Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft/HP to Market Crippled Entertainment PCs

Posted by michael on from the things-santa-should-stay-away-from dept.

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..."

6 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Probably a stalking horse by sphealey · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I would guess that this product is intended to fail. When no one buys it, the RIAA and MPAA will go to Congress and plead that such technology must be required on all audio/video devices, since the feckless consumer won't agree to handcuff himself to the viewing chair.

    sPh

    1. Re:Probably a stalking horse by The_Rook · · Score: 5, Interesting

      or, alternatively, the computer makers could use this to show that drm technologies just don't sell and that forcing them to include the technology will ruin their business.

      --
      when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
  2. MS Windows PCs Really Are Crippled by Default by FreeUser · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Easy use of your computer.

    I am no MS lover, but your comment was definitly over-rated.

    Their statement was actually quite apropos, though it should have contained a little detail.

    As an anectdote, a friend of mine used Microsoft Windows Media Player to rip his music collection, and wondered why he couldn't play some of his music (he'd upgraded his video card IIRC). I showed him where to turn off 'digital rights management' and explained to him why DRM was newspeak for 'digital rights denial' and how the default settings of his OS were designed, deliberately, by Microsoft, to fuck him.

    He was quite angry, and while he isn't ready to switch to GNU/Linux yet, he did download a free ripper and started reripping the music he could no longer listen to into OggVorbis format.

    So yes, Microsoft is deliberately selling extraordinarilly crippled PCs to the average consumer, not only crippled by the limitations, bugs, and design flaws of their software, but deliberately crippled and broken in addition to all of that.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  3. Better acronym expansion by The+Pim · · Score: 5, Interesting
    explained to him why DRM was newspeak for 'digital rights denial'

    "Digital Restrictions Management" is more accurate, and has the right letters at the beginnings of the words. :-)

    I didn't coin this; it's been floating around for a while, I think. But we would do well to push this term into the mainstream.

    --

    The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
  4. Freevo by SubtleNuance · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have a look at this project @ SourceForge; Freevo

    There are others, like DVR, MythTV, HomeDVR

    And there are here and here

    Really, we dont need another device - a PC will work for this...

  5. You can shove your Convergence up your .... by imadork · · Score: 5, Interesting
    All the people who are whining about how overpriced this is should note that MS intends for this not to be a set-top box, but a full-fledged computer that you watch TV on.

    So, lets assume that you'll get close to $2000 worth of computer for your money. My only question is: why?

    DVRs, which are sold as companion products for TVs by TiVo and Sonicblue's ReplayTV, are expected to become standard equipment on PCs over the next few years, say analysts. ... Don Simon, a Windows user from Seattle, Wash., recently bought a Vaio RX780G PC. The avid TiVo user has networked other PCs to the Vaio, so he can "seamlessly watch TV on any PC in my house.

    Do I have to turn in my geek credentials because I don't find TV on the PC all that compelling? I love DVDs on my laptop, and streaming audio and video, but we already have devices that are perfect to watch TV on... they're called televisions!. They have a simple UI and crash far less often than Windows does. We've had a box under the TV recording shows for years... Why does this box have to turn into a full-fledged computer just because we want to record these shows digitally now?

    I have a TiVo and love using it, precisely because it doesn't feel like a computer when I'm using it! (Of course, it is -- the fact that I can upgrade the HD and add ethernet myself doesn't hurt, either.) When I want to rot my brain watching TV, I want it to just work, and I don't want to have to feel like I'm using a computer.

    I always thought that Convergence meant that all of your dedicated media devices (which may actually be computers, but with a simpler UI) could talk to each other and exchange information, kind of like what Apple is trying to do with its iPod. Microsoft thinks Convergence means that all of your dedicated media devices become computers, running the latest MS OS, and with all of the problems and complications inherent in that. Of course, we know who's most likely to win this one...

    Of course, the sad thing is that by making dedicated media devices more like computers and stuffing them chock-full of DRM badness, we'll end up making the actual computers more like dedicated media serving devices, since the same OS will run on both. :(