Internet DVR Firm: We’re Totally Legit

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/11/2011 12:01:00 AM

Now users can take their streaming Internet video to go — a development that may not thrill some content owners.

Software developer MediaMall Technologies said its PlayLater application, which turns a Windows PC into a digital video recorder for online video, is 100% legal, akin to conventional DVRs.

“PlayLater is a legal technology that is designed to let individuals watch legal online content at a time of their choosing,” MediaMall said in a statement posted on its website. “Just like the broadcast DVR and the VCR before it, PlayLater is designed for personal use and convenience.”

A key reason the New York-based company can claim it’s not aiding and abetting piracy: Programs are playable only on the PC used to record them.

Still, it may throw a monkey wrench into onlinevideo advertising models. Internet video sites frequently force users to sit through online-video ads. But with the PlayLater software, ads can be skipped just as with a regular DVR.

The software, released in late June, can record streaming video from about three dozen Internet services, including YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, BET, Cartoon Network, CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN and ESPN3, Fox News Channel, MTV, Nat ional Geographic Channel, Nickelodeon, OWN, PBS and PBS Kids, Syfy Rewind, TBS and TV.com.

Currently, PlayLater is available as a “preview release” free for 14 days. When officially released, the service will be $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. On setup, PlayLater automatically installs Media- Mall’s PlayOn application, designed for viewing online video on TVs, but use of that product requires an additional fee.

The PlayLater software records shows streamed over the Internet in real-time, just like a conventional DVR, and users must play them back using Microsoft Windows Media Player. MediaMall recommends users have an Internet broadband connection of at least 1.5 Mbps.