Make your PC act like a TiVo for free? Just about…we learned from Search Engine Journal about a blurb on Yahoo! Next announcing a new service, Yahoo! Go TV Beta, that allows US Windows users to connect PCs to their TVs in order to view photos, surf Flickr, listen to music or record TV shows.
Well, after a few minor adjustments. And you’ve got to meet a few ‘basic’ system and internet connection requirements. But once you physically connect your PC with your TV set and install the free download, you’re good to go (after you purchase and install a remote control-equipped TV tuner card, of course). We, uh, haven’t had the chance to hook everything up, but if you go by the people pictured on the Yahoo! Go TV page, their minds appear to be pretty blown by the whole thing.
It’s an impressive-sounding array of services (all of the above plus the ability to watch movie trailers, get showtimes, view clips from Yahoo! Video, etc.), but after all that rigamarole, is it all gonna work right? Check the lengthy FAQ, and the answer is ‘possibly.’ The ‘known issues’ section lists a number of problems (“hey, it’s a beta release”), such as a disappearing down arrow key while scrolling a menu of videos, and sub-optimal performance for some video features (“This can be corrected with a faster broadband connection”). But still, it’s a lot of basically free applications (all within Yahoo!’s online universe) if your system can handle it.
