Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer Koninklijke Philips Electronics is developing a personalized video recorder application that learns users' viewing tastes, and that could compete with TiVo.

Philips is demonstrating its prototype Personal TV Channel system, intended for PCs or set-top boxes, at the IFA international consumer electronics show in Berlin, which runs through Wednesday.

In a market that isn't exactly begging for another PVR (personalized video recorder) player, Philips believes its application fills some holes in current offerings.

One feature is the system's ability to quickly learn users' preferences and create personalized channels based on those tastes. The self-learning function is based on an algorithm developed by Philips.

"The set-up is really easy," said Jeroen Cappendijk, business development manager of Philips' Personal TV Channel product. "You just create a channel and select a program. The system monitors your zapping habits and automatically refines your channel."

TiVo offers a similar feature, TiVo Suggestions, but users must tell the system explicitly whether they like a program, and it learns and makes guesses about what else they could like based on that.

Philips' software is also able to monitor the preferences of multiple users within the same household. Each household member can create his or her own channel, or share common channels such as blockbuster movies.

The Personal TV Channel also features a premium Electronic Program Guide service, which Philips is developing together with a number of undisclosed partners. In addition to basic TV program information, the program guide service will include additional background information on individual productions.

Also, a "unified content" function finds and records content not only from TV channels but also crawls the Internet for video services, such as YouTube, as well as podcasts.

Philips plans to target its new software application at hard-drive systems such as PCs and set-top boxes, according to Cappendijk.

The PC version will be available early next year as a free download for users of computers running Windows Vista or, depending on the computer maker, can come already installed on machines, according to Cappendijk. The product will ship to makers of set-top boxes within a year, he said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.