Back in 2014, HWW was acquired by international metadata provider Gracenote – which might not have seemed significant at the time but was actually a great win for Australian TV viewers because it meant Australia's broadcasters no longer had direct control over licensing of the EPG. Instead foreign companies looking to access the Australian EPG could deal with a multinational which didn't have a vested interest in shafting Australian viewers.

Thus we come to the new Plex DVR service, announced overnight at the IFA technology show in Berlin. Plex DVR offers Electronic Program Guide access for 70 countries including Australia, via an international licensing deal with Gracenote. Were Australia's EPG licensing still controlled locally, Australian Plex users would have been left out in the cold.

Plex DVR is available for free to all Plex Pass subscribers and is built into the Plex Media Server software available for computers and Network Attached Storage drives. It lets you schedule recordings of live TV via the Plex web interface, convert those recordings to a range of formats and then stream them to Plex-compatible devices around your home. You can also access the recordings via the internet while away from home.

While cloud PVR services like Optus' TV Now have been struck down by the courts due to fretting by the AFL and its broadcast partners, Plex DVR is within the letter of the law because users are making the recordings using devices on their premises rather than in the cloud.

Initially Plex DVR is only compatible with the slick HDHomeRun network tuner but plans are afoot to support other network and USB television tuners, says Plex co-founder and chief product officer Scott Olechowski. Streaming live channels is also on the roadmap – which is likely to raise the ire of those determined to dictate what Australians watch and how we watch it.