Tivo and Meedio TV Comparison
Apr 06,2007 00:00 by Fred Francisto
Meedio TV, yet another option for the couch potatoes and where does it stands? Is it worthy to convert your kid or work Pc into a home theater? Let alone the family disputes of converting a personal computer into a small screen, a simple comparison can get to the bottom of the dilemma.

A specifically modified windows XP platform can pause, rewind and record input signals whether digital, analogue or HDTV broadcast and it only requires you to install Meedio TV software. You can choose among different software packages of Meedio TV and each has its own advantages.

Multiple Program recording

Without supplementary subscription fee, Meedio TV offers Multituner support for simultaneous recording of different shows and still you want to harbor extra tuner cards? You can add external TV tuners to handle your extra input signals from Set Top Boxes top boxes.

Recording two programs simultaneously is a dream unless you own two TiVo boxes but the available option do not hamper your viewing habits as you can watch a pre recorded program while you are recording your heart throb or you may scan the show being recorded.

Picture Quality

Recording level determines the picture quality of TiVo box; user can manipulate their disk space by recording input signals at different recording levels.
  • Best Quality = 7.65Mb/s
  • High Quality = 4.77Mb/s
  • Medium Quality = 3.62Mb/s
  • Basic Quality = 2.24Mb/s
If a good quality source signal is available then recording can be made at Variable Bit-Rate (VBR). Depending upon the available services, TV tuner card and output hardware, Meedio covers variety of standard and HDTV broadcast formats from around the world, including NTSC, PAL, ATSC, DVB-S, and DVB-T. A newly coined contract with the patent-pending DivX video technology will offer a crisp picture at much greater compression than MPEG-2 files thus making it possible to record a DVD quality full length film on an ordinary CD

Hard Disk Space

Meedio TV gives you two options if you wish to store extra hours.
  • Delete recorded programs
  • Add a new hard drive
You can also augment TiVo’s disk space but any endeavor to do so will void the warranty.

Burning content

Both services offer freedom of burning but copyright issues limit the advancements incase of TiVo, although you can still burn the copy right protected content but the Macrovision encoding will be reapplied only when outputting to TV device but content wise TiVo offers you best shows. Macrovision is a company that creates the technology to protect movie and television content. The copyrights protection proposed by Macrovision applies to certain limited categories of program (such as pay per view, video on demand, DVD or VHS sources)

Parental control

Keeping kids at a bay from obnoxious content is motto of emerging media campaign, Meedio and TiVo share common values to protect underage young minds from the hazards of obscenity and violence.

Plugin and add-ons

Meedio TV is easily customizable by using third party plugin and add-ons for the software, plugins can be created using programming language or downloaded but the risks of worm and Trojan loom.

Price and subscription fee

Meedio TV is a one time investment with no monthly subscription fee but the subscription charges of Set Top Boxes may apply, it is much cheaper to set up a Meedio TV than TiVo box or Beyond TV.

Conclusion

Setting up Meedio TV leaves with few questions, extra funds to upgrade the hardware of existing PC (windows XP OS, TV tuner, RAM and processor) and then consensus on buying a new personal computer for kids, compromising the sleek arrangement of TV lounge, little freedom of media contents (without Set Top Boxes or external source).