Webware

TiVo announced Wednesday that subscribers will now be able to manually input a video podcast's RSS feed into their TiVo software to watch those shows through their DVRs. That means it's time to find out what your favorite shows' RSS feeds are. It also means you might want to expand what you watch, since another set-top box is bringing Web videos to your television.

But finding those shows isn't always easy. Realizing that, I thought I'd highlight online video podcast directories that will help you find shows you're really interested in. From professional content to amateur shows for niche audiences, these sites will help you find whatever you're looking for.

Before we get into it, I should note that iTunes is another fine way to find video podcasts. Simply click the "Video Podcasts" option in the software and you'll be able to search through shows.

Find some shows

Miro Guide: Miro Guide is a repository for video podcasts. The site is well-designed. It also has a nice listing of both popular shows and niche listings.

When you get to Miro Guide, you can immediately start searching for video podcasts. A show's listing page allows you to subscribe to the RSS feed, add its feed to Miro, so you can watch it on the site, or download it to your computer. If you're only looking for the feed, it provides that too. I was really impressed with Miro Guide. With so many listings, it's worth trying out.

Miro Guide has a nice design and a great listing of shows.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Odeo: Odeo is one of the best podcast directories in this roundup. It allows you to search for both audio and video shows.

I was really impressed with Odeo. The site has one of the biggest listings of shows in this roundup. On topics ranging from technology to politics, you'll find a variety of video podcasts worth watching. When you pick a show you want to try out, you can opt to subscribe on Odeo's site, copy and paste the RSS feed to a service, like the TiVo, or watch it right on the site. You can even subscribe to the show in iTunes. You'll like Odeo. It's an extremely useful directory.

Odeo has some great features you won't want to miss.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

TiVo announced Wednesday that it has added hundreds of free Web videos to TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs. Also, subscribers who are interested in watching video podcasts that they can't find through TiVo's listing can enter RSS feeds manually to watch the show on their TiVo box.

Starting Wednesday, subscribers will be able to watch free video podcasts from several providers, including CBS, Fox, Oprah, and more. (CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.) They can watch a single episode or subscribe to all the podcast's shows by opting for a season pass.

TiVo also announced that it will allow users to input video podcast RSS feeds to watch those shows that they can't find on their TiVo Web Video listing.

To do so, subscribers will need to use the "Custom RSS Feeds" option in the "Browse Web Videos" menu. That option will allow them to input a show's RSS feed with their remote. If it's a valid link, they can decide to watch a single episode or subscribe to the feed through Season Pass. They can also watch past episodes.

To maximize the amount of content available to its subscribers, TiVo has provided show producers with guidelines for getting their Web videos ready for the DVR. The shows must be made available through RSS (RSS 2.0 is preferred). The video must also be in H.264 format.

TiVo's inclusion of more video podcasts follows a long line of upgrades the company has made to its platform over the past year. In October, TiVo announced that Netflix streaming was coming to its DVRs. HD content from Amazon's Video on Demand service was added earlier this year. The company even announced plans to bring Blockbuster Video on Demand to subscribers. Now, TiVo subscribers can supplement all that professional content with thousands of Web shows that they might already be enjoying on competing products, like the Apple TV.

TiVo's new Web videos and the option to add custom RSS feeds are available now to TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL owners.

Amazon Video on Demand HD, as it appears on the Roku Digital Video Player

(Credit: Roku/Amazon)

It's been a long time in coming, but Amazon Video on Demand is finally available in high-def. Owners of TiVo HD/Series 3 DVRs, the Roku Digital Video Player, the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, and Panasonic VieraCast TVs (and, presumably, VieraCast-enabled Blu-ray players) will be the first to enjoy Amazon's content in HD (software updates to enable HD viewing on those products should be available imminently). Likewise, Windows and Mac users will also get access to HD video content via Amazon's Web site.

As with competing services, HD movie rentals will cost $3.99 to $4.99, and TV episodes will be available for purchase for $2.99 each (HD movie purchases currently won't be available). More than 500 HD movies and TV shows will be available initially, encompassing content from most major studios, including Warner, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount, and Universal. TiVo is pledging that the "vast majority of titles" on its boxes will offer Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtracks.

CNET was able to get a sneak preview of the Amazon HD offerings on the Roku box last week. For existing users, it's a pretty seamless upgrade: new HD-specific filters for HD movies and TV shows are available, so there's no need to go hunting and pecking for high-def content.

Quality on the Roku box was very good--the 720p video is closer to that of a really good DVD, but it's definitely superior to the standard-definition content that's available. We didn't detect any major difference between the quality of Netflix and the Amazon HD offerings on the Roku, but the Amazon interface allows you to choose rentals or purchases directly from the onscreen interface, whereas Netflix requires you to manage your viewing queue via a PC.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CBS Interactive)

We already knew text messaging service Kwiry could perform some cool tricks via text messaging--things like adding products to your Amazon.com wish list or adding movies to your Netflix queue. But now the service is adding rudimentary TiVo control to the list.

TiVo already offers more detailed DVR access via its Web site, as well as TiVo Mobile (for smartphones with Web browsers), but the Kwiry service should work with even the most rudimentary cell phones, so long as they have text messaging capability.

The TiVo beta should be available on Kwiry Wednesday. Here's how it's supposed to work: link your TiVo Series2 or Series3 DVR to your Kwiry account (a one-time affair on the Kwiry Web site), and you should be able to command your DVR to record shows via a simple text to 59479 ("kwiry").

Kwiry says the service will automatically schedule a recording of the next episode of the show in question, so "tivo the office" should grab the next episode of the Steve Carell dramedy. Sounds easy enough, but we wonder how smoothly it'll work, especially with shows that have multiple syndicated episodes on multiple channels--will kwiry be smart enough to grab the new episode of Lost, and not the rerun on G4 or Sci-Fi? Thankfully, the service is free, so you can experiment with impunity.

(Credit: TiVo)

TiVo is launching a cell phone-friendly Web site that will allow users to search programming and set their TiVo DVRs remotely. TiVo Mobile will be a free service available "with any Internet-enabled phone through any network, regardless of carrier," according to the company. Any user will have access to the program listings, but only TiVo owners (Series2 or Series3/HD) will be able to set their home DVRs to record programs they would've otherwise missed. A similar service was previously available--for a fee--only to Verizon customers. The service (available soon at m.tivo.com) is currently in beta, but will be more widely available "in a few weeks," according to the company.

It's worth noting that TiVo owners can already program their DVRs remotely through the company's main web site. Likewise, Slingbox owners can also access any DVR remotely (TiVo or otherwise) through the SlingPlayer Mobile software, which is currently available on Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian smartphones, and coming soon to BlackBerry models as well.

TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 software lets you view Web videos on your TV--but they need to be downloaded to a PC first.

(Credit: Slashgear)

TiVo has added the ability to view downloadable Web videos on the company's DVRs, making good on its announcement at January's Consumer Electronics Show. The update will allow Web videos such as video podcasts to be downloaded with the same Season Pass functionality used by TiVo viewers to record their favorite TV shows. But don't expect to just punch in a URL or an RSS feed into the TiVo remote. Videos must first be downloaded to your PC's hard drive, after which they'll be transferred to your TiVo via your home network. That's a departure from Amazon Unbox videos, the Rhapsody subscription music service, and TiVo's forthcoming YouTube service, all of which are accessible online straight through TiVo's onscreen interface without the need to have a PC running elsewhere in the home. (By contrast, the Apple TV can pull down PC-free video podcasts, so long as they're indexed on the iTunes Store.)

The Web video functionality requires TiVo's Desktop Plus 2.6 software, available for download today ($25 for new users, or a free upgrade for users of the existing software). For now, it's a Windows-only solution, though TiVo says that the company is continuing "to work with Roxio on delivering equivalent functionality on the Mac platform." With any luck, perhaps the new Desktop Plus software will also swat those TiVoToGo bugs that have been afflicting some TiVo users for the past several months.

YouTube will be available on Series3 TiVos later this year

(Credit: CNET)

YouTube videos will be coming to high-end TiVo DVRs soon. In a brief announcement, TiVo said that YouTube video access would be available on the company's latest TiVo HD and TiVo Series3 models "later this year." (Owners of older Series2 TiVos look to be out of luck.) On-screen access to YouTube videos joins a host of other Internet-delivered entertainment options on TiVo, including Amazon Unbox video rentals, Rhapsody's subscription music service, access to Photobucket and Picasa photo galleries, TiVoCast Web videos, podcasts, and Internet radio. While ancillary to TiVo's primary mission of recording and playing back TV shows, the inclusion of such Web-friendly features helps the company delineate its products from the wide range of "free" DVRs that are available from local cable operators. (Disclaimer: CNET is one of several content partners that provides videos to TiVo's TiVoCast service.)

As for YouTube, its appearance on TiVo may be the first of many new venues. The TiVo news was timed to coincide with YouTube's announcement that it's expanding its APIs to allow third parties more direct access to the service. That said, YouTube is already available on quite a few home and mobile gadgets. Aside from the high-profile Apple TV, you can also find YouTube on your TV with the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD--as well as any product with a full-function (Flash-enabled) Web browser, such as the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3. In the handheld world, the once unique YouTube offering on the iPhone has since been joined by phones from Helio and the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Also, the new Skyfire browser promises to bring YouTube (and any other Flash video site) to a wide range of Windows Mobile phones.

Having played with YouTube on some of these devices, we'll say this: Yes, it's cool to have access to YouTube on your TV or on your phone--but you may actually come away a bit disappointed in the end. Because YouTube has such a social component--sharing cool or funny videos with your friends--the experience can often be a bit isolating when viewed on a device without ready access to your e-mail, instant messaging, or social network of choice. You know the feeling: a million channels to watch, and nothin's on.

Apparently, fast-forwarding through commercials just isn't enough. TiVo announced on Monday that users of select photo-sharing services are now able to access their image collections through its set-top boxes.

The digital video recorder manufacturer has partnered with two photo-sharing services--the Google-owned Picasa Web Albums and Fox Interactive Media-owned Photobucket--in order to enable users to surf through their photo albums as well as their friends' and family members', provided that their TiVo boxes are broadband-connected.

A release from the company emphasized the fact that photos are viewable in the highest resolution possible, which on the TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD devices means full high definition.

In addition, the TiVo interface makes it possible for users to search the overall database of public Picasa or Photobucket images by keyword.

The Photobucket search interface on TiVo

(Credit: Photobucket/TiVo)

It's yet another step in TiVo's quest to make its equipment more versatile than the standard DVR--and to make it an appealing choice in a market that remains tepid.

"At TiVo, we're focused on the entire entertainment experience, from movies to music, and in this case--memories," Jim Denney, TiVo's vice president of product marketing, said in the company's statement. "By working with these well-respected and popular photo-sharing partners, TiVo enables families to share their pictures in new, fun ways."

This fall, TiVo announced a deal with RealNetworks' Rhapsody to bring the subscription-based music service to its devices.

It has been my theory for a little while that sometime in the near future, we are going to see the downfall of physical discs for watching movies. A lot of companies are moving towards a downloadable model. Most notably, Apple sells downloadable movies through its iTunes store and even pipes them through to its own set-top box. Microsoft also sells movies through its Video Marketplace on the Xbox 360 in both standard and high definition.

In March of this year, TiVo decided it wanted to jump into the game. It was a really logical move since it has a ton of set-top boxes already out there and the ability to push out software updates to its boxes. TiVo partnered with Amazon Unbox and lets you buy movies on its Web site to watch on your TiVo. Even though that was a great move, it was still a little tough for people who aren't experienced users. Well, hopefully the problem of usability will be alleviated with today's announcement that Amazon Unbox's catalog will be browseable right on your TiVo. A New York Times article by the AP says "...'Buy on TV' allows TiVo users to search Amazon's video catalog and rent or purchase titles using their TiVo's remote control." The new feature will only be available on Series 2 and 3 TiVo boxes that are connected to the Internet.

This is a big step forward for this partnership and for downloadable media in general. TiVo already has a huge install base and that will help it push this service out to a lot of people. It is unfortunate that the rumors about TiVo and Netflix offering downloadable movies didn't pan out since Netflix's library is huge. Seeing things like this come down the pipe really makes the whole "next-gen format war" between HD-DVD and BluRay seem more and more irrelevant.