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Microsoft/HP to Market Crippled Entertainment PCs
gustywinds writes "CNet is reporting that Microsoft and HP recently announced the details on their Media Center PCs that will be coming out this Christmas season (this used to be called 'Freestyle'). The big story is that these PCs will have anti-copying mechanisms built-in to them -- ie can't burn recorded TV shows to DVD, or even copy and play them back on other PCs. And they are going to be expensive... $1500 for the starter box. Sounds like this thing is going to be DOA. Lots of other PC-based TV recording products that aren't restrictive when it comes to copying stuff goes... Snapstream, WinDVR... And, of course, Hauppauge, nVidia and ATi have products too but their software is pretty lacking..."
The $1500 price is entry-level for the HP model. According to the article, Samsung will also manufacture these entertainment PCs. Who knows, maybe they'll offer the product at a lower price point.
'Freestyle' refers to the version of Windows to be used (now 'Window XP Media Center Edition'), not the actual manufactured boxes.
Also, news.com reports that both HP and Samsung models will be available *before* Christmas season. Apparently even story submittors have stopped reading the articles. :P
I personally have been looking forward to this for awhile, for the simple reason that I cannot get a Tivo in Canada (and happend to also need a new PC).
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Links to some good info I've found today:
HP Press Release
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/
The actual system
http://h30015.www3.hp.com/mediaPC/
A overview/review of the system
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/free
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product _id=1957333&cat=96356&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3 944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A96356
"Sounds like this thing is going to be DOA. Lots of other PC-based TV recording products that aren't restrictive when it comes to copying stuff goes..."
If Microsoft follows their typical business plan, they'll likely buy out one or two of the larger competitors, price out the rest, and then consumers will only have MS and maybe a lesser known "open-source" product from which to choose.
In fact, thinking about it, if Palladium is everything we fear, AND it becomes so that you can't even buy loose components that aren't palladium-based
Hardware that is "palladium-based" means that it meets the TCPA specification, and the TCPA specification is by definition platform and OS agnostic. IBM has been selling Thinkpads that meet the TCPA specification for about a year now, and people install other OS's on them all of the time. Even if your far-fetched worst case scenario becomes a reality, nothing will stop you from installing Linux/FreeBSD/DOS/CPM/etc.
"The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
The problem with this approach (at least as far as Hollywood is concerned) is that both the hardware and the software companies have vested interests in making Hollywood's content available on their platforms. Witness the DVD player phenomenon. Despite Hollywood's protests there isn't a single DVD manufacturer (well maybe Sony) that doesn't have methods that allow for disabling region encoding and the other Hollywood induced crap. In fact, Apex has actually gained a following and an impressive marketshare by making this sort of thing easy to do. Apple also makes a living making ripping CDs easy to do. They even have devoted whole advertising campaigns to this concept.
Microsoft is a somewhat different case. Microsoft has a big enough user base that they are trying to push Hollywood into using their proprietary formats. Their idea is to get Hollywood to use Microsoft formats exclusively, and they promise to protect Hollywood's content if they do. This way you will have to use Windows to view Hollywood content. This isn't likely to work either, however, because there are simply too many legacy devices to switch formats, and (as you said yourself) digital medium is the great equalizer.