It was only a matter of time until the household television and the computer became completely linked: Nero, the DVD burning software manufacturers, have just introduced a software program called LiquidTV, which is basically a virtual TiVo for your computer.

LiquidTV will ship with both USB TV tuner and receiver hardware, along with a standard remote control. The software program comes with many of the features found in TiVo, including digital video recording, scheduling, an electronic program guide, high-definition and standard recording quality, and the ability to record two different programs simultaneously to your computer hard drive.

nero-liquidtvUnlike other digital video recorders, navigation is not dependent upon the included remote control — users can navigate through programming using a standard mouse or a plethora of convenient keyboard shortcuts, including dedicated keys for record play and pause.

Another benefit of LiquidTV is the software’s ability to export recorded programs in a wide variety of formats including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Windows Media Video, AVI, and the proprietary .tivo format which is readable by any standard TiVo hardware. Of course, the program also offers the ability to burn programs directly to DVD, building on Nero’s considerable experience in producing DVD authoring software.

Initially, LiquidTV software will only be available in North America. So-called big box retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City and Office Depot will carry the product. The expected retail price will be just under $200, and this includes a 12-month subscription to TiVo.

The software can also be purchased without a TiVo subscription for $99.99 and is compatible with both desktop and laptop PCs. The software will also support home theater and Dolby surround sound setups. So far, a Mac version of LiquidTV has not been announced.

But for many die-hard TiVo users, the big question is whether LiquidTV can replace their TiVo hardware? Currently, the software boasts most of the features of a regular TiVo set up, and a few extras that are not available on TiVo. However, there are shortcomings as well: the speed of the user’s computer processor and the amount of available memory will greatly affect the performance of LiquidTV, and its ability to store large quantities of video programming.

To record high def video, LiquidTV requires a minimum of a 3 GHz Pentium 4 processor (or the AMD equivalent), and at least 40 GB of available hard drive space. Luckily, most modern computers (both laptop and desktop) should meet the requirements to run LiquidTV with no problem. It is advisable, however, to purchase a large external hard drive to store all that video programming, as 40 GB will barely get you started.