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Hewlett-Packard To Offer Linux-based Media Hub
Sammy at Palm Addict writes "According to the New York Times, Hewlett-Packard is to offer a new digital media hub based on Linux," excerpting "Hewlett-Packard will introduce a new device this fall meant to record and play back television as well as organize digital media, including photos, music and video, the company said yesterday. Hewlett already offers similar devices based on Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition. The device, called the HP Media Hub, will be based on the Linux operating system." Since HP also sells self-branded iPods, it would be great if they'd make such a box iPod friendly.
Of course, this will not let you transfer recorded shows to other computers on the the network. MythTV is currently the only "media hub" that does not have copy protection, or give away freedoms in any way.
Broadcast flag? Check. It's required by law.
OpenCable DRM? Check. It's built in to the standard.
OK, everybody. Time for a new rule: You cannot name your product after the generic name for your product's function!
Got that? No HP Media Hub, no IBM Personal Computer, no MS DOS!
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Oh, and if you're worried about DRM in the context of HDTV, have a look at pcHDTV:
;-) Works with MythTV. Enough said. ;-)
http://www.pchdtv.com/
It totally ignores the broadcast flag.
BTW, it will be illegal to sell it in the US after June 2005 (or something like that), so plan accordingly.
It will always be legal to use it, if purchased before the deadline, because all such devices will be grandfathered into the new regulations automatically.
Since HP also sells self-branded iPods, it would be great if they'd make such a box iPod friendly.
I thought they sold Apple branded iPods. It's through HP's channel. I guess it is listed on PCConnection as the "HP iPod", but it's still got a big apple sandblasted onto the back. They never made that HP-blue iPod all the rumor sites were blathering about.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
They're apparently introducing TVs and projectors, too. According to a mini-article on Wired, 17 TVs and "TV projectors" in addition to the mentioned media hub. They're just coming a bit late to the wired living room scene, but apparently with a not insubstantial product line. If they integrate the product features well, the line might end up successful. Having an all-in-one HP remote would be a nice incentive, though I guess the one-remote-for-every-device (if you don't want to sacrifice functionality) situation is fairly well accepted at this point.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
It is still legal to sell broadcast-flag-noncompliant devices in the US until June 2005. One such device is pcHDTV which works fine with MythTV
;-)
Even after June, it will still be legal to use such devices, if they were purchased before the deadline.
Can you put two and two together now?
From the article, HP says that price is unimportant.
m l
Looks like they are missing the point again.
Price is the main factor preventing media center type boxes from being widely adopted.
Price is why DVD recorders didn't sell well in Christmas 2004 (see below). Same goes for media center boxes.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20040924A1001.ht
Wal-Mart shifts OEM orders for movie DVD discs from China to Taiwan
Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 24 September 2004]
In response to concerns from Philips over royalty payments for its DVD patents, US retail giant Wal-Mart has shifted its OEM orders for movie DVD discs from existing partners in China to a few second-tier manufacturers of pre-recorded optical discs in Taiwan, according to the Taiwan makers.
Wal-Mart sells VCD and DVD discs at its retail outlets and also has some copyrights for movies produced by some independent companies. Since Wal-Mart emphasizes price, its VCD and DVD discs are mostly produced in China, the makers indicated.
However, China-based OEM makers for Wal-Mart are not willing to pay royalty fees to Philips, which is the patent owner, the makers pointed out. The China government wants to negotiate royalty payment with Philips on behalf of China-based makers rather than let Philips talk directly with individual makers. Since the makers were being protected by the government, Philips instead exerted pressure on Wal-Mart to protect its patent rights, the makers noted.
Consequently, Wal-Mart began seeking Philips licensees in Taiwan in June of this year. A few second-tier makers were selected, including Homenema Disk, Feng Sheng Technology, Pandisk Technology and Delphi Technology. Wal-Mart orders as much as 15 million discs per month, and none of the selected OEM makers has the production capacity to match the orders themselves, the makers added.
U-Tech Media, Taiwan's largest producer of pre-recorded optical discs, did not participate in the bid for Wal-Mart's OEM orders since the company's production capacity is already booked by its main clients, Time Warner and eight large movie studios in the US.
Despite the large volume, the average gross margin for Wal-Mart OEM orders is very low, according to the Taiwan makers. Feng Sheng has begun shipments to Wal-Mart in small volumes but does not plan to expand capacity due to the uncertainty about continued orders from Wal-Mart, the company indicated. Homenema is considering what volumes it wants to produce for Wal-Mart and will begin delivery soon, the company said.
I can put two and two together, but the pcHDTV does nothing to decrypt satellite or cable HD content. All this will get you is broadcast OTA HD signals. That is great if you like local sports and reality tv. Me, I don't like reality tv, and most sports I do watch are on cable as it is. Nevertheless, I will probably be getting one of these cards to throw in my myth box right around May, I mean if another tit gets shown on the superbowl, i want to capture that in its hi-def gloriness.
I have seen very few HP calculators in my life, most of the calculators were in fact Texas Instruments.
When I was young, Texas Instruments made cheap, inferior scientific calculators. The keys vere shitty - you pressed and nothing happened, you pressed a little more and suddenly the display was filled with 8 occurences of the same digit.
At the same time, HP made expensive calculators which could be thrown against a wall without taking any damage, which had very precise and everlasting keys, and which had OPN (a reverse, but very intuitive way of entering a calculation).
During most of my education (I am a mechanical engineer), HP calculators were the norm. We could buy Texas if we wanted, but we would then be on our own without any help during lessons.
Today I still use a HP calculator though it is not the same quality as my old mid-eighties HP-15C which was stolen. My wife still has and uses her HP-15C as do several of my colleagues. I have never ever seen or heard of a broken HP calculator from that time.