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Roadkill on the Convergence Highway
Duke Weber writes "Microsoft sometimes gets it right after three tries. Not so with Windows Media Center 2005. You do get a dancing Scooby Doo. You don't get much Media." From the article: "As a DVR, one tuner was just OK, with a second tuner working, it was still OK, provided you weren't too picky about mouths moving at the same time words came out. Out with the snazzy Realtek integrated sound on the ASUS-A8V motherboard. In with an Audigy 2ZS to lessen the load on the AMD 64 3000+ processor. More gadgets. That cured the synch. The picture still was no where close to a vintage Tivo. But it does keep track of the programs, important with a terabyte of disc."
After long years of being a Mac-only guy, I broke down and bought an Intel box this year. And guess what? It was a Media Center 2005 PC. And you know what else? It was painless to set up and it works exactly as advertised. This guy seems to be complaining about things like broken S-Video cables ... I can hardly see how that should be Microsoft's fault.
On the other hand, he does bring up some important points. With Media Center and the hardware that came in my box, picture quality is not all that great. (I hear the Hauppauge cards offer the best quality; I might try one of those out.) You also can't time-shift FM radio. But then, like many TV tuner cards, mine didn't come with FM radio support, so it's a non-issue anyway.
Also, for a "convergence" device, recording from a video source is exactly as painful as he describes. I could find NO software on my system that would let me record from VHS tape, except for one program that required me to insert DVD media. Unlike his case, it worked for me. But the point remains that this is totally stupid. What if I don't want to burn it to a DVD? What if I'd like to, um, you know ... check to see that I was getting a signal from my VCR first? Sorry, no way to do that. Your best option is to set it for a five-minute trial run and check to see if it worked after the program burns the results to a DVD.
Another semi-retarded thing about Windows Media Center is that it records TV in a proprietary Microsoft format, DVR-MS. I am told that this is MPEG internally, but you need to export it with a different piece of software (NeroVision Express works) if you want to get a usable file that you could convert to XviD, for example.
What's more, every video format you play in Windows Media Center is handled with a DirectShow filter. That's good, in the sense that when you install new codecs in XP they are automatically picked up by Media Center, so you can play your DivX, XviD, etc. There is one caveat, however, and that is that you can't stream these formats to another system via a Media Center Connector or whatever you call it, like your Xbox 360. I think only Windows Media and MPEG formats are supported.
And another glitch with the DirectShow involves timing, which inevitably means you get these stutters in your video every few minutes when you're watching them on a TV. The guy who invented ReClock explains it all in great length. The downside is that ReClock doesn't seem to work so well with Media Center yet.
So, yeah, this "review" is dumb, and you shouldn't expect to be able to bash together a Media Center PC in a weekend and expect it to work. In fact, you may just want to spend $1,400 and buy one, like I did. But even if it works, Media Center is pretty far of from being a "TiVo killer" just yet. If all you want is a DVR, you should buy one of those. I bought the Media Center PC primarily because I wanted an x86 PC, and in that dual capacity it works fine for me.
Breakfast served all day!
None of these are sold in the UK, and only Sky has their own box which is linked to their subscription service. A second hand Tivo and subscription from when they were sold in the UK can run to many hundreds of pounds on Ebay, much more than a WMC system.
Three letters QAM: I presently get my Cable TV without a Cablebox. It wasn't really an intentional decision on my part (I hate to admit this, so maybe I will delete that bit when I finish). I was rebuilding the familyroom and the new Samsung HL-R6168W was delivered too early:). I am paying my Cable company for "Basic" and "Family" and was able to receive them in Analog. So I had to test the new TV within 30 days (30 day return no questions) so I just plugged it into the Coaxial and set it to "find" all the channels. So so it did, for ALL my analog channels and then surprise it kept going and going... In all seriousness it found the "digital" (480P)equivalent of the Basic + Family set I am paying for, well at least when those channels have a digital signal. Then it found all the Broadcast channels in "HD"! Surprise!!!! I asked around a few questions of senior people on forums, from the Cable company I use (helpful and honest people) and they "admitted" that TVs with "QAM" tuners can decode all the digital and HD signals NOT encrypted. So that means that I still don't get HBO either analog, or HD, or ESPN HD, or SHowtime HD. NONE of the chanels I don't pay for can I receive. Fair enough isn't it? Please note if you have a QAM enabled tuner you MUST check that the Cable signal is compatible, mostly the answer is yes...but do check first. SO to summarize I get: o All the original channels I pay for: in analog o The equivalent: in digital 480P 0 The equivalent broadcast type channels: in HD 720P/1080i o I even pick up at least one PBS HD channel It all depends what you want. If you want a decent service thru HD w/o Premium channel content, you don't need a Cablebox of any kind. And a PC with a QAM based HD Tuner, like the Fusion, would also be able to record ALL the above and replay in the same quality received. If you want Premium Channels and especially if you want them in HD, then you have not only to pay for the extra service, but also the digital HD decoding Cablebox and remote.
40 hours for $350 w/ Tivo.
300 hours for $500 w/ Tivo.
My setup:
300+ hours for < $300 w/ Windows
How? Had almost all of the hardware already.
Also, if I need more space, just slap in more hard drives. No "modding" required.
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Many cable operators, such as Charter, encrypt all digital channels. Including non-premium channels.
So while this may work for you, it doesn't work for most people (and probably won't work for you in the future).
If I thought this, or even CableCard, was a solution, I would have mentioned it.
People have been pushing "Watch TV on your PC" for at least 7 years now, and I remember seeing it before that. It is getting feasible now to record and watch in a decent resolution (it would stress my CPU to record at QCIF resolution unless I recorded raw and encoded later).
I don't see it yet. I have a TiVo (DirecTV one) and it works great. Records two channels at once, all digital (straight off the satellite beam, no quality loss, includes Dolby Digital!). I see media center PCs a bit like large camper trailers that are tricked out with every option. Sure they work as both a house and a car. But a real house and car would be much nicer.
Microsoft has made some good efforts, and based on reviews and mentions here on Slashdot, the media center computers are getting much better (I considered them a joke when they first came out a few years ago). However the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none" will always apply. They are getting closer to the difference being nill, but they aren't there.
We already see that cable companies are trying to get everyone to use cable boxes (as they have been for the last however-many-years), and free DVRs is becoming one of their new ways to get people to use them. Why should I stick a computer in the living room and pay extra to have it record TV, when I'll soon be able to get something from my cable company that does the same thing. Only my way, when I want to watch TV and someone else wants to play Counter-Strike, we both can.
Sometimes convergence doesn't make a lot of sense. I'd rather have my computer, my TiVo, and some sort of super TiVo2go than a media center computer.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.