Monsoon HAVA Gold HD Turns PC Into Budget PVR, Video Streamer
Whilst browsing over at PVRWire, I came across this story about HAVA releasing a Slingbox competitor. It performs much like a Slinbox by allowing the streaming of Mpeg-2 and Mpeg-4 video to multiple PCs and it can be used as a TV tuner by Vista. The big question that I never see answered is how the GUI is. There is a lot of capable hardware out there but it tends to fall short in the software department.
From the article:
Monsoon HAVA Gold HD Features:
-Component Input and support for HD video source (1080i, 720p, 480p/576p) played back in the native 16:9 aspect ratio on the client display
-Supports Windows Vista
-Windows XP Media Center Edition integration – appears as an installed TV-tuner card
-Connects to any TV source such as Cable, Satellite, DVD, TiVo or a Camcorder
-Enables TiVo-like functionality on the PC. Users can record, store, pause, rewind and fast forward stored video
-All inputs include a pass through connector, eliminating the use of splitters when connecting HAVA to home video equipment
-Streams video at an average of 8Mbps directly to PCs in home network in MPEG-2 full D1 resolution, at 720 x 480 pixels
-Streams MPEG-2 format over the home network, MPEG-4 format over the Internet
-Schedule and record programs for later viewing
-Allows burning of stored material to DVD