One of the biggest inconveniences involved with upgrading to Windows Vista is all of the potential software and hardware incompatibilities that may pop up once you are ready to go. As with software drivers, there will also be programs that simply just won't work.

Over at the Snapstream blog there is a piece which brings to light the specific state that Beyond TV is in with regards to Windows Vista.

The current version of Beyond TV (4.5) is not fully compatible with Vista, but if you hold on, version 4.6 is scheduled to ship "very soon now". This new version will contain a wide variety of bug fixes which will make it fully compatible with Windows Vista.

So if you are a Beyond TV user who is thinking about switching to Vista, make sure you wait for this upgrade to save yourself some hassle. It's good to know that something is in the works.

1. Save your videos on a computer as MPEG files, and then burn them to DVD.
2. Add a larger hard drive.
3. Keep your existing hard drive, but add a second.
4. Backup and restore your TiVo settings.
5. Access your TiVo over the web.
6. Move files to and from your PC.
7. Download internet video files directly to your TiVo (no PC required).
8. Automatically start programs (hacks) when TiVo reboots.
9. Give your TiVo a static IP address.
10. Change the way your Now Playing list sorts recordings.
11. Enable a 30-second skip button on your TiVo remote control.
12. Enable remote control shortcuts for Series1 TiVo units.
13. Create a personal TiVo screen with weather, stock quotes, and sports scores.
14. Stream video from your TiVo to other machines on your home network.
15. Add caller ID to your TiVo.
16. Rename recorded programs.
17. Undelete recordings.
18. Enable advanced wish lists, (looking up programs with two actors, or a combination of actors, titles, etc).
19. Check your own personal viewing statistics.
20. Disable the Live TV button.
21. Browse Flickr from TiVo.
22. Add functions to DirecTiVo units.
23. Eliminate background in TiVo menus, allowing you to see the video in the background.

• Simple to use voice commands with no voice training required
• Play MP3 or Apple iTunes music using voice commands
• PC-to-Phone calling using Skype to anywhere worldwide
• Read and send email
• Create your own custom voice macros to launch websites and applications

1. Start with a clean Windows installation.
2. If you're not starting with a clean installation, but purchased a machine preloaded with bloatware, uninstall absolutely everything except device drivers, a DVD decoder, Java 2 Runtime and a couple of other crucial programs. If your machine doesn't have the latest drivers installed, download them now.
   
3. Consider using a router with antivirus protection so you don't have to install antivirus software on the PC.
4. Make sure to run Windows Update.
5. Set up usersnames and passwords, and set each Media Center in the house to automatically login.
6. Make sure to adjust the power settings so your PC never goes into standby or hibernate modes.
7. Check the box next to "away mode" in power settings so that your PC will shut down audio and video outputs when you click the off button no your remote. This makes it easier to power down some TVs using your MCE remote.
   
8. Set your Sound Scheme to none so that Windows doesn't announce itself to the world every time it reboots after an automatic update in the middle of the night

• Enable the "orbiting" mode which moves the screen around almost imperceptibly to minimize burn-in.
• Use "Low Power" mode for most of your viewing. This reduces the intensity of the display minimizing burn-in.
• Adjust your brightness, contrast, colors, etc. to lower intensities.
• Finally, run your TV's "white-out" option every once in a while.
• Use a burn-in DVD to help "break in" the plasma screen

Zunemytube

1. Download and install ZuneIEPlugin.
2. A new icon shows up on your Internet Explorer window with a Zune symbol.
3. Browse to a video you want to save on Google, YouTube, or Soapbox.
4. Click the "Zune It" button.
5. The program will download an .flv file and convert it to a Zune-compatible .wmv file.
6. The videos will be saved in your "My Videos" folder, under subfolders for Google Video, YouTube, and Soapbox.

1. Keep in mind that if you get caught, you could get in trouble with the school IT types, so you might want to check and see if the school has a policy against this. Or better yet, you might even want to call the school's IT department and see if you're allowed to just register your TiVo.
2. You'll need a Linksys router or other device that's supported by the open-source DD-WRT project.
3. If you happen to get a wireless router and forget to turn on encryption, you'll be held responsible for anything that's downloaded to your computer by someone leeching off of your WiFi signal, because it'll look like all of their illegal music and movie downloads are going to your computer.

• Connect your PVR to your TV and DVD recorder using RCA composite cables, S-Video cables or the traditional coaxial cable. You can then, depending on the setup on your PVR:
  a) use the "record to VCR" feature on your PVR such as on a Sceintific Atlantic PVR.
  b) playback PVR recordings through your TV and then, while they play, record them from the TV to your DVD recorder.
• Connect your PVR to a PC and export recordings from your PVR to your PC's hard drive. Different models of PVRs will have different PC software for the job and some won't have this functionality at all. If you have a TiVo the softare to use is TiVo2Go. Once the recording is on your PC you simply convert and burn the copied recordings from your PC and onto a DVD using a DVD writer and DVD burning software such as Nero. Dave Zatz shows you how to do it with a TiVo PVR and the Nero software. There are also some instructions on how to do this with a DirecTiVo.
  
• By far the easiest option is simply to get a hybrid DVD and hard drive PVR such as the Sony RDR-HXD560 or the TiVo Toshiba hybrid PVR.