While it seems doubtful that the PC will ever replace the large-screen TV set as the venue-of-choice when it comes to viewing movies and other video content, the broadband computer is proving successful in reeling in a growing number of viewers who like the mostly free VOD mode of PCs. Now PCs can soon be used to record TV content much like a TiVo—content that could be burned to standard DVDs for playback on TV sets (and exported to mobile devices like iPods).
Nero's new Liquid TV software will provide PC users with the same TiVo interface, EPG and relatively simple controls of a TiVo standalone unit. It will also provide the ability to burn recorded shows to DVD or export them to portable devices such as the iPod or PlayStation Portable.
The Liquid TV software alone is about $100, while the $200 package includes a standard TiVo remote, USB digital tuner/antenna for terrestrial analog and digital TV (including HD broadcasts), and an IR blaster for controlling external cable and satellite boxes—which would then be fed into a video capture card on the PC.
Although such PC "DVR" capabilities already are available via Windows Media Center and a handful of other venues, TiVo-on-PC could prove to be a platform with mass appeal, given TiVo's branding prowess.
The two versions include one free year of TiVo services, which are required.
