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Hewlett-Packard To Offer Linux-based Media Hub

Posted by timothy on from the it-should-have-an-iPod-dock dept.

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.

12 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Wont work by mboverload · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Wont work by mikolas · · Score: 2, Informative

      The diskless setup was fairly easy using Debian: Debian Diskless. However, the actual kernel configuration was initially a pain as I used 2.6.9 vanilla kernel w/ LIRC backported manually and IVTV drivers manually compiled for the PVR-250. What I'd suggest is to do a minimal local setup first using something like Fedora Core 3 as it should support the hardware out-of-the-box and MythTV is available from ATrpms. Then copy the working installation over to a NFS share, configure dhcpd on the server to support PXE, copy the kernel and possible initrd images to the tftpboot directory and that's about it. Please note that nfsroot support must be compiled into the client kernel and the NIC of the client must support PXE booting. That is something missing from cheap motherboards.

    2. Re:Wont work by jbarr · · Score: 2, Informative

      Though not technically a "hub" as such, ReplayTV 5xxx boxes allow full control using the DVArchive app on a networked PC. Shows can be streamed to a player on the PC for viewing, "offloaded" to the PC, and once on the PC, streamed back to the ReplayTV box for viewing or archived to DVD for later viewing in a DVD player. All without DRM.

      --
      My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
  2. Re:Pretty sparse article by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Informative

    Broadcast flag? Check. It's required by law.

    OpenCable DRM? Check. It's built in to the standard.

  3. New Rule by OECD · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.
  4. DRM by halfelven · · Score: 2, Informative

    Oh, and if you're worried about DRM in the context of HDTV, have a look at pcHDTV:

    http://www.pchdtv.com/

    It totally ignores the broadcast flag. ;-) Works with MythTV. Enough said.
    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.

  5. Really? by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Really? by javaxman · · Score: 2, Informative
      The HP logo is there... under the word "iPod", which is under the ( larger ) Apple logo on the back. So, they are in a sense both Apple and HP branded, oddly enough.

      Perhaps they did some research into the marketability of an "HP blue" iPod and decided to call that off... after all, you can always buy the iPod Tattoo kit and print up your own blue umm... those are stickers, right? Yea, that's what I want to do, cover my iPod with stickers...

  6. HP in the living room by UWC · · Score: 3, Informative

    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
  7. DRM is not such a bad issue if you consider this by halfelven · · Score: 3, Informative

    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? ;-)

  8. Re:DRM is not such a bad issue if you consider thi by dcgaber · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  9. HP made the best calculators ever produced by Gnavpot · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.