A while back, I installed TVersity. At version 0.9.whatever it didn't seem to handle things very well. The transcoding was iffy, it seemed to cut out part way through files, some shit about packed bitstreams and was generally just a bitch to work with due to its flash-based interface. I resolved to check on it again later, as further development couldn't make it worse than it was unless it started randomly formatting drives. After NOT downloading all of Batman The Animated Series in what turned out was a PS3 and 360 incompatible version of XviD, "later" became now.



I'm pleased to say that TVersity improved significantly. Now at version 1.5, there's been nary a hiccup in video streaming and after installing the latest K-Lite Codec Pack (Full version, “lots of stuff” install configuration) little issue with transcoding either. What little problem I had was solved by adding the aforementioned BTAS folder individually and changing one of its settings so that it would always transcode; TVersity seems to have a bit of trouble deciding if the PS3 (or 360, I tested both) can play certain formats. They can play XviD, but not this XviD, so it wasn't automatically detecting the neccessity. More words here than the problem was trouble to overcome, really.



By using the unlimited trial of their pro version, you can also link it to your Hulu, Youtube, BBC iPlayer, Flickr, Google whatever or other RSS feeds. Podtoid, Retroforce and Podcastle all stream, getting me over the hurdle of never remembering to download, copy to my mp3 player and then actually listen to them. It currently lacks the ability to do something called “stereo mix”, though, so if you want to use the video services above, you will need a sound driver that supports it or a eighth inch cable to plug your line out into your line in. They say the stereo mix for transcoding flash video is going to be integrated into future releases.

I mentioned it in the title, but the best thing here is that the program is free, even the pro version is simply an honor system for registration. The interface is still based on flash, but nothing is perfect. I've seen mention of this program on the cblogs before but for anyone else that had trouble with it in the past, from someone that did as well, it's worlds better now.