The ancient prophecies speak of one entertainment device to rule the digital lounge room. Could Beyonwiz be The Chosen One?

The Beyonwiz DP-S1 has long been an unfinished masterpiece with the potential to be Australia's greatest Personal Video Recorder. The final major weakness in its armour - the lack of intelligent storage management - is set to be addressed in an upcoming firmware update. At this point it will finally be ready to do battle with its arch nemesis TiVo.

The problem with Beyonwiz is that perfection is always one more firmware upgrade away. Every time I'm tempted to swear my allegiance to Beyonwiz, I find one more deal-breaker that turns me away. With TiVo soon to be unleashed on Australia, this could be Beyonwiz's final stand.

Even with intelligent storage management - the ability to automatically delete old recordings according to your preferences - the Beyonwiz DP-S1 will never attain TiVo's incredibly high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). With functionality comes complexity. The TiVo may not do as much as a Beyonwiz, but what TiVo does it does extremely well and it's certainly the best choice for non-tech-savvy users.

Right now I've got the TiVo, Foxtel iQ2, Beyonwiz DP-S1 and Beyonwiz DP-P2 encamped around by Sony Bravia, clamouring to dethrone my bipolar Vista Media Centre. The media centre hangs its head, knowing the end is nigh.

After the inclusion of intelligent storage management, Beyonwiz's greatest weakness will be that recurring recordings are set for the same timeslot each day or week, rather than checking the EPG to see if the show has moved. The work-around is to program your recurring recordings online using IceTV's online EPG, which then checks for schedule changes and notifies the Beyonwiz. I'm certainly a fan of IceTV, but I'd prefer a built-in Season Pass option as well. I'm told this feature also lies in Beyonwiz's future, as always in an upcoming firmware update.

The Vista Media Centre's reign has come to an end. The Beyonwiz DP-S1 could one day reveal itself as The Chosen One, but for now TiVo is set to wear the crown - relegating my media centre to the station of a lowly media player.

It is written that one day a single device will rise up to unite the formats. At that time, the Beyonwiz may claim its rightful place at the centre of the digital lounge room. Until that day, TiVo shall reign.

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