MediaMall this week introduced PlayLater, a new software DVR for online video, allowing users to record online streamed content from Hulu, Netflix, or from almost any other website, storing unlimited content on your personal computer for later viewing.

PlayLater is being marketed as a companion to the company’s first product — PlayOn, which streams virtually any video format to television sets and portable devices like smartphones and tablet computers.

MediaMall’s products directly target pay television “cord-cutters.”  By serving up unlimited video content from web video providers — recorded or live — to television sets and portable devices, there may be more than enough to watch without paying for hundreds of cable networks you don’t care about.

PlayLater works easiest with its built-in online program guide, listing programming from the various “channels” the service supports.  Already “built-in” is listings for online content from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon’s Video On Demand, Pandora, YouTube, CNN, Fox News, TNT, and at least a dozen other networks.  Third party “plug-ins” extend the number of “channels” to other video content websites.

Viewers simply find the show or shows they want to record through the guide and press the “record” button to begin the capturing process.  Shows are quietly recorded in the background, and small pop-ups alert you when various recordings are completed.  The resulting files, recorded in a secure DRM Windows Media format, reside on your hard drive for later viewing.  You can record as much as your hard drive can accommodate, and beta testers quickly found they often amassed hundreds of recordings over a month — providing more content that most cable DVRs can handle.

When combined with MediaMall’s PlayOn, PlayLater viewers can take the show on the road, watching their stored shows over a television set in the next room or in another state, remotely streamed over your broadband connection.  You can also watch on Android or iPhone smartphones, or on tablet computers like Apple’s iPad.

MediaMall products come with a 14-day free trial, but after that you have to pay to keep watching.  The company intends to sell the packaged suite of PlayOn and PlayLater for $7.99 a month, or $69.99 per year.

Stop the Cap! has been using PlayOn at our headquarters for a few months now, and we’ve been very impressed with the results.  PlayOn effectively streams virtually any video file format we throw at it over to our Roku box.  It has largely replaced our first generation Apple TV running Boxee software, which has gotten progressively more troublesome with age.  The picture quality over our wireless N network has been excellent, and the accompanying Android app has also worked well streaming shows over Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network or Wi-Fi.  With Time Warner Cable’s 30/5Mbps DOCSIS 3 broadband service, PlayOn’s picture quality remains excellent even when streamed to remote televisions.

PlayLater is an interesting concept, but we’re not as impressed with MediaMall’s newest endeavor, for these reasons:

Android Phone PlayOn Media Player

MediaMall has no official partnerships with any of the content producers supported by the product.  After covering other product innovations that offer consumers increased viewing convenience, we’re certain content producers will adopt the same hostile response to PlayLater they have with other recording software that allows viewers to store a digital copy on their home computer.  That response could come in lawsuits or through technical adjustments to try and block access to PlayLater.  The company says the legality of their software DVR should not be an issue, considering consumers can already record shows on cable company DVRs and home video recording units.  The biggest “risk” for MediaMall is the fact it allows users to record and save shows from services like Hulu, even after their “online viewing window” expires (typically after a month).  You could theoretically build a season-long collection of shows with PlayLater, a concept that violates Hulu’s terms and conditions.

While the concept of a DVR for online viewing allows for convenient time-shifting, most of the shows available to record are already available “on-demand.”  It makes little sense to record a show you can launch and watch anytime you want.  MediaMall says their product will appeal most to travelers who find themselves without an Internet connection, either because they are flying, driving, or visiting relatives without Internet access.  In these cases, watching pre-recorded shows may make sense. We think the concept of automatically recording shows from live video streams (or from Slingbox, cable or satellite TV) would be more helpful.  Those of us who would like to keep cable but dispense with overpriced DVR rental fees would thank you.

The PlayLater application currently works only on Windows-based computers.  A Mac version is reportedly in development.

Remote viewing requires the PlayOn companion application, which means leaving two software programs running continuously.

Recordings are DRM-protected and technically rely on a “screen-recording” approach, albeit one that takes place in the background.  Recordings occur in real time, and the video quality suffers slightly from the transcoding between the original media format and the DRM-protected video file eventually produced and saved on your computer.  Tests showed some occasional screen glitches when busy websites suffered from traffic congestion.  We also found very slight audio sync problems from time to time, but were barely noticeable.

You can’t currently move the video files and watch them on another computer or device — they either have to be watched on the original computer, or streamed with PlayOn to another device.

The package may be too expensive for some viewers’ tastes.  Without PlayOn, PlayLater sells for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, but that ties your viewing options down.

Overall, PlayLater will probably be most attractive to those who find themselves uncomfortably without their Internet connection and looking for something to watch.  If you install the software on a portable laptop (left on to handle recordings), watching on the computer itself may prove to be the most convenient way to watch.  But we’re not impressed with the restrictive DRM making it impossible to simply transfer recordings between devices without streaming, and the concept of recording on-demand programming that can be watched whenever one wants anyway is not going to convince a number of people to pay $50 a year for the software.  PlayOn has proved far more useful to us than PlayLater probably ever will.  But one benefit we did appreciate with PlayLater — the ability to easily skip the increasing commercial load found on Hulu.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/PlayLater.flv[/flv]

An introduction to PlayLater.  (1 minute)

If you are a Comcast/Xfinity customer, are you still paying for anti-virus and security tools?  If so, Comcast may be able to save you some money, assuming you value the services they bundle with your broadband subscription.

Some customers first become aware of Comcast’s Constant Guard security protection suite after receiving e-mails warning they may have been infected by a bot or other malware.  Comcast has actually been providing some form of this service to customers since 2009, but many are completely unaware of the service, which includes free anti-virus software from Norton.

Comcast’s security alert e-mails usually don’t directly identify a misbehaving computer.  Instead, the company obtains lists of compromised IP addresses from third party security vendors who track botnets and other illicit computer crime.  When a Comcast IP address can be tracked back to a customer, Comcast can send an e-mail to that customer alerting them to the possibility they are running a compromised PC.

One major problem is that recipients of these e-mail messages often suspect they are phishing messages not actually sent by the cable company, and a number of them forwarded to Gmail e-mail accounts end up in the spam folder.  But, in most cases, they are actually legitimate Comcast e-mails.

Comcast advises customers to download their Constant Guard security suite to identify and remove potential threats from their computers.  The suite is free for Comcast customers and includes:

• Norton Security Suite: Provides protection that helps guard against identity theft, viruses, hackers, spam, phishing and more. It also includes parental controls to help keep your kids safe online.
• Secure Backup & Share: Securely backup and share your valuable files, like photos. (2 GB storage included at no additional charge.  Remember the 250GB monthly usage cap!)
• Desktop Applications: The Comcast Toolbar includes anti-spyware, network-embedded anti-spam and anti-virus technologies brought to you through partnerships with Bizanga, Cloudmark®, Goodmail CertifiedEmail™, and Return Path. In addition, Comcast uses up-to-date blocklists from Spamhaus and TrendMicro to help reduce and guard against unwanted spam.
• Proactive Bot Notification: As a new feature of the Constant Guard service, Comcast may email a “Service Notice” to your Comcast email address if they believe one or more of your computers may be infected with a type of virus called a Bot. A Bot is a malicious form of software that could use your computer to send spam, host a phishing site, or steal your identity by monitoring your keystrokes.

Considering it’s free, it may be worth a try.  Comcast customers can obtain the software and additional information from the Constant Guard website.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Comcast Constant Guard.flv[/flv]

Comcast demonstrates Constant Guard’s password and credit card-saving features.  (4 minutes)

Time Warner Cable customers in Maine are the first in the country to deal with Time Warner Cable’s decision to abandon analog cable television to make room for more digital channels, faster Internet speeds, and enhanced phone service.

Nearly 90,000 subscribers in 105 Time Warner Cable-franchised communities are receiving letters advising them they better clear off space on top of the television set if they don’t already have a cable box or a CableCARD.  They’ll need the space to accommodate a new set top digital adapter box that will let analog television sets receive the new digital signals.  In return, Time Warner Cable will be able to cram 10-15 digital channels into a space formerly occupied by just a single analog channel.

Time Warner Cable will provide a few of the devices for free until 2014, after which the company will begin billing customers $0.99 a month for each digital adapter still active on their account.

Customers in Lewiston, Augusta, Rumford, and Mexico are registering to receive the boxes on a special website Time Warner Cable has launched to handle the transition.  Those customers will see almost all analog cable signals cease on Wednesday, Oct. 19.  The only exception is Time Warner Cable’s “Broadcast Basic” channels, which include local over the air stations and public, educational and government access channels.  In Maine, that includes channels 2-22.

Time Warner Cable says customers with QAM-tuner-equipped televisions won’t need the digital adapters, but some Maine residents question that, noting Time Warner traditionally encrypts most of its QAM channels. There is a strong suspicion those customers will also need digital adapters or a set top box — a ludicrous situation for some.

“I own a set with a QAM tuner built-in, and it looks like I either pay Time Warner Cable for a digital set top box or watch signals downconverted into lower quality analog with a digital adapter,” writes Stop the Cap! reader Lou in Augusta. “Either way, I’ll be paying Time Warner Cable more either immediately, or in two years.”

Lou says the complexities of channel mapping QAM signals guarantees most subscribers will pay for a box.

“It’s cumbersome to scan for open QAM channels, the channel numbers are all messed up, and sometimes the numbers change without warning,” Lou says.

Lou opted for two digital adapters, one for an older bedroom television set and the other for his son’s bedroom.  He completed the installation on his own in about 30 minutes, noting Time Warner Cable will charge $17.99 to roll a truck to handle installation themselves.  The biggest wait came when it was time to authorize the boxes.

“They left me on hold 20 minutes and the woman apparently was not well-trained because she kept asking for help from a supervisor,” Lou shares.  “After getting the boxes activated, they worked about as well as expected, and at least now we can watch digital cable channels on analog televisions in the house without the more expensive set top box.”

Lou doesn’t mind the fact Time Warner is dumping analog cable, he just minds how they are doing it.

“There is no reason we should have to pay the cable company more just so they can consolidate channel space for their own benefit,” Lou says.  “Digital adapters should be free, forever, and QAM channels should be opened up so those of us with tuner-equipped televisions don’t have to get an unnecessary box or adapter just to watch digital channels.”

Time Warner Cable started their nationwide transition as far to the east as they possibly could.  But gradually, every Time Warner Customer will experience the digital transition for themselves.  For the cable company, the transition in Maine is also an experiment to learn what kind of reaction the company gets from its subscribers, says the Sun Journal:

Time Warner is unsure how the conversion will be accepted by the public. This region — from Camden to Waterville and Carrabassett Valley to Poland — is the national company’s first to make the switch. Other markets, including those in the rest of Maine, will follow, said Andrew Russell, spokesman for Time Warner New England.

Meanwhile, no one knows for sure how many boxes will be distributed or whether people will accept the fees when they begin in 2014.

From the cable company’s perspective, the fee is nominal. Similar conversion boxes, which only convert digital signals and don’t unscramble them as Time Warner’s do, cost $40 to $60 at local technology stores.

Cox Cable customers in several states have been receiving e-mails announcing the availability of the company’s “Data Usage Meter,” which is generally a precursor to the implementation of an Internet Overcharging scheme.  For at least two families, ignoring that usage meter temporarily shut down their Internet access when they reportedly exceeded their allowance.

Our view of what Internet Overcharging with usage caps really means.

Dear Cox High Speed Internet Customer,

We’d like to take this opportunity to announce the availability of the Data Usage Meter. This new feature provides an easy way to check monthly household high-speed Internet data usage at any time. Monthly data usage is the amount of data that users send, receive, download or upload each month for movies and videos, photos, web surfing, email, gaming, and other files.

Each of our packages has a specific data usage amount. The amount depends on your Cox High Speed Internet package and corresponds to the speeds provided with the package. Our speediest package provides the highest usage amount. You are currently subscribed to the Premier Package which has a monthly data usage amount of 250 Gigabytes (GB). This is equivalent to streaming about 138 standard definition movies, or 83 high definition movies in a month.

The vast majority of our customers do not exceed their usage amount in a month and Cox does not charge you an additional fee if you exceed it. However, if you find that you are exceeding the usage amount for your package, you should check for the following potential causes:

An unsecured wireless home network. If your wireless router does not have security enabled, others outside your home may be using your Internet service. Cox provides a free tool to test the security of your home network. The Home Network Security Check can be accessed by logging into your account via myaccount.cox.net which will place you into Internet Tools. From there, simply select the Home Network tab

A computer virus. If your computer is infected with a virus, it may be transmitting large amounts of data without your knowledge. Cox strongly advocates Internet safety and security. That’s why we offer all of our High Speed Internet customers free security software that will help protect your computers. Cox Security Suite Powered by McAfee® will shield you from many viruses, spam, phishing and spyware. It even comes with parental controls.

To download your copy in just a few minutes, simply visit myaccount.cox.net and select the Security Suite tab in Internet Tools.

If after checking for these problems you find that you are still exceeding the usage amount, you may want to consider upgrading to another package that more closely matches your use of the service. Cox’s top High Speed Internet package includes 400 GB per month.

To view your current data usage, follow these easy steps:
1. Visit myaccount.cox.net
2. Sign in with your primary Cox username and password
3. Select the “Data Usage Allowance” tab on the left bar

The Data Usage Meter shows daily and monthly usage for your account starting with the beginning of your billing period. The monthly view shows the usage by month determined by the date of the end of your billing period. Over time, you will be able to see your household usage over the previous 12 months. The Data Usage Meter is only available to primary account users and secondary user accounts with billing access.

Cox usage caps fly in the face of some of the company's ancillary broadband products, one of which claims to offer "unlimited backups." It's not "unlimited" with a usage cap in place.

Cox customers have been technically under an Internet Overcharging scheme limiting usage for well over a year, but enforcement of those usage caps has traditionally been light, with only the most egregious users occasionally getting phone calls from the cable operator.  Some Cox markets still do not have a functioning usage measurement tool.

But there is growing suspicion that may be about to change.  Some Cox customers in Georgia, Arkansas, and Kansas report Cox is contacting them about Internet usage, and in one case in Georgia, shut off an account after the family exceeded their allowance by just 3GB.

“I was 3GB over my 200GB [allowance] and my Internet was temporarily suspended till I called Cox,” writes Stormside, a customer in Warner Robins, Georgia. “They had a ticket number on me and transferred me to [another] department. I was given the spiel about their policies saying they can suspend or cancel my Internet service if I continue to go over the cap.”

After promising to more closely monitor usage, the account was restored.

Cox says you can send 84 million e-mails with their Ultimate package.

Another customer in Pensacola, Fla. experienced the same thing.

“They disabled my Internet due to the cap, and I had to call to get it back up,” shares Compaq255 on the Cox Forum on Broadband Reports.

The usage caps Cox may increasingly enforce leaves customers with two options:

1. Reduce usage to remain within usage allowances;
2. Upgrade to a faster speed package, with a correspondingly larger allowance.

Stormside intends to do the former, Compaq255 the latter.

“I was going to upgrade to the higher package anyway,” Compaq255 says.

Many Cox customers have no idea the company limits their Internet usage, because the usage allowance is only disclosed in buried fine print contained within the company’s lengthy legalese–Acceptable Use Policy.  For customers like Janet Handshire, a Cox customer in Alma, Ark., the first usage cap disclosure she noticed was in a company e-mail.

“Cox sends e-mail to us all of the time, mostly promoting their various services, but I noticed this one because of all of the text,” says Handshire. “I was surprised to discover we even had a usage cap with Cox, and I am completely uninterested in visiting their usage page all the time to figure out whether I am okay with them or not.”

Handshire says she already pays nearly $200 a month to Cox for their triple play package and can’t believe the company is now becoming stingy over Internet usage.

“I have five boys and a husband in this house,” she says. “I already keep track of all the bills and now I have to start tracking how much everyone around here is using the Internet?  I don’t think so.  They are treating this like it is a limited precious resource.”

“The one thing we’ve learned following the broadband story in this country is Internet access is already a cash cow for these companies, but they keep asking for more,” she says.

Current usage allowances with Cox range from 30GB a month for their “starter” package to 250GB a month for their Premier Package.  An Ultimate package in some areas offers even faster speeds with a 400GB allowance, but it’s not available everywhere.

Verizon Wireless has announced a new $50 unlimited talk, text, and web prepaid plan for price sensitive new customers who don’t mind being stuck with a lower-end feature phone.

The new Verizon Unleashed unlimited plan has been test-marketed since April to prepaid customers in southern California and Florida, but will now be available nationwide from Verizon stores, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target.

Although existing Verizon Wireless prepaid customers may be able to sign up for the plan on their existing phones, new customers in test markets were limited to a selection of just a handful of “feature phones” that make web use and texting cumbersome:

• LG Cosmos™ 2 — Now into its second generation, this basic feature phone slightly improved its slide-out keyboard.  The phone was rated “adequate” for an entry-level feature phone, but CNET’s detailed review notes it lacks 3G EV-DO service.  That means you will be web browsing on Verizon’s painfully slow 1xRTT data network.  Verizon has no worries customers using this phone will chew up a lot of wireless data.  Customers rated the build quality as adequate, but found the keys on the first generation of this phone did tend to wear out with a lot of use.  It’s a true “throwaway” phone once the warranty expires.  Repairs always cost more than buying a new phone.  Verizon’s website prices the phone at a stiff $189.99 for month-to-month customers, but it will probably remain priced at around $99.99 for prepaid customers choosing the Unleashed plan.
• LG Accolade™ — A real workhorse basic phone for Verizon Wireless, the Accolade is much better for making and receiving calls than doing anything with texting or web use.  The phone has no QWERTY keyboard to type on, and no 3G service either, so its usefulness for data and texting is extremely limited.  But it is cheap, routinely selling for under $40.  CNET has a video review.  We suspect this phone will not be major part of the nationwide rollout of Unleashed, as Verizon appears to have discontinued it recently.
• Pantech Caper — A front facing tiny keyboard features prominently on this phone, which would have been considered cutting edge five years ago.  Now, it’s considered a ho-hum “feature phone” for the non-smartphone crowd.  It received a fair rating from most reviewers, with the biggest complaints coming from unintentional pocket dialing and button pressing, and a lousy built-in camera.  No 3G service.  The Caper also won’t win any awards for its ergonomics.  Verizon Wireless had been selling this phone in test markets for $80 earlier this year.  CNET’s video review is here.

There is a good chance a few different, more current feature phones will be introduced for the Unleashed plan later this week.  But they will all likely dispense with support for 3G service and lack features many customers increasingly seek on smartphones.

Verizon Wireless has traditionally done poorly in the prepaid market, because its plans are considerably more expensive that those offered by competitors, especially T-Mobile and Sprint.  Verizon Wireless had been charging $95 a month for unlimited talk/text prepaid service plus $0.99 per day for web use.  At those prices, Verizon has been losing prepaid customers, now down to 4.4 million.  Many of those customers fled to providers like Sprint’s Virgin Mobile, which saw a 23 percent increase in its customers, which now number 13.8 million.

Verizon’s $50 unlimited plan matches AT&T’s $50 prepaid unlimited GoPhone plan.  Analysts suggest both companies have set prices (and limitations on the phones that work with the plans) at a level that allows them to compete with lower-priced rivals, but does not encourage their contract customers to switch to a cheaper prepaid plan.

For data-hungry smartphone users, there is little here to persuade anyone to downgrade to a $50 prepaid plan.