10. Conclusions

Snapstream's BTV is a top-notch product. It was easy to set up, configure and use. Since Snapstream chose to develop BTV as a PVR-only application, I can't make an overall comparison with other HTPC media programs. But I can compare PVR functions, which I'll do with Windows MCE and SageTV. If you want to skip the commentary, just check out Table 2.

Table 2: PVR Function comparison with MCE and Sage TV
	BTV	MCE	SageTV
Program Guide	Ok	Ok	Uses color coding
Search	Ok	Better than BTV	Better than BTV
Output File Format	Multi-standard	Proprietary	Multi-standard
On-screen Help	Yes	No	No
Home Menu	Ok	More intuitive than BTV	More confusing than BTV
Access to all functions	Need Web interface	Via main interface	Via main interface

SageTV and BTV have similar looking program guides, but SageTV has a useful color-coded system to identify file types. The search functions are a bit more robust in both Sage and Media Center than with BTV. However, since I rarely find that I need to search for specific shows with any of my HTPCs, I consider BTV's search function sufficient. Live television viewing and time shifting work equally well with all three systems. Sage and BTV both output regular non-proprietary file formats while Windows Media Center's files are proprietary and not easily transferred or converted to other formats. BTV's help window at the bottom of the screen was very convenient and allowed the developers to simplify the menu structure without sacrificing any needed information and instruction. However, some of the main menu items did not seem logical, and I needed to use the help box more than I expected to. BTV's home menu is much less confusing than SageTV's, but less intuitive than Windows Media Center's. Both SageTV and Windows Media Center's settings and functions are available within their main interface while BTV users must open an external web interface to access all of the available settings and monitoring tools.

Clearly the commercial-detection and file-compression tools are the features that set BTV apart. SmartSkip functions beautifully. While total removal of commercials would be ideal, you have to consider that SnapStream stuck their necks out far considering the legal implications by adding SpartSkip as it is. I found that I didn't mind the one-button commercial block skipping. It's so easy to use that it's almost as if the commercials are not there anyway. StreamSnip is an interesting approach to trimming down HD files without losing any quality. It allows you to store a lot more uncompressed HD content on your system, and StreamSnip serves as a nice tool to get the HD files ready for third-party editing and compression programs.

I also can't say enough for the automatic compression features in BTV. With so many options available for format and quality, I doubt that even the most skeptical users could find much to complain about. Being able to set BTV to delay the encoding jobs so that they will not affect the regular use of your HTPC is icing on the cake.

Snapstream has created a great PVR program in BTV, and it seems to be actively updating and refining its releases with new and improved features on a regular basis. The only thing that is missing with BTV is a more traditional well-rounded Media Center experience including TV, videos, pictures and music. I look forward to seeing the promised enhancements in the integration between BTV and Beyond Media.

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