Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

It looks like Vongo is trying to make their movie download service a little more customer friendly. From their newsletter:

We have made a number of new service improvements that make being a VONGO member even better.

• Updated Personalize Recommendation Engine — Enhancements to the VONGO personal recommendation engine make it easier for users to find a movie they will enjoy by genre with more recommendations listed. Remember, the VONGO unlimited subscription model encourages sampling and new title experimentation.
• Better Device Management Screen — The updated VONGO device management screen allows users to more easily swap out old registered devices with new ones.
• PC Speed and Efficiency — VONGO now uses less memory, runs more quickly, and taps less PC memory and operating resources. (more…)

Someone has finally started selling standalone Digital Cable Tuners: Sony. This does make the LT series somewhat more interesting.

All I have to say is that it is about time. Just don’t get too excited because you still need to buy a digital cable ready computer with a special version of Windows Vista and and have the proper BIOS. Chris has a brief overview of the lmitations of this product:

I wanted to make it super clear for those who have not followed by CableCARD ramblings for the last two years, this will not work in your PC unless you specifically purchased a CableCARD-ready PC (you know if you did). It will not work in a non-CableCARD-ready PC. It requires a special BIOS and second COA (Product Key) to work, it doesn’t include these and you can’t get them without the purchase of a new CableCARD-ready PC. For more, see my Vista CableCARD FAQ.

So why exactly is this good news? To make a viable media center computer to put into your living room, you need to have a least two tuners, one to record and one to watch. The problem is that a lot of vendors were selling media centers with only one DCT. Both Sony and HP were guilty of this. Take Sony’s VGX-XL3. It was a great looking machine but was DOA because it only had one tuner. Vista should be able to support 4 tuners as well, which might come in handy with the new extenders to be released soon.

I still find it odd though that one DCT costs the same as one Tivo HD, which has two tuners. I guess the subscription costs for the Tivo brings the initial price down.

If you are intersted in buying a media center with DCTs, I suggest waiting for the usual coupon from HP and buying a second tuner from Sony. Just last week HP had a $40 off coupon.

TVTonic has announced that it will now be offering the Weather Channel to their channel line-up. From TVTonic’s website:

And now, twice daily, TVTonic brings you on-demand national and regional video forecasts from The Weather Channel’s experts. So whether at home or the office, when you need to know what the skies have in store, TVTonic and The Weather Channel make it easy to find out in a hurry.

I am not sure how much of a draw the Weather Channel is for TVTonic. I can always just go to www.weather.com and get similar info. There are also already weather plugins for Vista Media Center.

My pessimism aside, the Weather Channel is a mainstream brand so it is interesting to see such a partnership with TVTonic. Weather is not exactly original content to be consumed by users. Rather it is just information to be looked up. TVTonic has to keep adding new content.

Microsoft has announced details on the new Xbox 360 Arcade, the replacement to the initial Xbox 360 Core. The Arcade will retail for $279.99, which will be cheaper than the announced price of several stand alone media center extenders. It makes you wonder how media center extenders are going to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Microsoft has positioned the Xbox 360 as a media center extender for Vista. This means you can control your Vista PC through your Xbox 360, accessing your content wherever there is a 360. The Arcade has no hard drive, but that does not impact its functions as an extender. Most importantly, it still has a a HDMI port.

If you are looking to pair a 360 with your Vista Media Center, look no further than the Arcade.

More details are hitting the internet about the SlingCatcher, Sling Media’s new streaming device. Sling’s latest supports a ton of codecs: WMV, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264 and XviD in a variety of file formats, including .VOB. The most interesting thing is .VOB. That’s right, you can rip DVD’s onto your computer and stream them anywhere around the house. Finally a company is adding features people might actually use.

In a lot of ways, the SlingCatcher is exactly what the new Media Center Extenders should be as a streaming device. Do you think Media Center Extenders are able to stream .VOB? Not a chance. Too controversial. Give Sling credit for adding a feature that no other device has right now.

Actually, a SlingCatcher would be great if you owned two homes. There would be no need to have cable or satellite at your second house. Now I just need a second house…

The format war for next generation DVDs has been going on for some time. Each major studio has picked a side, with many only releasing movies on one format. Take for instant Fox’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” This top selling movie is only available on Blu-ray causing HD-DVD owners to be left in the cold.

Due to licensing agreements, Blu-ray exclusive movies in North America are being sold as HD-DVDs in other parts of the world, and vice versa. Three online stores offer U.S. customers the ability to buy HD-DVD versions of Blu-ray movies:

1. Amazon.co.uk – Some movies not yet out in HD-DVD like Harry Potter and Blu-ray only titles in the U.S. like Basic Instinct are available as HD-DVDs.
2. XploitedCinema.com – The first Fantastic 4 movie is available in HD-DVD format for a slight premium of $35.95.
3. HD-Addicts.com

The Wall Street Journal offers this explanation for this odd distribution practice:

The loophole lies in distribution. Studios often farm out DVD sales in other countries to a patchwork of companies with expertise in those markets. Those partner companies sometimes have arrangements to use a high-definition format different from that of the U.S. studio.

If you are looking for that one elusive movie in either HD-DVD or Blu-ray format not available in the U.S., it is worth trying one of the sites listed above.

In my office at home, I use my computer as a second TV, so when my wife is watching something I find boring, I can watch what I want. Righit now I have a Silver Sensor indoor antenna and use BeyondTV as my DVR.

Before I originally bought the the antenna, a tuner card, and BeyondTV, I looked at Antennaweb.org to see if I was able to get any over the air broadcast HD channels. For the most part I am able to get every channel you would expect. However, a couple channels are a pain to watch.

Broadcast HD programming does not get “snow” if you get bad reception. It just doesn’t show. In some cases, it is like watching streaming video, with constant buffering. Recently, I got the great idea that I should run coxial cable through the walls upstairs to my attic and hope that improves the reception. I would still use the Silver Sensor, but it would just sit in the attic instead of my office. I know the best thing would be to have an outside antenna but I just do not want to install one.

I have no idea whether reception would improve if I put an antenna in the attic. Before I rip open my walls to run cable, I am going to test it out though by running the cable up the stairs. I figure that is the low tech way of seeing if I am an idiot or not, without having patch holes throughout my house.

Computer Shopper has reviewed one of HP’s flagship media centers, the Pavilion Elite m9000t, albeit without a digital cable tuner. Is it me or have digital cable tuners fallen into obscurity?

Computer Shopper overall was impressed with the system. Looking at HP’s site, a pretty well-equipped system with a digital cable tuner and next gen DVD drive is about $1500. Not bad but still too expensive considering it is only one tuner.

This computer would make a great second TV for most households.  Having a digital cable tuner would let you ditch that indoor antenna. Until two tuners are available, I don’t think the Pavilion Elite m9000t will make it into most living rooms.

Via Engadget HD

ArsTechnica has an article on the CableCard integration required by the FCC, always a confusing subject. Basically, the U.S. government has tried to create a new market for cable set-top boxes with the CableCard requirement. From the article:

Beginning in July, though, cable operators became subject to the “integration ban” and could no longer offer most CableCARD-free cable boxes. With the cable companies forced to play on the same field as the third-party players, a viable market for “navigation devices” was expected to develop. As we noted above, that hasn’t happened yet.

I think the article is worth the read but misses the point slightly. No one is going to buy a simple set-top box. People want additional features or slick interfaces, like Tivo. The point of the integration ban was to make the cable companies use CableCARD themselves, to level the playing field with companies like Tivo. The real advantage of CableCARD will be opening up access to third-party DVRs, like Moxi, and the TVs.

One advantage that Media Center PCs have over their Tivo and DVR brethren is the ability to remove commercials from television recordings. Lifextender is the latest plugin for Vista Media Center that does just that, automatically remove commercials. From Lifextender’s website:

Lifextender is pretty simple. It scans the directory that Media Center records TV to every X minutes for new TV shows. All new TV shows are queued up to be analyzed and scanned for annoying commercials. After a show has been analyzed, a new file is created from the original with commercials cut out, around 3/4 the original size. The original show is then replaced by the new, commercial-free show. Rinse and repeat.

Lifeextender is a great example of the power of plugins for Vista Media Center. Almost any feature you want can be added to media center through free plugins developed by the Vista Media Center Community. Tivo will never have the ability to remove commercials. Too much legal pressure. The plugin architecture for Vista allows any would-be programmer to add that feature for teh community of media center users.

Via Chris Lanier