{"id":87355,"date":"1999-12-31T00:42:00","date_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartoffice.com.au\/mctivia-makes-dodgy-tv-legal\/"},"modified":"1999-12-31T00:42:00","modified_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:42:00","slug":"mctivia-makes-dodgy-tv-legal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/mctivia-makes-dodgy-tv-legal\/","title":{"rendered":"McTiVia Makes Dodgy TV Legal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wireless streaming device with a twist takes on the world of content delivery, encouraging users to bend the rules to access content cheaply (and most of the time, free) online.<\/p>\n

With the McTiVia device from Inspire Technology, users are given a trial version of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows them to access geographically restricted content like videos from Hulu.<\/p>\n

Many catch-up TV services in the US restrict content to the one country due to legal licensing restrictions from the content providers. The use of a VPN essentially tricks the services into thinking you are accessing content from the US by going through a foreign IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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“Using a VPN service isn’t illegal,” reassures Ivan Knezevic, product manager for the McTiVia. <\/p>\n

Inspire Technology have posed the idea of products like their own being used as a simple (and legal) alternative to dodgier methods that otherwise involve piracy. <\/p>\n

“This is something that’s a lot easier than downloading a torrent,” adds Knezevic.<\/p>\n

The McTiVia wireless streamer is a small box that acts like a home router, connecting computers to televisions. Rather than sharing content through a link that is then played directly on the TV though, the McTiVia mirrors the image you see on your PC onto your TV – effectively turning your TV into your monitor. And wirelessly.<\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

You can already hardline a PC to a TV (and even record from TV to your PC) with the right video card and a few cables, but McTiVia is aimed at a wider consumer audience.<\/p>\n

“Convenience” is the key, says Robert Bonanno who heads up marketing for Inspire Technology, the newly founded company that’s distributing the McTiVia in Australia.<\/p>\n

With DLNA and other home networking solutions already on the market, Bonanno says that they’re taking a new angle because “DLNA is restricted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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While most new TVs can play content straight off USBs and via DLNA, the more obscure file types need specifics codecs through a PC to be played. Even new TVs with browsers have flaws in encoding some browser-based video players.<\/p>\n

“No hardware on the market, that I know of, currently supports Silverlight [apart from PCs],” says Knezevic, pointing out that websites like Nine’s Fixplay catch-up TV service is only compatible on a PC that can run Microsoft’s Silverlight software.<\/p>\n

“They’re trying to make a ‘smart’ TV, but you’ve got the internet which is as smart as it’s ever going to be,” says Bonanno.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got a lot of customers who last year bought a three and a half thousand dollar TV – they’re not going to buy a ‘smart’ TV.”<\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

As for the actual running of the device, it sports a 2.4GHz wireless connection that runs as its own router of sorts, connecting PCs and laptops to a connected TV.<\/p>\n

It’ll run video content with a three second delay as a buffer for audio and video, ensuring that there’s little to no lag in playback, with an option to run in ‘application’ mode where you physically control your PC on a pixel-to-pixel ratio on the screen, but with lag.<\/p>\n

The software supplied is fairly limited though, relying heavily on third party apps to create the truly mobile experience – and continuing the theme of making the dodgy a little more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

“If you’re tech-savvy and jailbreak your phone, you can get a lot more content off your iPhone,” says Bonanno.<\/p>\n

Applications like Splashtop can mirror a PC or Mac screen onto iPhones and iPads, which can then control the screen, thus controlling what you see on the TV through the McTiVia.<\/p>\n

The McTiVia is currently out at Harvey Norman retailers for $299, though Inspire Technology is in talks with other retailers like Officeworks on widening the distribution network.<\/p>\n

Part of moving to other retailers like Officeworks is to grab the office\/business market with office applications like presentations from PC to TV.<\/p>\n

They’re also working on bringing a QWERTY-keyboard remote control with point-and-click cursor functions to take over the need for a mouse and keyboard when using a PC on a TV. This should hit stores in the next month or two for around $99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wireless streaming device with a twist takes on the world of content delivery, encouraging users to bend the rules to access content cheaply (and most of the time, free) online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":94468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-hardware","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nMcTiVia Makes Dodgy TV Legal - Smart Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/mctivia-makes-dodgy-tv-legal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"McTiVia Makes Dodgy TV Legal - 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