Posts Tagged: pvr

New First-ever Streaming Flash Video and MP3 recorder

Forget the XM and Sirius merger, the really big news is Replay Media Catcher, a hot new utility that captures MySpace video and MP3s, as well as lots of other premium audio and video content from sites like ABC.com, NBC.com, and thousands more. The technological breakthrough is the ability to capture streaming Flash, which nobody has been able to do before. Go to www.replay-media-catcher.com to download a free trial copy and check it out!

Here’s the official press release if you’d like to learn more:

New Streaming Media Recorder Captures Previously Unrecordable Online Video and Audio

February 21, 2007, San Anselmo, CA – Applian Technologies today announced the release of Replay Media Catcher, the first ever Online Video and Audio recorder for streaming Flash and MP3 sites. Replay Media Catcher allows customers to capture perfect digital reproductions from previously unrecordable premium destinations like ABC.com, NBC.com, MySpace™ and thousands of others, as well as popular places like YouTube™ and Google Video.

Replay Media Catcher uses a simple one-click recording interface. Customers just click the Start Recording button, and then play the streaming Flash video or MP3 audio to capture. Once Replay Media Catcher detects the media stream, it will continue to save a playable video or audio file on the PC hard drive, and the customer can then go in search of other media to record. Replay Media Catcher is able to record multiple streams simultaneously, limited only by the speed of the customer’s internet connection. Also included is FLV Player, which lets customers watch their recorded videos.

“Replay Media Catcher is the first ever production software to be able to capture RTMP Streaming Flash streams used by many of the top-tier content sites,” said Bill Dettering, CEO of Applian Technologies. “These unprotected, unencrypted files have been previously impossible to record for your personal use, and now Replay Media Catcher makes it possible to archive and enjoy more great online video without having to be connected to the internet.”

Replay Media Catcher is ready for download and immediate purchase from replay-media-catcher.com for $39.95. A free demo is also available. Replay Media Catcher requires a PC running Windows.

About Applian Technologies
Applian Technologies was started by Bill Dettering in 1997. In 2001, Bill created Replay Radio to be able to record and enjoy his favorite radio programs during his long daily commute to Silicon Valley. Now, several years after the launch of Replay Radio, Applian is recognized as the global leader in online recording software. Other popular Applian products include the Audio Video Streaming Capture Suite, Replay AV 8, Replay Music, Replay Converter, and Replay Screencast. Learn more about Applian Technologies and all their products at http://www.Applian.com.

The Sling Encryption Mystery

There’s quite a thread going on at the Sling Community forum regarding Sling’s new encryption “feature” and its impact on At-Large Recorder. Jeremy T from Sling is doing his best to answer the critics, and has made his third post.
The money quote (emphasis mine):

Finally, I’ve tried to be clear that there are issues regarding this topic that I simply cannot discuss. Some of the other users in this thread have guessed at them, and I appreciate those posts. In my last comment I asked readers to sit back and really think about our motivation here. You think we are motivated to try to “screw third parties”? I already stated we plan to have some form of API/SDK coming out down the road. You really think that we want to “screw Slingbox owners”? Why on Earth would we want to do that??

I guess Jeremy didn’t really make it clear that there were other motivators to the decision. Web users, and especially early adopters like those who buy Slingbox devices, are very sophisticated, and the attempt to say encrypting the stream to “protect users privacy” didn’t really make sense to anybody. Likewise with the protecting “content owners” reason. He probably would have been better off saying “I simply cannot discuss” like he finally did in the third post. While nobody likes that excuse, they can respect it at least. I respect it.

The fact that Sling cannot discuss the rationale for the decision makes for an entertaining game of speculation. The Sling Community forum participants certainly have a lot of theories. Since I have no inside knowledge, I get to speculate, too!
Sling has received a huge amount of investment money – $55 million or so. One of the investors is EchoStar. The content people are always paranoid about these new technologies (TiVo has investments from the major networks), and investing in these companies is a good way to keep the technologies under control. One theory is that as a condition for the investment, Sling agreed to ensure the stream couldn’t be redirected. They probably didn’t think it could be done until At-Large Recorder appeared, hence the need to quickly add encryption, and the fact that this was “always on the product roadmap” as Jeremy suggests.

This also keeps them out of possible legal trouble with HBO, MLB any anyone else concerned with geographic rebroadcast issues.

Sling has taken great care to ensure the streams couldn’t be “split” and beamed to several people at once. Theoretically, if the stream can be recorded, it can be retransmitted to several people at once. This breaks the legal protections they have put in place.

I don’t think the “recording” aspect is the cause for the consternation. The way At-Large Recorder works, you can’t really retransmit in real time anyway, as the file isn’t viewable until recording ends.

Anyway, that’s MY theory. We’ll probably never know.

Sling is in a bit of a pickle, in that they can’t do anything and everything to make their product the best it can be. It would be great is they could be more open about the reasons behind the decision, but this may leave them open to legal trouble by recognizing any legal weaknesses publicly, so it’ll likely remain a secret. I believe that if Jeremy T could say more he would – he’s clearly (and rightfully) a little upset about being beaten up on the Sling forums.

Sling and Applian are a little similar, in that we both are pushing the envelope of what people can do with their media. Sometimes we can’t market our products the way we’d like either. Fortunately, people are still able to find us when they want the best tools for recording online video, music or radio, and they tell their friends.

If Sling wants to work with us to make a recording solution that doesn’t put them in legal jeopardy, that would be terrific. It would be great for Sling, and their users. Or maybe products like HAVA and others will add this capability, and they’ll just open it up, as it will cease to be an issue if everybody is doing it. I hope we’ll be able to come up with a solution soon.

Slinging in the Rain (of criticism)

Sling is trying to be more out in the open about the Encryption controversy in their latest firmware. “Jeremy T” from Sling gave this clarification:

I’ve noticed a few posts wondering why we encrypted the stream (and lots of assumptions, both good and bad), and I realized I should’ve explained when we posted the build. We’ve actually been planning to enable encryption for quite some time, this just happened to be the build in which it went live.
Our goal with the Slingbox is to have a device that not only offers consumers new freedom in their ability to placeshift their content, but also a product that protects the rights of the content owners and creators as a whole. Additionally, we feel protecting the stream also helps secure your rights and privacy as a consumer. To this end, enhancing SlingStream protection has been on our roadmap for quite some time.
Unfortunately, it’s clear that the Applian At-Large Recorder has gotten caught in the middle of this. As a small company, we haven’t had the resources to properly support third-party developers at present, although it is our goal to eventually have an API or SDK for third-parties to use. If you consider the numerous ongoing software developments we have at Sling (Windows, OSX, Windows Mobile, other platforms, etc), we have to pick and choose where our engineering efforts go extremely carefully, and while we have very ambitious goals, we still have a lot of realities to deal with!
On a technical note, a few people have surmised that the encrypted stream either increases CPU overhead or decreases stream quality. We have done quite a lot of testing and have not seen these negative results. Our tests show the encrypted stream in the new beta firmware performing side-by-side with the unencrypted stream in the current firmware with no difference. Don’t forget: if you are not doing exact side-by-side comparisons, no two streams are exactly alike!
I hope this helps clear up the issue. I welcome any feedback and comments.


Here’s our response:

Hi Jeremy –
Thanks for the explanation, and your willingness to address the issue in the open. Let’s break it down. You said:
Our goal with the Slingbox is to have a device that not only offers consumers new freedom in their ability to placeshift their content, but also a product that protects the rights of the content owners and creators as a whole.
Ummm… ever hear of TiVo?
Additionally, we feel protecting the stream also helps secure your rights and privacy as a consumer. To this end, enhancing SlingStream protection has been on our roadmap for quite some time.
If that’s really an issue, just make it a selectable option like other customers have suggested.
I challenge you to give me the name of ONE customer who requested encryption for “privacy”. Or do a forum search for anybody who has requested this feature. Keyword searches for “encryption” or “privacy” come up empty.

As a small company, we haven’t had the resources to properly support third-party developers at present.

No, but you went out of your way to un-support a third party developer.
Jeremy, I look forward to continuing the dialog with you. Feel free to respond on the Applian blog.
Best Regards,
Bill Dettering
Applian Technologies Inc.
www.applian.com

Of course, reader comments are welcome, too. I especially am looking for ANYONE who’s in support of the encryption.

Slung Out To Dry

Most hardware companies are delighted when a third party develops a complementary product for their platform. Apple, Microsoft, and many other companies have an active ISV (Independent Software Developer) recruitment effort, as they realize the benefits of others working on their behalf (for free) to make their products better.

When we developed our SlingBox device recording product, we kind of expected the same red carpet treatment. The SlingBox device is a terrific piece of hardware that attaches to your TV, and lets you watch it remotely from anywhere with a high speed internet connection. Sony has a competing product called LocationFree, and if I were competing with Sony, I’d want to do everything possible to make my product stand out.

Sling’s reaction was not what we expected. First of all, they had an issue with the product name, as it used the letters “sling” in it. Kind of a trademark deal. Our conversation went something like this:

Us: “Can we license the “Sling” part, and pay you a royalty on each copy sold.”
Sling: “No.”
Us: OK, how about changing the name to “SBox Recorder.”
Sling: “too close.”
Us: “Hmmm… how about “S Recorder. ”
“Still too close.”
“OK, we’ll call it “Blake’s recorder” or something. ” (Blake is the CEO).
Long pause. “Well, I guess that would be OK.”
Sling: “Your trade-dress is too much like our product – you need to change it, too.” (Our UI was red and grey, in the shape of a Slingbox device.)
Us: “OK – we’ll change the shape to a parallelogram.”
Sling: “No – the angles would be similar.”
Us: “You’re kidding…. OK – we’ll make it a rounded rectangle then.”
Sling: “You’ll have to change the colors, too. Don’t use either red or grey.”
Us: “You’re messing with me now.”
Sling: “No – we need to strongly defend our trademark and trade dress.” (At this point, it was Sling’s IP lawyer in this exchange. She was very polite, and was just doing her job. It’s still pretty ludicrous.)
Us: “bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb”

Anyway, we went ahead and complied with their requests, and came out with At-Large Recorder. Definitely no trademark issues there. I thought we were in the clear and good to go. Today we learn Sling is encrypting their stream transmission, thereby rendering our product inoperable in its present form.

I actually talked with Blake – Sling’s CEO – when we first launched and he was very cordial, although slightly annoyed. Said something about “getting a phone call” about our product. And brought up the trademark issues. That was about it.

So – what’s the deal?

Theory #1: Sling is pushing into uncharted legal territory – removing the geographical limitations on TV viewing isn’t taken very well by Major League Baseball, to name one. Anything they can do to reduce their legal risks may be a part of the strategy.

Theory #2: Sling is going to produce their own recording add-on.

Theory #3: Don’t know. Leave a comment and tell me your theory. Sling representatives are particularly welcome to respond.

Update:
Sling responds, and we dig deeper.

Update #2:
Digg this story.

Press Release for At-Large Recorder

This press release hit the wires today, announcing At-Large Recorder:

SlingBox™ Recording Software Gets New Name, New Features

July 11, 2006 – San Anselmo, CA – Applian Technologies announced significant changes to At-Large Recorder, the first and only PC-based software that captures TV broadcasts directly from the Sling Media SlingBox™ device.
To avoid possible trademark confusion, Applian has changed the product name from Replay SlingCorder to At-Large Recorder. Although Applian’s recording product is fully compatible with SlingPlayer™, the name change was made to ensure customers recognized two distinct products and companies.

The release of At-Large Recorder also adds new features. Most notably, Applian’s popular streaming video and audio recording product, Replay A/V, is now able to capture SlingBox™ TV streams by using At-Large Recorder. Customers can now schedule multiple recordings on different channels, including daily and weekly repeating events. Replay A/V also records online video and audio clips, XM™ and Sirius™ radio, and thousands of radio shows, radio stations, TV stations and Podcasts accessed from the included Replay Media Guide.

“The new At-Large Recorder name makes it very clear that we are the online video recording experts, and not Sling Media,” said Bill Dettering, CEO of Applian Technologies. “Our customers have been delighted with the video quality and ease of use of At-Large Recorder with their SlingBox™ device. And with the Replay A/V and At-Large Recorder combination, our customers get the expanded scheduled recording features they’ve been asking for. This puts Replay A/V even further ahead of all other streaming video and audio capture products. ”

At-Large Recorder is available immediately for purchase from at-large-recorder.com for $29.95. Replay A/V, with At-Large Recorder included, is located at replay-av.com, for $49.95. Free demos of both products are available. At-Large Recorder requires a Windows based PC running SlingPlayer™. Replay A/V also requires a Windows based PC.

At-Large Recorder is the latest offering from Applian Technologies, the global leader in recording software for streaming media delivered over the internet. Other popular Applian products include Replay Radio, Replay A/V, Replay Music, the Replay Video Suite, Replay Screencast and Replay Converter. Learn more about Applian Technologies at Applian.com.

Please direct all press inquiries to Leslie Bee via [email protected].

Slingbox and SlingPlayer are trademarks of Sling Media Inc.