SnapStream Software Goes High-Def

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

October 25, 2005, 4:35 PM

SnapStream announced on Tuesday that it had reached agreements with several HDTV tuner card manufacturers to bundle its BeyondTV personal video recording (PVR) software with their products.

HDTV cards from DS Technologies, KWorld, and VBox Communications will now ship with the next version of the BeyondTV software, version 4, which is due out by the end of the year. SnapStream says this will give users of the cards a complete HDTV DVR solution.

The company also says the devices will provide a much cheaper way for consumers to add an HDTV-enabled recorder to their home entertainment systems. Previously, they either had to opt for expensive aftermarket DVRs or purchase new computers altogether.

"With the broadcast flag being struck down this past summer, a number of TV tuner card manufacturers are aggressively doing HDTV TV tuner card products for retail and I'm happy to say that all of them are bundling our software," Rakesh Agrawal, SnapStream president and CEO, told BetaNews.

BeyondTV 4 will add HDTV-ready recording and playback. Also, the software will have multiple tuner support - meaning users could add regular analog cards alongside the HDTV card with no limit on the number of cards installed.

Improved audio and video decoders, easy scheduling of recorded programs, digital antenna configuration, and better disk space management round out the other major features coming to BeyondTV 4.

"By combining SnapStream's HDTV capabilities with our pace-setting HDTV tuner/video capture device, users will be able to turn their PC into an HDTV home theater that provides dynamic viewing, pausing and archiving of HDTV broadcasts as well as standard TV and cable broadcasts," said Mike McCoy, president and CEO of ADS.