The TiVo personal video recorder is finally coming to Australia, but can TiVo be trusted to look after the interests of viewers rather than the media giants?

Can you trust your TiVo to be loyal when it's in bed with a television network?

TiVo has announced a partnership with Australia's Seven Network to bring the iconic personal video recorder to Australia next year, allowing viewers to pause live high definition TV and well as fast-forward ads.

TiVo's biggest competition in Australia comes from the few devices compatible with the IceTV electronic program guide. Media center computers and PVRs such as the impressive Beyonwiz DP-S1 can match, if not surpass, the features of a TiVo when combined with IceTV's EPG and PIMP remote scheduling service. Both IceTV and TiVo have also indicated plans for an Australian video on demand service.

IceTV's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness - it isn't affiliated with a television network. As a result it has no master to answer to, but it's also under legal attack from the Nine Network, which claims IceTV is infringing its copyright of the programming schedule. There's also the danger that Seven and Nine will do a deal, exchanging Nine's EPG data for the TiVo in return for Seven's EPG data for the Foxtel iQ PVR (Foxtel and Nine are both part owned by the Packer family). With such a deal done, they might join forces to crush IceTV from both a legal and marketing perspective.

If Seven really wanted to do the right thing, it would have come to IceTV's aid - which would have had the added bonus of really annoying the Packer clan. Still, aligning itself with IceTV would have only give Seven control over the EPG, whereas aligning itself with TiVo gives Seven control over the actual hardware as well.

In the US, TiVo isn't afraid to exert its influence over what its users watch and how they watch it. For example, they have the ability to force the box to record certain shows and lock advertisements so they can't be fast forwarded. Australians are embracing PVRs to get away from such behaviour, but buying an Australian TiVo will leave them at the mercy of both TiVo and the Seven Network.

Will TiVo be the saviour of Australian television, or will it just enforce the status quo? Time will tell.

Of course the other big news this week is that the hamstrung Apple TV media player is finally showing signs of life, with Apple adding YouTube access and a 160GB hard drive - but getting into bed with GooTube might backfire on Steve Jobs. Read my take on the Apple/GooTube deal here.

If you ever needed proof that the copyright police are fighting a losing battle, look no further than the ludicrous way they respond each time an AACS encryption key is cracked.

Now Blu-ray and HD DVD protection has been cracked, there's no going back.

AACS encryption is used to protect HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, with each make and model of player allocated a 26 digit hexadecimal player key for unlocking the movie. Actually the player key just decrypts the title key on the disc, then the title key is used to decrypt the movie. For this system to work the title key is encrypted on each disc hundreds of times, one for each player key. Players then look for the title key encrypted with their player key, open that title key and use it to open the movie.

If didn't take long for people to figure out how to extract the hidden player key from players. Some of the first few have been recovered from Blu-ray and HD DVD playback software from CyberLink and Corel and incorporated into software like AnyDVD HD - which is used to decrypt high definition discs so they can be copied.

The AACS Licensing Authority has responded by revoking the player keys for those particular CyberLink and Corel software players. This means title keys encrypted with their player keys won't be included on future Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. So what about the innocent owners of those applications? They'll still be able to play existing discs but they'll have to download a software update, containing a new player key, before they'll be able to watch new discs.

While this is a major inconvenience for those people, it has absolutely no impact those who originally cracked the player keys - they're already off finding new player keys. Once those new player keys become well known they'll be revoked as well, inconveniencing even more innocent bystanders. AnyDVD HD released a new version this week, and so the cycle continue.

Exactly how long can the AACS Licensing Authority keep playing this cat and mouse game? It takes about three months between when a new cracked player key is discovered and new discs are produced without that player key. It would seem that crackers can crack them faster than the AACS Licensing Authority can revoke them. Maybe they'd like to tackle something easier, like stopping the tide with a broom.

So far they've only had to deal with software players, that can be easily upgraded, but what will they do when (not if) someone exposes the player key for the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on? How about the player key for a popular Blu-ray or HD DVD player that doesn't have Ethernet and so can't easily be upgraded with a new player key? At this point the whole system will fall apart and the AACS Licensing Authority will be forced to abandon its practice of revoking player keys.

Another copyright battle is over before it even begins.

I only unpacked the Beyonwiz DP-S1 high def PVR an hour ago, but I'm already making plans to fake my own death and move to South America so I don't have to give it back.

Forget Apple TV, the Beyonwiz DP-S1 delivers the goods.

Apple-worshippers can rave all they want about the hamstrung Apple TV, but the Beyonwiz DP-S1 leaves it for dead. Elegant, Sophisticated, Sexy. The Topfield promise finally delivered - even if not by Topfield.

Thanks to some creative Apple TV hacking, Cupertino's media player is gradually becoming more useful - but it will never attain the functionality the Beyonwiz DP-S1 offers out of the box. Sure it's three times the price of the Apple TV, but it offers at least three times the features. It's a dual-tuner HD PVR, DivX DVD player, network media player and soon to be Video on Demand box thanks to IceTV's upcoming VoD service. In short, entertainment Nerdvana.

The Beyonwiz will play a myriad of file formats from any network attached computer or storage device, as well as CD/DVD, USB device or memory card. No special formats. No special software. It's designed to do what people want to do, rather than what vendors want them to do.

In the other corner is the Apple TV, dependent on iTunes and the content-less iTunes store. Apple demands you have a TV with high def inputs, yet there's nothing worth watching if you live outside the US. Sure it's easy to use, but that because it hardly does anything. The Beyonwiz DP-S1 is proving to be just as user friendly, while letting me do so much more.

Sure you can argue "of course the Beyonwiz is better, just look at the price tag" - but as a media player alone the Beyonwiz still outclasses the Apple TV. It's got nothing to do with money, it's got to do with the fact the Apple TV is deliberately designed to do so little. Apple's insistence on limiting its products means it couldn't match the Beyonwiz at any price.

My bag is packed, my ticket to Rio de Janeiro booked and I've called a cab to take me to the airport. If Beyonwiz calls, tell them I'm dead.

UPDATE: Now the honeymoon is over, read my full review of the Beyonwiz DP-S1

Once considered vapourware by long suffering PVR lovers, the Beyonwiz DP-S1 is finally on sale.

Seeing is believing - the mother of all PVRs is here

The Beyonwiz DP-S1 promises to be the mother of all Personal Video Recorders - offering all the features that rival Topfield long promised but never delivered. It's no surprise Beyonwiz was founded by Topfield engineers who got sick of waiting for Topfield to get its act together.

Like Topfield's long awaited high definition TF7000HDPVRt, released earlier this year, Beyonwiz's DP-S1 features twin high definition digital TV tuners plus an onboard 200GB hard disk drive. It allows you to pause and rewind live TV as well as record two high definition channels simultaneously while playing back a previous recording.

But wait - there's more. The DP-S1 also includes a DVD player that upconverts to high definition. It also features Ethernet, wifi and USB - meaning it can stream audio and video from the internet, other devices on your network and external USB storage devices. In other words, it will do everything the Apple TV will do and plenty more, but without the reliance on iTunes.

The Beyonwiz DP-S1 will also support IceTV's Australian electronic program guide and every DP-S1 will come with a free three month trial subscription. The DP-S1 is also compatible with IceTV's free remote scheduling service, PIMP (Personal Interactive Media Planner). IceTV is also preparing to launch a video on demand service, which will initially only work with Windows Media Centre PCs but will be expanded to PVRs that support IceTV. All these new features require internet access. As such, IceTV has also lost patience with Topfield - declaring the TF7000HDPVRt to be the last non-internet-enabled Personal Video Recorder that IceTV will support.

The Beyonwiz DP-S1 still isn't my dream device - mostly because it won't let me burn recordings to DVD - but, short of building a Home Theatre PC, the Beyonwiz DP-S1 is as good as it gets right now. I'm looking at building a Windows-based Home Theatre PC at the moment, but I doubt you could build anything decent, that would handle high definition, for much less than the Beyonwiz DP-S1's $AU1599 price tag. Of course the advantage of a HTPC is you can add extra TV tuners and more features, such as a Blu-ray or HD DVD drive, as their price drops. You can also subscribe to a wider variety of online content.

If the lack of internet access in the TF7000HDPVRt wasn't the final nail in the coffin for Topfield, the release of the Beyonwiz DP-S1 surely is. Especially considering that the DP-S1 is only $AU300 more expensive than the TF7000HDPVRt and it's on sale at Harvey Norman. Yes, that's not a typo, Harvey Norman. It's doesn't get more "Mums n' Dads" mainstream than the Harvey Norman retail chain. Anyone savvy enough to consider the TF7000HDPVRt should be able to see the value of spending an extra $AU300 to get so much more. The Beyonwiz DP-S1 will be on display at the Harvey Norman Expo tomorrow (Saturday May 12) at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre.

Topfield was once the king of PVRs, but Beyonwiz looks set to steal its crown.

UPDATE: Now the honeymoon is over, read my full review of the Beyonwiz DP-S1

The dearth of iTunes store video content in countries like Australia hardly makes an Apple TV worth owning, but there's a simple way that anyone, anywhere can buy stuff from the US iTunes store.

Apple TV offers a world of entertainment, but sadly most of the world can't view it

When you shop at an iTunes store it checks the nationality of your credit card before allowing you to download files. There's plenty of movies and TV shows for sale on the US iTunes store but you can only buy them if you have a US credit card. While it's possible for people outside the US to wrangle themselves a US credit, there's a much easier solution - PayPal.

All you need to do is create PayPal account with US postal address, but you can still link it to your Australian credit card. Then you need to use the same US address when you register for the US iTunes store. Any address will do, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino is popular. Now as far as the iTunes store is concerned you're a resident of the home of the free and the land of the brave.

Not being an iTunes users, I haven't tried this - but I wish I had of known when I had an Apple TV on loan recently. Still, we know people who have tried it after picking up the idea over at APCmag and it's worked fine for them. Finally there's something worth watching on Apple TV.

FOLLOW UP NOTE: People are saying this doesn't work because "When you create an account, all addresses, including credit card addresses, must be of the same country." PayPal claims that it checks your address against your credit card address, but it obviously doesn't because if you stick with 1 Infinite Loop as your billing address it still works.