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We also think that some of the wait is for the adoption of CableCARD (at
least in the US) to replace the set top, which still allows the cable
companies to maintain control over their premium content. One of the
current drawbacks, however, is that they only support "one-way" CableCARDs
right now. The two-way ones appear to be at least a year out. We can
imagine that, once the two-way standards get wrapped up and the technology
catches on, MCE 200x will be able to integrate with On Demand and Pay Per
View programming (once those interfaces also get standardized). That will
open up some really cool possibilities for MCE.
We would settle for a PCI "tuner" card that has three RCA-style jacks for
component video in and an optical in for audio so we can support standard
set top boxes connected the same way they do to HDTVs. It is not ideal in
that the video would not stay in the digital realm, but at least we would
not have to switch the display's inputs to go from the HD outputs on the set
top to using the MCE interface and it would allow us to record shows in high
def via the set top. We wouldn't care if it has to be encoded again just to
get the functionality. It seems that, if they can shovel all of the data
through the busses for the ATSC Over the Air interface, the inner workings
of the machine and MCE would be able to keep up with a component video
input. We do not see any vendors offering this type of card for MCE 2005
yet, but we still can dream. Our guess is that it boils down to keeping the
content providers happy again. The ATSC OTA channels (at least in our area)
are the "basic" broadcaster channels and offer no premium content. If we
could record the premium content as high-def, the providers will be very
hesitant to support the product (once again). But then again, wouldn't
Microsoft's support of the broadcast flag throughout the entire chain
enforce that?
Regards,
=D-
Derek R. Flickinger
Interactive Homes, Inc.
"Robert Schlabbach" <robert_s@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:ckhj5a$vsg$01$1@news.t-online.com...
> "Drew" <Drew@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B655961D-82DA-4CC4-9F22-5459E83A67D7@microsoft.com...
>> I read your article and was disappointed to see that MCE 2005 will
>> support HDTV only over the air. Is that right, and if so, any
>> particular reason for this limitation?
>
> Yep: ENCRYPTION. It appears, ATSC Terrestrial is the only transmission
> system which delivers unencrypted HDTV content in the USA. The HDTV
> content
> available on cable or satellite all comes with a "closed" encryption which
> cannot be decrypted with available PC hardware and software.
>
>> I was hoping to buy a Media Center PC as a digital hub, but that now
>> seems unworkable since I get my HDTV signal via cable (Comcast).
>> Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
> Contact Comcast and demand that they work out a solution with the PC
> manufacturers and threaten to cancel your cable service and go entirely
> with ATSC Terrestrial otherwise ;) Would save you some money, too...
>
> Regards,«
> --
> Robert Schlabbach
> e-mail: robert_s@gmx.net
> Berlin, Germany
>
>
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Thanks. So if I can't get support for HDTV over cable now, does it make
sense to get started with a Media Center-based digital hub now and add new
cards to address HDTV when they become available? In other words, can I set
up MCE 2005 with my settop box so that it allows me to watch, record and
manage standard TV through MCE and watch (but not manage or record) HDTV
separately?
"Derek R. Flickinger" wrote:
> We also think that some of the wait is for the adoption of CableCARD (at
> least in the US) to replace the set top, which still allows the cable
> companies to maintain control over their premium content. One of the
> current drawbacks, however, is that they only support "one-way" CableCARDs
> right now. The two-way ones appear to be at least a year out. We can
> imagine that, once the two-way standards get wrapped up and the technology
> catches on, MCE 200x will be able to integrate with On Demand and Pay Per
> View programming (once those interfaces also get standardized). That will
> open up some really cool possibilities for MCE.
>
> We would settle for a PCI "tuner" card that has three RCA-style jacks for
> component video in and an optical in for audio so we can support standard
> set top boxes connected the same way they do to HDTVs. It is not ideal in
> that the video would not stay in the digital realm, but at least we would
> not have to switch the display's inputs to go from the HD outputs on the set
> top to using the MCE interface and it would allow us to record shows in high
> def via the set top. We wouldn't care if it has to be encoded again just to
> get the functionality. It seems that, if they can shovel all of the data
> through the busses for the ATSC Over the Air interface, the inner workings
> of the machine and MCE would be able to keep up with a component video
> input. We do not see any vendors offering this type of card for MCE 2005
> yet, but we still can dream. Our guess is that it boils down to keeping the
> content providers happy again. The ATSC OTA channels (at least in our area)
> are the "basic" broadcaster channels and offer no premium content. If we
> could record the premium content as high-def, the providers will be very
> hesitant to support the product (once again). But then again, wouldn't
> Microsoft's support of the broadcast flag throughout the entire chain
> enforce that?
>
> Regards,
>
> =D-
>
> Derek R. Flickinger
> Interactive Homes, Inc.
>
> "Robert Schlabbach" <robert_s@gmx.net> wrote in message
> news:ckhj5a$vsg$01$1@news.t-online.com...
> > "Drew" <Drew@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:B655961D-82DA-4CC4-9F22-5459E83A67D7@microsoft.com...
> >> I read your article and was disappointed to see that MCE 2005 will
> >> support HDTV only over the air. Is that right, and if so, any
> >> particular reason for this limitation?
> >
> > Yep: ENCRYPTION. It appears, ATSC Terrestrial is the only transmission
> > system which delivers unencrypted HDTV content in the USA. The HDTV
> > content
> > available on cable or satellite all comes with a "closed" encryption which
> > cannot be decrypted with available PC hardware and software.
> >
> >> I was hoping to buy a Media Center PC as a digital hub, but that now
> >> seems unworkable since I get my HDTV signal via cable (Comcast).
> >> Any thoughts or suggestions?
> >
> > Contact Comcast and demand that they work out a solution with the PC
> > manufacturers and threaten to cancel your cable service and go entirely
> > with ATSC Terrestrial otherwise ;) Would save you some money, too...
> >
> > Regards,«
> > --
> > Robert Schlabbach
> > e-mail: robert_s@gmx.net
> > Berlin, Germany
> >
> >
>
>
> |
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Most definitely. The S-Video out from the box really isn't bad, it just
isn't anywhere near as good as high-def. We also recommend getting the
high-def services through the cable provider because the picture looks so
much better for recording and watching than most of the SD versions of the
same channel (you sometimes have to play with the zoom to get it to fill the
screen, though). The other features that MCE provides are well worth the
sacrifice. We all know that there will be incremental upgrades for the
hardware and software in the future. We actually have found that most of
our clients use it for the "entertainment" aspects as much if not more than
just watching movies and you can get some of the sports action through the
Over the Air ATSC tuner if that is what you like. Take the plunge - you
won't want to go back.
=D-
"Drew" <Drew@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C559B99D-7383-4FC7-A17B-11B354C29333@microsoft.com...
> Thanks. So if I can't get support for HDTV over cable now, does it make
> sense to get started with a Media Center-based digital hub now and add new
> cards to address HDTV when they become available? In other words, can I
> set
> up MCE 2005 with my settop box so that it allows me to watch, record and
> manage standard TV through MCE and watch (but not manage or record) HDTV
> separately?
>
> "Derek R. Flickinger" wrote:
>
>> We also think that some of the wait is for the adoption of CableCARD (at
>> least in the US) to replace the set top, which still allows the cable
>> companies to maintain control over their premium content. One of the
>> current drawbacks, however, is that they only support "one-way"
>> CableCARDs
>> right now. The two-way ones appear to be at least a year out. We can
>> imagine that, once the two-way standards get wrapped up and the
>> technology
>> catches on, MCE 200x will be able to integrate with On Demand and Pay Per
>> View programming (once those interfaces also get standardized). That
>> will
>> open up some really cool possibilities for MCE.
>>
>> We would settle for a PCI "tuner" card that has three RCA-style jacks for
>> component video in and an optical in for audio so we can support standard
>> set top boxes connected the same way they do to HDTVs. It is not ideal
>> in
>> that the video would not stay in the digital realm, but at least we would
>> not have to switch the display's inputs to go from the HD outputs on the
>> set
>> top to using the MCE interface and it would allow us to record shows in
>> high
>> def via the set top. We wouldn't care if it has to be encoded again just
>> to
>> get the functionality. It seems that, if they can shovel all of the data
>> through the busses for the ATSC Over the Air interface, the inner
>> workings
>> of the machine and MCE would be able to keep up with a component video
>> input. We do not see any vendors offering this type of card for MCE 2005
>> yet, but we still can dream. Our guess is that it boils down to keeping
>> the
>> content providers happy again. The ATSC OTA channels (at least in our
>> area)
>> are the "basic" broadcaster channels and offer no premium content. If we
>> could record the premium content as high-def, the providers will be very
>> hesitant to support the product (once again). But then again, wouldn't
>> Microsoft's support of the broadcast flag throughout the entire chain
>> enforce that?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> =D-
>>
>> Derek R. Flickinger
>> Interactive Homes, Inc.
>>
>> "Robert Schlabbach" <robert_s@gmx.net> wrote in message
>> news:ckhj5a$vsg$01$1@news.t-online.com...
>> > "Drew" <Drew@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > news:B655961D-82DA-4CC4-9F22-5459E83A67D7@microsoft.com...
>> >> I read your article and was disappointed to see that MCE 2005 will
>> >> support HDTV only over the air. Is that right, and if so, any
>> >> particular reason for this limitation?
>> >
>> > Yep: ENCRYPTION. It appears, ATSC Terrestrial is the only transmission
>> > system which delivers unencrypted HDTV content in the USA. The HDTV
>> > content
>> > available on cable or satellite all comes with a "closed" encryption
>> > which
>> > cannot be decrypted with available PC hardware and software.
>> >
>> >> I was hoping to buy a Media Center PC as a digital hub, but that now
>> >> seems unworkable since I get my HDTV signal via cable (Comcast).
>> >> Any thoughts or suggestions?
>> >
>> > Contact Comcast and demand that they work out a solution with the PC
>> > manufacturers and threaten to cancel your cable service and go entirely
>> > with ATSC Terrestrial otherwise ;) Would save you some money, too...
>> >
>> > Regards,«
>> > --
>> > Robert Schlabbach
>> > e-mail: robert_s@gmx.net
>> > Berlin, Germany
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
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