Slashdot Mirror
Vista Media Center Plus CableCard Equals No TV
notthatwillsmith writes "ATI's internal CableCard readers are finally available, and Maximum PC got hands-on time with a couple of Vista-powered systems built using the FCC-mandated technology. The short version? It doesn't work. From the article: 'The tech told me he'd receive training direct from Microsoft, but none of it covered internal tuners. We both agreed that the process should be the same, since the only difference is that the slots are inside the case, versus in an external box. The tech then proceeds to install the CableCards, connect the tuners to coax line, fire up the PC, and begin the software configuration. This step involves activating the TV Wonder with a product-activation code, and calling the Comcast office to exchange some information. We should have had a picture at this point, but we didn't.'"
Article detailing how the cable companies are using a device called Cable-CARD to prevent you from recording HD TV shows to your computer. http://www.microsoftisawesome.com/2007/05/rouges-d o-it-from-behind.html
I realize that there's a lot more to a media center pc than Tivo, but come on now.
You can pick up a TV for a couple of hundred bucks, or build a Myth system that works for less than half the cost of an equivalent media center pc, without getting so locked into a single vendor for any service.
Having a cable card inside your system is nice, but is it really worth all that extra money? I don't think so.
Oh my god! Think of the children!
It amazes me year after year how people just take it from Micro$oft. And no, I am no Linux fan boy. I just don't like to see bad companies like Micro$oft time and time again screw up.
I guess it is true. Never...and I mean NEVER buy anything from Micro$oft that is version 1.0.
Vista has been D.O.A. month after month, bug after bug, spyware attack after spyware attack, slow op code after slow op code. Is it time to go Mac? (And no I am not an Apple fan boy either...I'm just so FREAKING tired of this all this bull).
It isnt supposed too lol, thats half the point of the damned thing ...
This is all about denying the customer the ability to watch TV through anything other than a cable co device, it's just paying lip service to the law so that they're not obviously in violation of it. This will only get worse too once switched video gets deployed.
you should try it again, you should get superior picture by it going directly to the TV instead of having to pass the signal through another box.
If your using a DVI or HDMI cable, this simply is not true. When using these cables, you get an uncompressed video feed from the box. In fact, I've often found the cable box to provide BETTER video output than the card. For some reason, the MPEG decoder chips built into these TVs sucks ass. Or at least that was the case with first generation cable card ready TVs.
Life is not for the lazy.
The best bet for getting ALL channels on your PC is still the analog hole.
The analog hole (at least for the premium channels) is going the way of the dodo in the not to distant future when they cut off analog broadcasts and begin transitioning people to HDTV with all of those set top boxes (for those who don't know or care what HDTV is or just want to keep their coax television and have it work). Once the transition has begun the cable monopolies will move rapidly to reduce the number of channels that their set top box will output to their legacy analog television customers both to push people into buying more premium packages and reclaim the ground they lost starting in the late 1970s with the widespread introduction of the VCR and continuing on to this day with recordable DVD, SVCD, DVRs, etc...This will also push people into buying new digital HDTV television sets and complete the unholy alliance of closed DRM format with end-to-end hardware control (no analog holes). So yeah, you may still have your analog Linux DVR, but there will be no more analog cable content (that is worth a crap) to record.
Actually, by testing the cards before taking them to the field, they got married to the test hardware and could no longer be married to the device in the field. Either they needed to divorce the cards (through some deep secret kung fu no customer should ever know how to do) or get new cards that are still bachelors.
So this product test was invalid and says nothing about the machines being tested, only the cable company tech who screwed it up before driving out.
Hilarious!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
and
Remember, that's Microsoft-proprietary!
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
WTF?
bug after bugSo no Linux distro has bugs? Your beloved Mac doesn't have bugs? Haven't there been around 30 Mac patches in the last 2 months?
spyware attack after spyware attackName ONE spyware attack that is Vista only. ONE.
slow op code after slow op codeThat's right, you can't.
I can, however, say that most spyware, viruses, trojans, and rootkits, have their functionality retarded due to UAC.
The perceived "slowness" of Vista is a product of immature drivers, one bug that affects some computers (slow file copy) and pure FUD.
I'm just so FREAKING tired of this all this bullIndeed. I'm freaking tired of all the bull in your post as well.
no, that's EXACTLY how the hardware pairing is supposed to function. That's why in the beginning, it was only OEMS that were going to make the systems. The structure is DESIGNED to be brittle and byzantine. Microsoft and friends want this stuff soldered down, they don't want you to "upgrade" things anymore... it's too much hassle for their plans. If it doesn't work the first time, you, the customer or field tech, are supposed to send it back and get another.. only "manufacturing" is supposed to mess with keys and such. Besides, there's no money in windows on desktops anyway.. M$ wants the sales from cable companies and locked down hardware, so they're making a token effort that no sane person will put up with.
i thought the same thing, and i install cable for a living. cablecards are a PITA, and they tpically have to be fully reset by our warehouse to work on another television. (don't know what they do exactly, unfortunately.) i've had to swap out pairs of cablecards at a time because they were provisioned wrong, at which point they are un-savable in the field.