach for Linux PVRs. There's a catch, diagonal lines interference in some machines (see Pinnacle webboard) but there's an easy fix [f9.co.uk] if you can solder.

    • Re:build your own (Score:3, Informative)

      by Picass0 ( 147474 )
      Funny you should say [sourceforge.net] that [mythtv.org]!
    • I'm sure a sound card, video capture card, and video card could be thrown into a pentium2/ultrasparc/powerpc with Linux for all of those features and then some.

      Anyone who says something like that has not actually tried to do it...

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=73411&cid=6603 612 [slashdot.org]

  • medical-men-horse-lovers-etc??? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JessLeah ( 625838 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:20PM (#6601386)
    Could someone please explain the reference in the department title for this story?
  • Great device, but it looks like the wily "<title/>" tag is a bit beyond their technical abilities.

  • American... Russian.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Grelli ( 98061 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:26PM (#6601410) Homepage
    <ruskie accent>
    Amercian PVRS

    Russian PVRS

    ALL MADE IN TAWAIIN
    </ruskie accent>

    damn you lameness filter, sometimes you need to yell.
    • Yeah, if their tv is anything like the radio programs they put out on shortwave, then never again need our friends in the east miss out on such exciting news items as `potato harvest rises 4% against last year`.

  • Ricer PVRs? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Space Coyote ( 413320 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:31PM (#6601433) Homepage
    Did anybody else read the subject line as 'Ricer PVRs To Hit Russia' and get visions of set top boxes with oversized wings and a large aluminum exhause pipe coming out of the back with way too many decals plastered all over it?
    • Did anybody else read the subject line as 'Ricer PVRs To Hit Russia' and get visions of set top boxes with oversized wings and a large aluminum exhause pipe coming out of the back with way too many decals plastered all over it?

      Nope. I had an image of flaming, glowing PVRs reigning down from the sky onto unsuspecting Russians, and some evil mutated whale with a piece of Mir's reactor in its head laughing insanely.

    • yup, I sure did. Few days ago /. had an article - Rice of Cooling about abit motherboards. It must be my Engrish!
      http://www.engrish.com
  • Maybe my english is a little rusty but "delete or unable deleting" doesn't sound right to me. Shouldn't it be disable deleting of recordings

  • I could be mistaken, but.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by VPN3000 ( 561717 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:47PM (#6601498)
    "'Live' broadcasts can also be recorded." - Why's that mentioned? I think any PVR can do that. A broadcast is a broadcast, the material is the same whether it's 'live' or not.

    "It looks like this is being marketed to Russian cable companies as an all-in-one portal, since they also include electronic ordering capabilities and "near video on demand";"

    Any PVR has that functionality when combined with a proper/integrated tuner and PPV channels. If I know I am watching movies Friday night, I will pick some PPV movies to record during the day. With most providers you have the same movie with staggered timeslots where the movie starts every 15-60 minutes. I assume PPV overseas is similar.

    "I wish American PVRs had all these features by default (ethernet, USB, microphone, camera inputs ...)"

    I think this unit gives up more than it gains in functionality by only having one tuner. I don't see anything in their product description about recording one show on 'live' tv while watching another 'live' show. I don't consider it a true media center until you've got the ability to record one show and watch another one. This doesn't sound like a big deal to the uninitiated, but nothing is more lame than having a PVR and the associated freedoms, then get forced watching something your roomie wanted to record because you can't change channels. The hardware cost for a second tuner is not much at all, well worth the extra $20-30..

    Most american units have USB ports on them. I think that about covers the gambit of devices you would be attaching (camera, ethernet, keyboard, etc). I see the 'nifty' factor in being able to babble off how many types of ports something has, but I've noticed the people who own things with lots of ports tend to not own anything to connect to them. The different types of ports also run up the costs of manufacture for features that aren't needed or used. Much like all those funky ports on 8-bit Nintendos and other game systems of yesteryear's 'future expansion slot' thingys that nothing ever connected to. You have a PC, hook your stuff up to it. You have a PVR, use it to watch television. :)

    One nifty feature UTV has is the ability to record a whole timeslot hitting record at any time before the slot expires. That's handy when you are just randomly watching stuff on TV, find something, only get to watch the first 15 minutes before the phone rings and you have to leave. Just hit record and the whole thing is recorded from the beginning.

    I am guessing this will be a good hack unit. I don't care about that stuff with PVRs like most folks on here seem to do. From my experiences with modifying these types of devices, I become the only person in the house who can operate them. I'll stick to devices other people in the house don't depend on to modify.. :-)

    I don't mean to sound rude here, but beyond Russia getting a PVR I don't see how any part of this is news, unless it's a slow news day, especially when I have a unit I spent $40 on almost two years ago and it has way more features minus integrated DVD. I'm not crazy about all-in-one systems either. You try to hack it, break it, you are out a DVD player and a PVR. Same goes for just daily usage, break the tuner time to buy a new DVD player too.

    Always buy your components separately and avoid bundles if you want quality. Typically, the parts in multi-function devices are purchased from the lowest bidders. I'd rather be wise, save my money, read some reviews and buy a separate DVD player, PVR, tuner, amp, speakers, etc. You spend a little more but end up with a superior result and the ability to replace parts. Think you are too broke for that logic? You won't be thinking it when your DVD player dies and you have to get a whole new unit. Also, where's the component video connectors for HDTV? Is that dvd player progressive scan?

    I apologize, I always post like 20 paragraph messages in regards to home video links. I'm very anti-hype after seeing so many new products all to find they are crap later on. :)
    • you are just jealous
    • "'Live' broadcasts can also be recorded." - Why's that mentioned? I think any PVR can do that.

      Nope. See the earlier reply about the Pinnacle DC-10, and my Winfast TV2000 Deluxe doesn't do it automatically with the included software. Some Panasonic DVR's with built-in DVD-RAM or DVD-R drives also do not record live TV at all (though others do). It's not a feature you can just take for granted. Most P/DVR's do do it, but not all.

      "It looks like this is being marketed to Russian cable companies as an

  • It's a shame (Score:5, Funny)

    by rworne ( 538610 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @04:48PM (#6601503) Homepage
    Looks like Russia gets all the good programming. The first picture of the sample screenshots looks like the (very) old Japanese shoujo anime classic Candy-Candy.

    • Although i've never been too fond of P2P i've never intentionally killed a kitten for it. Be carefull who's name you use next time.

      "i'm bewildered enough to write this stuff down so stake it just slightly serious"
  • Twenty years ago every russian family had wired "radio" i.e. speaker plugged into "radio" outlet. The twist was that KGB could use these speakers as a microphones when they need to what people are talking about in their kitchens. Now the story continues
    • Are you stupid or stupid... yeah they also had microphones implanted on ones testicles to hear what they were taling about while in bed too.

      Jeezzz.
      • Speakers work surprisingly well as microphones.. the newest iPods have a hidden feature [ipoding.com] which lets you use one of the headphones as a microphone and record as MP3.
        • Most of today Americans know about electronics from button labels on their Japanese home theatres. But that would not bad if they would not reject a new knowledge. What's really sad is that they think you are joking on them when you are telling them some facts from electronics.
          • LOL, I am an electronics engineer. I know perfectly well that a microphone is pretty much a "reverse" speaker. Anyway, well a few things here, did any of you just try and sit down and think about the logistics of recording MILLIONS of freaking microphones? And even if they did have such an infraestructure, wouldn't it a tad naive from the KGB to think that every daming conversation was going to happen in the kitchen, right next to the speaker (speakers make very very very poor air microphones in case you di
            • They did not listen ALL MILLIONS. Instead, they did for few (hundreds? thousands?) who were noticed to speak something bad already. Although I agree about the mic quality - KGB usually used something better, just like in spy movies, nothing sensational that you don't know already (from spy movies?)

  • The reason is... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bugmaster ( 227959 ) on Sunday August 03, 2003 @05:20PM (#6601665) Homepage
    IMO, the reason for all the features of the Russian PVR (as opposed to the American one) is that copyright enforcement in Russia is nonexistent. There is no DMCA, no patent protection to speak of (except on paper), no RIAA/MPAA, etc. A right-thinking Russian would never think of actually paying $10k for some piece of software; he'll get the bootleg version for $5.

    This is bad for software/music/video companies, but good for the consumer. Unlike their American cousins, Russian PVRs don't need to be crippled just to appease some content cartel. Hence all the extra features.

    • A right-thinking Russian would never think of actually paying $10k for some piece of software; he'll get the bootleg version for $5.

      Actually, larger companies will buy original software rather than bootlegs - they may install it on more than one machine though.

      Video is something else. Russian dubbing is some of the worst I have ever seen. Usually between one and two voices reading all bad translations of all the parts with little attempt to lip synch it. However most Russian are happy with the VCDs tha

      • Calling it "dubbing" is being kind. They don't even bother to lypsynch , they just read a
        translation of the script over the top of the soundtrack at roughly the same time that the
        characters speak. The funny thing is they still leave the *original* soundtrack underneath so
        you can occasionally hear the english (or whatever language) being spoken.
        • If you turn the volume up, you can almost follow the english - a kind of subliminal language learning tool.

          What makes me laugh though are the ones where one voice reads both male and female parts. Seeing some starlet in a moment of ecstasy whilst hearing a montonic male voice saying "Da, Da" is entertaining by itself.

  • If you read the web site, their target audience is married women, students and school dropouts and people who like horses!

    "Channel audience is middle class well-off families.
    The channel covers themes which appeal to 3 main target audiences:
    Married women (over 20).
    Students, school leavers.
    People fascinated by the world of horses."
  • TiVo has trademarked PVR and they get pissy when use it.

    "Personal Video Recorder" and its acronym "PVR" are now trademarked by TiVo in the U.S. [cableworld.com]

  • Features... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Monday August 04, 2003 @12:24AM (#6603612) Journal
    I wish American PVRs had all these features by default (ethernet, USB, microphone, camera inputs ...)

    Oh the joys of living in any country without an MPAA/RIAA... Ummm, except France.

    Anyhow, my PVR happens to have Ethernet, USB, Firewire, etc. It's just a PC with a TV-card.

    It's unfortunate if you ask me, that better software doesn't yet exist to make your PC a DVR. Sure, MythTV is there, but quality is so horrible that it uses MPEG-4 and still needs a bitrate of 2000+ just for a watchable picture.... Might as well just be using MPEG2/MJPEG. The only Linux app I've found that does good quality recording from the TV card, and great quality MPEG-1/MPEG-4 encoding is MPlayer, and, unfortunately, it isn't really optomized for TV-encoding, so I can't do anything else with my Athlon XP 2000 while it is recording. It would be nice if a package like NVrec made an 'mencoderec' program to compliment 'ffmpegrec' and 'nuppelrec', and hence have the power and quality of mplayer with NVrec's TV recording specific modifications.

    MythTV has many other drawbacks I could mention as well.

    What is there to use? They all seems to have quite a number of their own serious drawbacks.

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