Linspire, Inc. developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system of the same name and Freespire, the community desktop Linux operating system, and SageTV, a pioneer in personal video recording and home media center technologies that combine television, music and related media into a complete, easy-to-use home media experience, today announced the availability of SageTV Media Center Version 6 for users of the Linspire and Freespire desktop Linux operating system.
SageTV Media Center software lets users watch, pause and record TV programs on their desktop and living room Linux PCs and provides a single user interface for accessing online video as well as personal music, photos and videos stored on the personal computer. The optional SageTV Placeshifter also enables users to access their home TV and entire PC-based media library on any Internet-connected Linspire PC at home or away from home.
"SageTV Media Center for Linspire and Freespire users broadens our support for desktop Linux and extends our reach into the rapidly growing desktop Linux market for the first time," said SageTV CEO Mike Machado.
"This is a strong partnership that gives users access to an affordable, full-featured PVR, online video, music and photo solution for all their TVs and PCs at home and as well as away from home."
SageTV Media Center Version 6 is immediately available via digital download using CNR ("Click and Run") one-click download and installation software delivery system at: http://www.linspire.com/sagetv . Key features of SageTV Media Center include:
* Complete personal video recording without subscription fees, enabling users to record a single TV show or a whole season of favorite programs on their PC; pause, rewind and fast-forward live or recorded cable, satellite or antenna TV shows; and record multiple shows on multiple tuners simultaneously. The one-time software purchase fee eliminates monthly fees levied by services like TiVo as well as expensive Windows upgrades required to support Microsoft's own media center software.
* Online video, personal music, photos and videos all available from your remote control, access online video including Google video as well as personal media files from PCs from a single interface, play them on a connected TV. Access music play lists by artist or album as well as run music in the background with a slideshow.
* Integrated 14-day U.S., Canadian and European program guides, eliminating the need for users to switch to a separate online application to plan their TV viewing and recording. (European guide requires subscription to TV guide service).
* One-stop music, photo and video management and access, including the ability to access media files from a single interface, play them on a connected TV, and access music play lists by artist or album as well as run music in the background with a slideshow.
* Connectivity to any home TV with an optional media extender, allowing any TV in the house to access to all live or recorded TV, online video, music, photos and personal videos from the SageTV Media Center interface without installing a digital video recorder box on every TV and then searching to find out which show was recorded on which box. Users in different rooms can record and/or access different programs or media at the same time on the quiet and cool SageTV Media Extender.
* Connectivity to any home or remote PC with an optional SageTV Placeshifter license, enabling users to access live or recorded TV, music and photos from the user's home-based SageTV software from any PC with a high-speed Internet connection, whether in a hotel, office,
airport, WiFi cafe, at the pool, or in another room in the house.
"SageTV is another great example of ongoing application development for the Linux platform," said Kevin Carmony, CEO of Linspire, Inc. "Linspire and Freespire users can now take advantage of a comprehensive media center solution, including online video, at a great value. As demand for desktop Linux continues to take hold in the marketplace, so does the need for feature parity with applications designed for Microsoft Windows."
In addition to SageTV Media Center Version 6, SageTV has also made available an optional SageTV Placeshifter software application and SageTV media extenders that enable users to access their home TV and entire PC-based media library from any Internet connected PC away from home.
Pricing and Availability
SageTV Media Center Version 6 for Linspire and Freespire is available for $79.95, or in combination with the optional Placeshifter license for $99.95, through Linspire's CNR software warehouse at http://www.linspire.com/sagetv.
The $109.95 wired SageTV Media Extender and the $159.95 SageTV Wireless Media Extender, enabling users to access the SageTV interface as well as their digital media libraries on any TV or PC in the house, are available at http://www.sagetv.com.
About SageTV
SageTV, LLC is a pioneer in personal video recording and home media center technologies that combine television, music and related media into a complete, easy-to-use home media experience controlled from an existing PC. SageTV Media Center, the company's flagship product, is the first PVR solution that operates on both PCs and TVs, can be deployed on either Windows or Linux, and supports multiple tuners, networking and intelligent recording. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Inglewood, CA. For more information, visit http://www.sagetv.com.
About Linspire, Inc.
Linspire, Inc. (http://www.linspire.com) was founded in 2001 to bring choice into the operating system market. The company's flagship product, the Linspire operating system, is an affordable, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system for home, school, and business users. Linspire pioneered CNR ("Click and Run") Technology, which allows Linspire users access to thousands of software programs, each of which can be downloaded and installed with just one mouse click. The thousands of software titles available in the CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/cnr) include full office and productivity suites, games, multimedia players, photo management software, accounting tools, and more.
About Freespire
Freespire (http://www.freespire.org) is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that combines the best that free, open source software has to offer (community driven, freely distributed, open source code, etc.), but also provides users the choice of including proprietary codecs, drivers and applications as they see fit. With Freespire, the choice is yours as to what software is installed on your computer, with no limitations or restrictions placed on that choice. How you choose to maximize the performance of your computer is entirely up to you. For more information and interview requests:
SageTV Press Contact:
Aly Saltzman
asaltzman@sspr.com
847.415.9303
Linspire, Inc.
858-587-6700 ext 183
858-587-8095 Fax
pr@linspireinc.com