ShakeUpMedia's ShowShifter - It slices and dices.

The latest software to hit my desk, I mean couch, in my quest for the perfect PTV PC is a product from a company called ShakeupMedia. Their creation is called ShowShifter. Unlike SnapStream , ShowShifter is building a piece of software that competes directly with the Big Boys, TiVo and ReplayTV. Let me tell you now, it's like they built the software just for me. Even though the software is still in a beta, it quickly realized that it is exactly what I was looking for to complete the Ultimate PTV PC.

ShakeUpMedia's ShowShifter is not yet available to the public but you can visit their website at www.shakeupmedia.com

The best way to describe ShowShifter is "PTV on Crack." ShowShifter is absolutely loaded with features. First of all, it allows you to Watch TV. It includes all of the standard PersonalTV features such as "Live TV Pause", Fast Forward and Rewind. Next, it includes DVR (digital video recorder) features for recording shows while you are away from the TV. But where TiVo and ReplayTV's feature list end, ShowShifter's feature list is just beginning. ShowShifter includes an integrated DVD Player and MP3 playback. If this feature list sounds familiar, it should. It is the exact list of features that I set out to add to the Personal TV PC from the beginning. All in one package.

Installing the software

Installation of the software features a standard windows setup program (I don't know how you Linux people do it) and would have gone off without a hitch except I don't follow directions. Had I followed directions, I would have seen that I needed to have the latest ATI All in Wonder video driver to avoid stability problems. One I followed the directions, everything worked and stability was very good.

ShowShifter is designed to run on pretty modest hardware. Here are the hardware requirements for ShowShifter from their website.

In addition to these requirements you will also DirectX 7, Windows Media Player and the latest graphics card drivers (or else you may have an unstable install as I did) for your Video Card. As with SnapStream, I hope that in the later releases they will actually check that the correct versions are installed. Finally, if you want to use an IR remote you will have to use one of the compatible IR systems. I am using my Hollywood+ remote with my PCRemote software which worked just fine.

Before you install the software you have one more download to undertake. ShowShifter allows you to encode your Television with any codec ( a codec is software that compresses the TV picture and sound into data on your hard drive) This may not sound an important feature but it actually shows great foresight on ShakeUpMedia's part. For instance, if you have slower hardware you can chose a simple codec such as MJPEG (which ShakeUpMedia recommends) which requires minimal CPU usage. However if you have a monster CPU you can take advantage of some of the higher quality codec's such as Microsoft's MPEG4. This also makes ShowShifter more future-proof by allowing you to upgrade the codec without waiting for a ShowShifter upgrade.

Once I installed the codec(s) I planned to use, I installed the ShowShifter software and was ready to go.

The first thing I noticed on launching the software is that it was unlike any Windows software I had seen before. ShakeUpMedia has done an admirable job of making the GUI look more like a Set-Top box and less like a PC. The interface has been designed with nice large buttons (which are useful when trying to operate a handheld mouse) and the MS Windows title bar is nowhere to be seen.

If there is anything I would change, it is the overall look of the interface. It has a very ...Buck Rogers feel to it. The look I can deal with but the interface is also a little bright which can cause a bit of blooming on a Rear Projection TV. I would like to see an option to select the brightness or maybe even the skin (like Winamp)

Watch TV

Codec Setup

Configure copy.jpg (62319 bytes)
Other Configs

When you first access the software you are greeted with the main window above (the pink square is where the picture is displayed but Windows will not screen capture it since the picture is written into the frame buffer to prevent degrading the picture). From the main screen you can access the various sections of the software including TV, DVR, DVD and MP3 functions. You can also access help, configuration exit or enter full screen mode. At any time you can toggle from full screen to the GUI by right clicking the mouse

Selecting the Television button from the main screen brings up the Live TV screen. From here you can select a channel or input from the list on the right using your mouse, as well as customize any of the TV specific settings of the software. You can also select channels from the keyboard or IR remote. If you simply want to watch TV, you can also right click at any time (or program a button on your remote) and go to full screen mode.

There is still one limitation to watching TV with ShowShifter and you an probably guess what it is. While ShowShifter can handle cable or an antenna using your tuner card, I can't control a satellite receiver or cable box...Yet. Again the creators of ShowShifter thought ahead. They have provided hooks into the software to allow others to interface with their software to provide control of external systems to change channels. If I get some free time, I may undertake programming an interface to my Dish5000 Receiver.

Before trying out the PTV features, you will need to configure the codec's for your system. I highly recommend getting the MJPEG codec. It is very efficient and provides VHS quality. When configuring the software, ShowShifter allows you to specify the resolution/codec that you will capture shows when doing Live TV Pause separately from the resolution/codec you will record shows when using the DVR features.

After searching for months to find software for the PTV PC, I was ecstatic when I saw that ShowShifter had a full complement of PTV features. They are all available from either the Remote control, Keyboard or using the buttons on the TV and DVR screens. Features include, Live TV pause, Rewind, and Fast Forward. Using the MJPEG codec, quality was pretty good but not quite as good as the highest quality of TiVo or ReplayTV. This is probably due to the lack of a dedicated encoder chip which both set-top boxes have. In the next year as PC's move past the 1 Ghz mark, this will no longer be a problem because we will be able to specify a higher quality codec and have clock cycles to spare.

Recording Setup

I really only have one complaint related to the PTV features of the software was that the software is a little sluggish when going from live to delayed TV but I will reserve judgment until the software nears completion.

Setting up ShowShifter to record a show is as simple as setting up a VCR. You select the channel, start time, finish time, etc. Once the show has recorded it will show up in the list at the right on the DVR screen. One feature I hope to see in the future is a TV guide to facilitate changing channels and setting up recordings.

Of course, providing some of the best PTV features on a PC wasn't enough for ShakeUpMedia, they had to up the ante for all PTV systems by providing DVD playback as well. Again in a show of great creativity, ShakeUpMedia didn't write their own codec to play DVD's and instead decided to work with other already proven software. If you have been following my PTV PC Project, you know that I have decided on the Ravisent CineMaster codec for DVD Playback. Luckily the ShowShifter works with the CineMaster codec as well as WinDVD and PowerDVD so I didn't have to give up any quality and neither will you provided you use one of these popular DVD software packages.

At this point in the development life cycle the DVD features are no quite complete. While playback and all of the on-screen features work fine, the mouse isn't working yet requiring you to use the arrow keys to access the DVD's menu items. You will also notice that many of the screens in ShowShifter do not quite match. The final screen designs are not quite complete so I expect this will change as the software approaches final release.

DVD Playback

Again this is still beta software so hopefully we will see some more advanced MP3 features as the software moves toward final release.

More Information

If you haven't figured it out already, this software is here to stay as a permanent resident on my PTV PC. There are still a few issues to work out but after seeing how great the software is already, I am sure that ShakeUpMedia will have them all cleaned up by the final release. I will be trying out all of the beta's as they are released and will keep you up to date with the latest developments.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the main screen (first screen shot above). Notice that there is more space below the MP3 button? They have room for even more features! I have a feeling that ShakeUpMedia is just getting started with this software platform. ShakeUpMedia definitely has a big winner here for those of us wanting to run our home theater from a PC.

More Information

If you would like to know more about ShowShifter or ShakeupMedia stop by www.showshifter.com.