New: Beyond TV 4.6: Vista support, faster search, and more
February 16th, 2007 at 12:31 pm by Rakesh
Yesterday, we quietly released a new point release to Beyond TV — version 4.6 — and I feel comfortable saying that this point release has more improvements than any other Beyond TV 4 point release before it. Some of the highlights from the release notes:
- Vista support: Beyond TV now works under Vista, bringing unique SnapStream features like SmartSkip and ShowSqueeze to the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system. Vista compatibility also means that Beyond TV is now 100% compatible with Windows Media Player 11
- Faster search: Our built-in search has been completely re-engineered so that searches by title or keyword (ie actor, actress, description) are more accurate and nearly instantaneous.
- Faster Web Admin: Beyond TV’s built-in web interface is much faster — in some places 10x faster.
- Improved DivX support: DivX playback has been re-written, for those of you who might have had trouble with it, and we’ve also updated DivX playback to version 6.4. As an added bonus, the web admin now supports the DivX Web Player, so your DivX TV shows can easily be streamed over the network.
- Better DVD Burning Support: we worked with our partner to root out some nasty bugs in their DVD burn engine. If you had problems with Beyond TV’s DVD Burning Plug-in before, try it again.
- Bug fixes, bug fixes and more bug fixes: PC DVR can be complex, as some of you who have built your own DVRs know. Beyond TV 4.6 addresses more than 50 other bugs that, we think, make it the most feature rich AND stable and reliable PC DVR out there.
Existing Beyond TV 4 users: Get your free update to Beyond TV 4.6
For everyone else, download the free 21-day trial
(and if you’ve tried Beyond TV or the DVD Burning Plug-in before, you’ll get a new 21-day trial period with Beyond TV 4.6)
Some screenshots:
This search happened really fast because of Beyond TV 4.6 (you’ll just have to take my word for it)
Re-prioritize your recordings in the Web Admin a la Netflix
Beyond TV’s Web Admin now has integrated support for the DivX Web Player
February 16th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
ANSWERED PRAYER!!!!
February 16th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
The one feature that the I believe is missing is the ability to change the smart skip marker locations. I know BTV uses an xml file to this this. It would be great if you could change the skip start/end locations in case it messes up. If you could do this, the burning plugin would be even better because you wouldn’t get the occasional commercials that get mixed in. Otherwise, I’m forced to edit with something like Nero manually and this is the only reason why I haven’t bought the DVD burning plugin.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I just installed the new version and recorded a program this evening. I find that the mpg file will play the audio in Windows Media Player 11 but not the video. This is not reassuring.
February 16th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Great news! I hope 100% 64-bit Vista support is also soon to come!
February 17th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Thank God for the streaming divx player…
Its not perfect but definitely a step in the right direction…..
thanks guys
February 17th, 2007 at 6:55 am
What timing…I just came to the site to see if BTV was compatible with Vista as I’m about to pull the trigger on an upgrade, and the thing that *absolutely* has to work before I do it is BTV…
February 17th, 2007 at 10:05 am
[...] Snapstream has released the latest version 4.6 of Beyond TV, its popular television recording software. I use Beyond TV on my Windows XP computer to record over the air high definition TV, and in my opinion, it is the best DVR software outside of Windows Media Center. [...]
February 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am
an answer to tv watching and recording I’m running home prem. vista and snapstream’s 4.6 and i love it, no problems at all.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
works like a charm i disabled windows media player may it rest in peace lol
thank you snap stream now i can watch and record with BTV on windows vista i hhave to say this player rocks
February 17th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Thanks for the updated Vista release. I have had Vista Enterprise RTM since November and this version has fixed a host of problems I have had with the prior version of Snapstream running in XP compatibility mode. Plus all the great new features makes it even better. Keep up the good work. Snapstream is the best!
February 18th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
It would be great if you could intergrate GOM PLAYER for playing back video or intergrating its features. GOM can play back video in fast foward and adjust the pitch of the voice so speech does not sound like a chipmunk.
By doing this, you can watch a tv show in less time.
http://www.gomplayer.com
February 18th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Thanks guys. I have been waiting for this. I have been running Vista Ultimate since November 30. I have been forced to test Windows Media Center during this time, and I have to say that BeyondTV is much better! I love the new features in 4.6, and the faster search works great.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
It wont install on win vista premiu. Suddenly the installlation would quit saying c++ runtime error.
February 19th, 2007 at 6:33 am
When I switched to Vista, BTV was not in my thoughts. You don’t know how much you will miss something till its gone. Thank you so much for getting back to me.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Downloaded 4.6 update, however, still very, very choppy audio after ’showsqueeze’ing mpeg to wmv. Have Windows Media Player 11 installed.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
wondering if anybody knows a trick. Is there a way to disable the video portion of Beyond TV & allow only audio? I’m trying to use my HTPC to provide audio throughout my house & when I control the pc via remote desktop the audio is choppy probably because the video is so bandwidth intensive.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Great update … Please update to Divx 6.5.1 codec pro encoder…
* Support for non-square pixel aspect ratios
* Support for de-interlacing during playback
Two de-interlacing methods are available:
1) When de-interlacing is enabled but the advanced
hardware overlay is disabled, de-interlacing will
be performed in software and the frame rate will
remain unchanged. For example, if the DivX video is
30 frames/60 fields per second, then you will see
30 de-interlaced frames per second.
2) When de-interlacing and the advanced hardware
overlay are both enabled, de-interlacing will be
performed by your video hardware and the frame rate
will be doubled. For example, if the DivX video is
30 frames/60 fields per second, then you will see
60 de-interlaced frames per second.
De-interlaceing is enabled by default after installation.
* Improved decoder performance
* Support for qMobile profile
* Support for Mobile profile
February 20th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Is this tested to work on old machines (i.e. mine is a P3 at 733MHz, 768MB RAM, 200GB HD, nVidia 64MB video card, and Haupaugge PVR250) ?
I’ve tried the versions 4.4 & 4.5 and I couldn’t use them properly, first one used to open & close million of scokets, the second one was way to slow. So, now I’m using the version 4.3, which works fine with my old P3.
Any thoughts about these old computers and this new “hot” 4.6 version ?
Thanks,
Sorinel C.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
The new release sounds good, but am not interested. The one and only
feature that I am looking for (to get me to upgrade) is someway of
handling programs that overlap by 1 minute. You know, on channel A
a program goes to 10:01 but you also want to tape a show on channel
B that starts at 10:pm. I want the capability to tell beyond TV to ignore
a designated overlap (say 1 minute) and to let the higher priority pgm
take precedence, but then to record both shows, clipping the lower priority
pgm by the 1 minute overlap.
If you ever get this capability, then I will certainly upgrade. But, w/o that I am happy enough with BTV 3.
February 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I discovered the problem I reported above of videos recorded with BeyondTV not playing in Windows Media Player was caused by a faulty codec installed on my computer. Everything is working fine now. Thanks for this new version.
February 21st, 2007 at 12:49 am
Still no support for DVB…Why is it that Snapstream hates us overseas users?
February 21st, 2007 at 1:14 am
The only thing that has been holding me from buying the full version of BTV is its lack of closed caption support, which is a must for me. I think BTV is a superb product otherwise. I would try the trial of this new version and hope for the best.
February 21st, 2007 at 1:34 am
What’s the program guide look like? That was the truly awful aspect of the previous version of the software. You should be able to browse more than a handful of channels (at least 20) over at least four or five hours per screen. Less that is too inconvenient.
February 21st, 2007 at 4:51 am
I haven’t seen anything about CAPTIONS. Should I assume that means this very important feature has been ignored again? I have visited lots of forums where people are are trying all kinds of tricks to get captions to work. Hey “guys”, when are you going to admit what some people already know… that it would be really really really easy for you to add support for captions. Almost every tuner card has line 21 support. I set up my own little band-aid solution using GraphEdit, but it would be nice to have it built in to BeyondTV. Well, guess what? Media Center already supports captions. Does this mean that you will finally get off your asses and add this very important feature? I will buy whatever DVR software includes caption support and won’t buy anything that doesn’t. I know I’m not alone. Don’t you want our money?
Please tell me I’m wrong and this version includes support for captions.
February 21st, 2007 at 6:46 am
What!! Still no support for my multi-tuner HVR-1600 ?
February 21st, 2007 at 8:55 am
Has the OS X software been upgraded as well?
February 21st, 2007 at 8:55 am
Still has this issue with the sound. When I change a channel there is this loud noise that accompanies it. Also, the windows sound volume is different fromt the Creative sound. As you change channels the volume mysteriously increases and you have to keep turning it down as you change channels. If there is some way to control this, please let me know.
However, still is the best product available for recording and watching if it truly is more stable and reliable.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:55 am
Will this work with Lynux? I manage a string of small TV stations with multiple computers and lately we have had so many problems with windows XP that we want to go to something more stable.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:06 am
I wonder if they even plan a Vista 64bit update.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:59 am
Love the new 4.6 version, hard locks my computer every time I click in the picture to adjust volume or change channels. But at least I can use the program guide to see what I could watch if I could get it to not lockup. Never happened before with the previous version. (the program guide didn’t work with the previous version, except right after a new install, and worked until I rebooted) I guess they still have a couple bugs to fix. Sure glad it came with the tuner card I would hate to have paid for this #@%&#!
February 21st, 2007 at 11:59 am
The only reason why I haven’t purchased this product is the reason below:
1) In order to get channels above 80 from my provider I have to hook up my set top box to it. Going into the set top box and then into my TV tuner makes changing the channels SLOW almost a full 3 second wait. Is there a way to fix this issue? Can I get channels above 80 without the set top box?
Thanks for your time.
February 21st, 2007 at 4:24 pm
So when is DVB-T ever going to be supported? It’s a useless upgrade from 3.x if that support still isn’t in the product.
February 21st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I was not able to get the software to work with my Dish Network receiver Dish 825. I am changing providers on 2/24/07 to Direct TV. I will then try to install the Beyond TV and update it.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:30 pm
First Vista 64 compatable program gets my money and support.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
I could not get it to install. Did not recognize the audio device. I am on Windows XP. Prior version audio worked.
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:48 am
reasons I have stopped using BTV V3 and will never upgrade until features become available.
1: Lack of DVB support.
2: Poor or non-existant UK listings
3: Just in case you forgot, Lack of DVB support.
Many people have posted about this but it always falls on deaf ears. Also since Vista’s higher level versions now ships with Media Center which has an ok UK guide and good DVB support, I really feel that you have lost your edge on the market.
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Firewire capture would be nice (some have cooked up their own custom solutions).
February 26th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I could not get the net guide to load.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
I got it installed but it kept starting and restarting the Beyond TV service and wouldnt run on Vista x64. Please, please make an x64 version!!!
February 27th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I have had to completely remove BeyondTV 4.6 from my Vista x64 system. I have had lockups, settings won’t stay saved, I have the Nvidia DualTV card and I can record only on one channel successfully, and I have to render the viewscape in software only or the screen flickers incessantly. When I want to watch TV or a recorded show I have to use the snapstream basic decoder to see any video. I gave up. I have one test to do with the builtin Windows Media Center software and then I will be opening up a tech support case with Snapstream. Everything I have tested in Windows Media Center works fine so far. I used BeyondTV 4.5 on WindowsXP x64 and it worked great. Not sure what happened here, but in my opinion this was not ready to be released, and I am beginning to really regret purchasing it.
March 4th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I have Vista X64 and 4.5 ran without problems. 4.6 I can’t record 2 channels at at the same time(3 tuners). Everytime the UAC prompt pops up all of the beyondTV setting revert to default settings, a big pain in the butt!
March 4th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Updated to 4.6 when it came out - since then, every time I record in DivX with my Plextor TV402U USB tuner, the sound is out of sync with the picture by 1/2 a second or so - annoying as hell! Never happened with Beyond TV 4.5 - what gives?
March 7th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I noticed that I could give Beyond TV 4.6, another try after trying Beyond TV 4.5 a few months back:
“(and if you’ve tried Beyond TV or the DVD Burning Plug-in before, you’ll get a new 21-day trial period with Beyond TV 4.6)”
But when I attempt to run BeyondTV 4.6; it states the trial has expired even though I never got a chance to try it. So is there a way to reset the trial date.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
Please provide Close Caption support.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Using ATI All in wonder 2006 series - Beyond TV states there is no tuner installed.
(Vista Enterprise)
March 15th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Welps I guess I’m a noobie happy user of the “SnapStream Media Center Suite”. It so far works wonderfully under the trial version of BTV4.6. It still works, just not as intended, some minor details.
Sometimes the Net guide won’t flush out correctly (can’t find it, link lost, or not connected, even though I am perm connected to the internet), or I am forced to do a hard reboot. Sometimes if I dont clear out prefetch in Vista, BTV freezes during LiveTV, and or Recording, minor details.
I haven’t been able to test out all the features, but what I can say for recording/burning dvds, its fairly comparable to Vista WMC.
I am using Vista Premium desktop, with wintv1600, nvidia 7300. It works fine. one of the the features that I enjoy very much is the controlling aspects of the BTV vs VWMC, its just kicks butts. Smooth, simple, and covers some of the missing stuffs that VWMC forgot to include with it. It sure whips WinTv2000 software.
Another reason why I got BTV, encoding into other formats, versus recording from VWMC to Strip the Drm.wmv to mpeg so that I can play tv shows on my ipod, it can be done, but BTV cuts out alot of the work for me.
I havent tested out Squeeze as I’m using WMP 11 and reading SS forums Q&A’s, come’s stock with vista, and Im all right with it. Some other cool factors, BTV AGENT, auto recording without having to load up BTV! Thx folks
It probulary wasnt neccessary to get the package I got, since VWMC does it. but I was won over by the cool factors that made my experiences easier by finding an alternative to WinTv2000.
Thx for a fun product
Aloha.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Dear Gentlemen,
I was wondering can you tell us or give us an idea of things that you are working on for future upgrades or improvements. Any hints of what we might see later down ther road in your software. Especially since this new operating system called “VISTA” is upon us now…..Thanks
March 26th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Running 4.6 on Vista X32. My setup also get lost afew times. Once lost only one channel 1091 quite a few more times the complete line up. hat to run the wizard again to recover . sometimes its the digital broadcat sometimes it’s the cable analoglineup.
Another thing that’s a carry over from previous versions is hanging if a channer’s signal is too weak. usually it last at least 2 minutes. Why if no signal just give up ?
March 27th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Dear Gentlemen,
It would be nice if you could enable a feature in your software that could display more than one channel on the screen at the same time. Kind of like a multi-view screen of 4 channels or something like that. To help see what is on a few channels at once…..Thanks
March 27th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
How would I use the Hauppauge card to get TV and be able to the recorded signal from my computer to my LCD TV? Thanks, glenn
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I have BTV 4.6 accessing the Hauppage WinTV HVR 950 USB running on Vista Home Premium 32bit on my Compaq Presario V6205 notebook. The WinTV software is crap, but the BTV works like a champ! Viewing and recording HD content over the air is the best!
April 4th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I NEED Vista x64 support! I don’t muck with my BTV box unless absolutely necessary, and my necessity this time is Vista so I want to put x64 version on now cause I don’t plan on changing anything for the next few years. If I put Vista x32 on it, it will stay that way for a fricken long time. So it is NOW OR NEVER! Come on snapstream, give us some Vista x64 support!!
April 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
[...] Snapstream has released a new point release to Beyond TV. The biggest improvements include Microsoft Vista support and improved search capabilities. Check out the blog post to read all about it. Here is the complete list of changes…. [...]
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Hello, this version 4.6.1 doesn´t work for me, in Windows Vista when I try to change channel, the system becomes freeze and need reset. I have a VideoMate X100, Asus M2N-MX whith nforce430/geforce6100 onboard and I have no problem in XP. This is an excelent DVR and I like a solution. Please forgive my english. Very thanks
May 8th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Will this allow me to record movies/shows that have copy protection (Macrovision) in them?
May 31st, 2007 at 11:34 am
Why do you want Vista x64 support when it it’ll be a long time for a stable (ie program compatibility: bug fixes etc) OS? I can’t install Beyond TV v4.6.1 and Firefly in Vista without a few workarounds (uninstall/reinstall .NET Framework; edit the registry etc). I’m glad I got Vista through a free upgrade. I sure wouldn’t pay full retail for this mess. I also had problems installing the audio drivers for my X-Fi card. I ended up reinstalling Vista so I could install the beta drivers cause they’re the only way I had any sound. It’s been a headache working with Vista. Good luck to rest of you.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Although Snapstream is strangely vague (clearly intentional) about what the issues are with 64-bit Vista, I’m finding that it sort of runs under that OS. I need to turn on software rendering, which is still totally unacceptable, but what the other problems are, I don’t know. Bottom line, it’s not like 64-bit Vista came out Q1 2007 in reality — Snapstream has had access to it for a long, long time and it’s inexcusable to have left it out all the way deep into 2007.
Like another commenter said, if anyone beats Snapstream to it for a 64-bit PVR solution other than Windows Media Center, that’s where I take my business. Too bad I paid for Beyond TV.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Well I have BTV 4.6 and am stuck playing with GBPVR (free) until Snapstream releases a Vista64 version which will hopefully be soon.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:05 am
I installed the latest BTV (which states it is NOT 64bit compatible) on a Vista 64 machine and it seems to be running perfectly happily so I don’t know why SS is saying it isn’t ready. It went through the testing perfectly fine and I did NOT have to go and change anything to software mode.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Kevin, how did you get it working in Vista 64bit? I keep getting the error about the services halting and then restarting?
July 12th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I just installed using the latest version using Admin mode at installation time by right click on the installer and choosing “Run in administration mode”.
July 16th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Loaded Vista Ultimate 32 bit. Had a few problems with MCE services, but once disabled BTV worked ok. BM had to be run in compatibility mode to shake a program error I was getting. Once that was overcome I found my T-1300 proc was near or over 100% all the time. I switched that that out for a dual core T-5500 and all was well again.
I thought it was worth the effort and am very happy with BTV on Vista. Loaded Intel’s VIIV software just experiment a little bit and it didn’t mess up any thing in BTV.
August 19th, 2007 at 12:35 am
I am running WinVista and running Directv thru the Media Center. When I ran thru the BTV wizard I had a few problems from the “Tuning Device” section and subsequently the rest of the set up wizard. I got the following error in the “Advanced Tuning” section, “there was a problem communicating with the IR Device” I am using the Media Center remote and the wizard suggested I could use it with BTV as well. Anyone know how I get this working to turn channels on my Sat receiver?
Thanks
September 5th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Looking for the “Total Package”. Yes, BTV is working on my Vista 32, with apparently no hope of running on WinVista 64. This does not mean it’s usable. In my case I need a way to stream to my TV in the next room. Hauppauge’s solution does not run under Vista at this time. Even with Vista FW disabled it runs for only a short time. BTV’s competition has bundled their own MVP application with their product. (This also needs better Vista support.) If you have a need for a media extender, BTV is not a Vista “solution”. It also appears that the only media extender that’s working right with Vista my be the xBox. Who ever gets this end-to-end problem solved gets my support and dollars.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Will this work with Wonder TV VE?
February 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Yeah, Vista x64 support would be so nice. Definately would buy this product, no point to choose 32-bit OS anymore unless you’re missing drivers or have some special software which won’t run in 64bit OS.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I use both BTV 4.7.1 and Vista Media Center under Vista 32-bit with a PVR-500 card. VMC works great except for the Canadian copy protection flag. BTV is missing closed caption support and still has video problems. I think as long as BTV continues to use .NET framework the video problems will never go away.