Lots of HTPC fans have been salivating over the promise of the Hauppauge HD PVR. That pesky "analog hole" looks like it might be the best solution for our imperfect tech world. Without integrated Windows MCE support yet, the race is on to deliver some PVR software that's step above the bundled apps. SageTV has already tantalized us with advance info on the hardware, so you know support in its product is coming soon. Now we see that SnapStream has a prototype unit in its mitts, so you can assume it's cooking in everything needed for Beyond TV. But neither of them is going to be first to deliver -- that honor goes to GB-PVR, which did a wayback machine number on us and built support in to its 1.2.9 release back on March 9th. Nice 0-day hardware support! Turns out the poor developer is just "too busy with other stuff" and doesn't have HD content to really show this off right now, though (they're located in New Zealand).

UPDATE: The developer himself wants to clarify the motivation behind his quote: because he's in New Zealand, which uses DVB-T for free OTA HD, he personally doesn't have a need for the HD PVR. He thinks the HD PVR will be huge in N. America, though. Thanks for the clarification and the hard work, Graeme!

Read - Hauppauge HD PVR on the SnapStream bench
Read - GB-PVR announced support for HD PVR in March

Although we just caught wind of SageTV's new HD Media Extender late last month, the unit is now not only up for sale, but it's already been through quite a workout at the hands of Brent Evans. The STX-HD100 showed a lot of promise on paper, and thankfully, it seems to have delivered in reality. Mr. Evans found the overall experience with the device to be "very impressive," noting that image quality was "excellent," file support was up to snuff and heat / noise were both non-factors. Additionally, the box played nice with a myriad operating systems, suffered from no "crippling DRM restrictions" and came in at a very respectable $199. Granted, there were a few things to pick on -- namely the lack of an optical drive / CableCARD slot and the inability of the remote to toggle the TV on and off -- but aside from that, most everything else seemed to garner copious quantities of praise. We know, it does sound a bit too good to be true, but head on over and digest the whole spill if you're still skeptical.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

Details are still a bit thin, but it looks like SageTV -- developer of alternative media center software -- is poised to release an HD media extender for in-home placeshifting. The company, which already makes a standard definition wireless extender, revealed pics of the so-called STX-HD100 today, along with a few shots of the retail packaging which expose such features as HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite jacks as well as USB 2.0 Mass Storage Interface. Keep reading to check out another angle, and you can probably dig up a little more info by trawling around the SageTV forums, where it seems like quite a few folks have been waiting around on this product for some time now...

[Thanks, Matt C.]

We placeshift our HDTV with an Xbox 360, so this was interesting news to us. SageTV's newest beta (4.1.7 for you Sage-a-maniacs) now supports placeshifting via a client called "SageTVPlaceshifter".
Don't be disappointed in the name, what did you expect since the names "Orb" and "Slingbox" were already taken? We're guessing that you're not shifting HD content with this first version, but we all know that's where things are headed. Does anyone know the patron saint of "bandwidth" so we can light a candle?

[via eHomeUpgrade]