Comcast Offers Trial Of Microsoft TV Software

Anonymous Howard writes "Designtechnica has a news article about Comcast and Microsoft announcing an agreement to test digital TV services using the "Microsoft TV Interactive Program Guide (IPG)". The trial is scheduled to start this fall using Motorola DCT2000 set-top boxes. The software is designed to help network operators get more value from on-demand and other digital TV services." There are some more details in an article over at CNET News.

Comments

Hmm

[B3ryllium]

And here I thought that VCRs would only generate Blue Screens before and after a movie started ... This brings them a whole new potential career - displaying blue screens in the middle of movies!

Re:Hmm

[jafac]

As an owner of a DishPlayer 7200, which ran this software - I can affirm - while it doesn't BSOD, up until about a year ago, this software was rife with serious, serious, issues. Every update they put out kept making the problems worse and worse. But finally, it seems they got it right. It's a slow box, but it's reasonably stable now.

The thing is, it was the WebTV client that caused most of the havoc, but I didn't even subscribe to WebTV - I was in it for the PVR functionality.
Supposedly the OS is a stripped-down FreeBSD. But that's just hearsay from DBSForums.

Mommy! Why's the TV screen all blue?

[Limburgher]

And what's a fatal kernel error?

Clippy

[Anonymous Coward]

"I see you are trying to watch Jerry Springer, would you like some help?"

Re:Clippy

[Yanna]

Even more dreadful:

"I see you are trying to watch some porn, would you like some help?"

I will now have nightmares...

Will it mean...

[rekkanoryo]

Will it mean that instead of having only the current half-hour's programming shown in the interactive guide alongside ads, there will no longer be ads, leaving room for an hour and a half's worth of programming information? If not, it's no better than the worthless crap they're serving us in the DCT boxes now. Everyone I know that has digital cable from Comcast doesn't want to see ads, they want to see an interactive version of the TV Guide Channel.

Re:Will it mean...

[rekkanoryo]

Well, I suppose you have me on that point. But we'd (all the Comcast customers I know) would rather see the left-side ads gone and replaced with more programming information. Faster response times on the button pressing would be nice too.

The feature I would really like to see is the ability to customize the size of the text on all the "interactive" stuff. While I feel the text is too big and bold-faced, my parents would like to see it bigger. Also, being able to customize the colors for the guide would be nice; my parents have difficulty reading the white text on green background for the sports shows, and I'd prefer to see anything and everything on the PPV channels in purple like our old TV Guide channel had. The best thing, however, would be the option to turn off the display of programming information for non-PPV channels that are not in the package you're currently subscribed to. It's frustrating and difficult to remember the 45 channels I don't have because I pay $60/month for the service instead of $90.

But that's just me...

Re:Mommy! Why's the TV screen all blue?

[arcanumas]

Ofcourse this will happen only in the beggining.
As people get used to MS quality products it will be more like :

Mommy the TV crashed again? Shall i reboot?

Anyone else parse that as,

[DoomHaven]

"Comcast Offers 'Trial Of Microsoft' TV, Software"?

Ugh... This crap again.

[piecewise]

I'm assuming the Microsoft version will have soo many more channels than Apple's, but Apple's channels will be of higher quality.

Whatever.

Microsoft TV

[Eberlin]

I see you're trying to watch CNN.
Would you like help getting to MSNBC?

Seriously, though, is this where X-Box was supposed to go? Or how does this eventually integrate with the Media PC (I think that's what it's called.)

Hmmm, wonder what kind of privacy anomalies this introduces in the future. Think of all the tv viewing data it could phone home with!

Ads, Ads, Ads

[felonious]

If anyone out there really thinks there will be no ads then they are in complete denial. As long as humans inherit this earth and view tv in all it's various forms then there will be advertising. It might be passed off as programming but it's still an ad.

"Value"

[Wesley Felter]

The software is designed to help network operators get more value from on-demand and other digital TV services.

Is there any benefit to cable customers? Is this basic program guide any different from the basic program guide that's built in to all digital cable boxes?

Like the TWC boxes didn't already suck

[ThatDamnMurphyGuy]

It's hard to imagine the TWC cable boxes getting any worse. I had their digital package/receivers for about 3 years, and the damn things locked up and rebooted on their own all the time. That's of course, when the entire network or onscreen guides weren't down all weekend.

At least now I'd get a BSOD to go along with the fun.

Microsoft always delivers!

[wfberg]

Like in 2000?

For Microsoft, It's "Inactive TV" (businessweek)

And 2002?


Microsoft likely to miss key test on interactive TV(and they did)(zdnet)

DCT Software

[Detritus]

The current DCT software sucks. Every time you hit a button on the remote, you have to wait for the lousy software to (slowly) execute the command and refresh the screen before pressing another button. The vaunted EPG (electronic program guide) is a joke. It only shows half an hours worth of programs. They waste big chunks of screen space on ads. For a box that supposedly costs $750, they could have hired some real programmers to write the code.

Re:Mommy! Why's the TV screen all blue?

[tds67]

A fatal kernel error is either popcorn that didn't pop, or death by heart attack from eating to much Kentucky Fried Chicken (TM).

Microsoft TV Foundation

[jea6]

http://www.microsoft.com/tv/ and don't forget to check out their ridiculous promo videos.