I have 2GHz Celeron with NVidia 5700 (which is far from the top end) and I can watch HDTV (while recording another HDTV broadcast AND an analog broadcast).
ALL IN 1920 by 1080!!!
Don't blame hardware and crappy driver issues on MCE. As long as you stick to Intel chipset and recommended hardware, you don't need much power to run MCE smoothly.
HDTV works GREAT on MCE as long as you use OTA. Cable cards are required for encrypted cable content, but that is not MS' fault.
I have two Fusion5 HDTV cards (
As long as you stick to monitors that are computer friendly (plasma, lcd, dlp), you will have almost no problem with video or futz with PowerStrip. I mean, come on, you are going to spend a grand on MCE, you should be spending at least double that for your TV.
This guy's problem is not Windows Media Center, it is because he built the machine himself.
If he did any research, he would have learned that hardware compatibility is key to having a smooth running MCE. Using built in sound chip? PUHLEEZE! Unless you have Intel chipset, you are going to have some major problems (VIA boards SUCK!!!) You could have gotten a $20 Chaintech AV-710 and he would never have had to deal with his sound problems.
And poor picture? I am guessing he purchased some cheap 1st generation tuners. If you would have gotten ATI 550 based tuners, the picture quality would surpass that of any Tivo. And did you even try HDTV??? IT ROCKS!!!
It is VERY important that you test out hardware compatibility before building an MCE yourself (unless you want to do a LOT of experimentation). Which is WHY MS DOES NOT SELL MCE by itself!!!
If you have the right hardware setup, MCE is a pleasure. I have over 500GB recorded TV and another 100GB of music and picture. I also have about 50 DVD's ripped on the hard drive that I can watch without ever getting up from the couch.
There is no other device (including APPLE) that will allow you to do that as easily as MCE.
All that link is saying is how Apple is launching iDVD! I've got a new for ya. I don't know how much A/V equipment you own but... a DVD player does not equal Digital HUB!!! DVD Players for PC was available in 1998!!!
Any "digital hub" that does not include TV functions is DOA (oh, it is only the MOST POPULAR media activity that most Americans, check that, the ENTIRE WORLD enjoys).
Dude, just because you did your "presentation" at Microsoft, that makes you an "insider" on MS' digital hub strategy? Give me a freakin break.
I WORKED at Microsoft Home. Bill laid down the vision for the Media Hub strategy in early-mid 90's when he set his sights on video-on-demand.
For your information, XBOX (which you indicated was copying Apple's "digital hub strategy" by your "years" comment) was SHIPPED in 2001. And it had pretty much all the media capabilities that XBOX 360 will have (store music, watch DVD, MCE extender, etc.). A REALY digital hub, Windows Media Center shipped 2002 (after being in pipeline for more than 3 years).
Apple gets a lot of credit for making digital music a reality, but give me a break about Apple's "digital hub" strategy BS. They are playing catch up and everyone know it.
Hmmm... all of your links contain content from this year.
I think everyone would agree that Apple has changed their mind on the digital hub strategy recently (>3 years). Which is why I was wondering how you could claim that Apple has been on digital media hub strategy for years (which to me is more than 3 years).
Care to show any examples that is older than 2004? Or can we just agree that Apple is jumping on the bandwagon that Microsoft and even Linux has been on for much much longer than Apple?
Yes, re-writing history to suit Apple's image makes you an Apple guy.
What is this "digital hub that Apple has been talking about for years"? Care to give a reference? All I know is that Steve Jobs has been saying for years that PC does not belong in the family room. He also talked about how nobody wants to watch TV on their PC.
On the otherhand, Microsoft has been working on digital hub strategy for close to 10 years.
Care to elaborate? Or are you just a knee-jerk Apple guy?
I've worked in hi-tech for many years, including many years designing games. I can honestly say, if making money was your main objective, game industry is about the worst you can pick. The chances of a game that you created/worked on becoming a big success is as rare as publishing a best-seller.
There are literally thousands of games that come out every year. And only a handful make any real profit (including big guys).
Being it more art than science, even if you put the best talent doing best they can, it certainly does not guarantee that they will succeed (market taste is very fickle).
You can make FAR greater and easier money creating a niche tool for a banking industry than toiling for years in games.
Yeah, it makes as much sense as delivering dangerously combustible gas like Natural Gas to majority of homes in America!
Isn't 1 or 2 home blowing up everyday enough to stop this madness? Did you see all the fires and explosions caused by Natural Gas in New Orleans after the hurricanes? I can cook with electric ranges and heat with oil burners, why do you need to bring this dangerous substance to our homes?
Don't even get me started on Propane Gas GRILLS!!!
Obviously you are too clueless to take my advice.
Since you have no clue what a "hub" is, let me explain.
hub (hb)
noun
A center of activity or interest; a focal point.
Hmmm... the word "media hub" would indicate that it is the center of the all media activity. And guess what media activity DOMINATES a typical American citizen's life...oh wait, ITS A FREAKIN TV!!!
How could you call a device a "media hub" when it does not include the very activity that is most popular???
HTPC is an endangered specie? Who says? You? The boy clueless?
Next time you go to local computer store (say Fry's) check out all the Windows Media Center model they have. At the Fry's here, about 10% of PC models are Windows Media Center PC's. Endangered? I don't think so.
You have obviously never looked at MCE if you think MythTV can run in the same circle. More valid comparison would be with Tivo boxes, which are, guess what... Linux boxes!!! There is better chance that Tivo and other PVR devices will become a media hub than Apple computer with a remote.
I am sure this is too much for you to comprehend. And that is why you are the only one (out of millions on Slashdot) who thinks Jobs is trying to compete with Xbox 360.
If you have any clue about HTPC or home media devices in general, then you would know that Microsoft ALREADY HAS a device that IS positioned as a home media hub, with video and music capabilities and there are already downloadable content for this device.
It is called Windows Media Center. And guess what? It has TV tuners. You know, that thing that most Americans spend their free time enjoying?
XBox 360 is first and foremost a GAME CONSOLE!!! It is not "positioned" as a media hub. It is at best positioned as a complementary piece to the Windows Media Center. And if you are still clueless, ask any A/V enthusiast if a device with a 20GB hard drive (sold separately!) can be seriously be positioned as a "media hub".
Your comment would have been somewhat plausible if you said "FrontRow vs MCE", but you still would have been laughed off as FrontRow does not have a TV tuner. How any device without a TV tuner is supposed to be positioned as a media hub is beyond me.
It is a nice PC with a remote control from extra convenience. It has awhile to go before it can claim to be a media hub.
Yeah!
I LOVE watching 320 by 240 images on my 100" projection screen!!! Who needs HDTV when you can download crap from i-Tunes???
Me? I will stick to my Windows Media Center with Fusion5 HDTV tuner watching 1920 by 1080 broadcast on my wall. Poor me...
You are still not making a cogent argument.
You say that MS is trying to dominate everything in the computing world by going to set top boxes. Well, you can easily argue that Google has the kind of dominance in Search/Internet as MS does in OS. Which means that you can make the same argument against Google as say that Google is just trying to dominate everything in ad-based world (set-top boxes, in this sense is much closer to Googles main business than MS).
So the question still is; why is that when MS does it, it is because they are just trying to protect their turf, but when Google does it, it is because they are "putting it (money) in to the 'cool' technologies".
You have responded twice without answering this question (and just nitpicking on the exact quotation). Now can you answer why?
That's pathetic. You were arguing that Google's strategy was "cooler (your word)" than MS, even though everything Google is doing is just following what MS has been doing for years.
And your argument about MS' only aim is to protect its monopoly is bogus. MS's TV efforts is perfectly representative of the fallacy of your argument.
Set Top Boxes are NOT threatening MS's Windows business (at least not any near future). You can argue that they were trying to EXPAND their business but not PROTECTING their existing business.
If you want to argue that they were protecting their current business by expansion, then you can say the same thing about what Google is doing right now (expanding their ad-based business to TV).
So, why is it when MS does something is nasty, but when Google does the exact same thing it is "cool"???
Hmm... let see some of the "cool" technologies that Google has been investing lately (publicly announced).
GoogleTV - Oh, is that like Microsoft Digital Media division which has been investigating TV on demand for over a decade?
GoogleIM - Oh, is that like Microsoft's Messenger that MS has had for close to a decade now?
GMail - You mean Hotmail competitor?
Yeah, it really looks like Google is blazing its own trails... NOT!!!
Hey, Google may out maneuver Microsoft and execute better, but please stop this BS about how their strategy is different, better, altruistic, and cooler. They are just investing into every area that MS is investing in.
And yes you can send as many questions as you would like. Just be aware that this alias gets millions of emails, so you may have to wait a while to get your answers.
You should really go back and read some biology text books. There are some really great books by people like Stephen Jay Gould that would enighten you.
Prediction is part of build any solid theory (like Evolution) and it has been proven time and time again. And I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "Missing Link".
Here is a nice, recent prediction based on evolutionary theory.
It has been generally understood that Chimapanzees, Gorillas, and humans share common ancestors (no, we did not evolve FROM gorillas, we evolved with them). How? Through HUGE AMOUNT of fossil and geological evidences that we have collected over last century or so (and the term "missing link" is properly used in this context where we have found many species of early hominids that share same traits with chimpanzee's ancestors).
HA! You say. How do you know if you can rely on that fossil evidence? You want some predictions. Well, science did. They predicted that if chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans share same ancestors, their DNA's should also be very similar. Not only that they should have the sort of changes you would only expect from recent diversion and the rate of change observed in DNA should be roughly corresponding to the rate of change we have seen in fossil evidences.
And guess what happened when they did the DNA analysis!!! IT MATCHED!!! It followed and verified the theory.
That is how scientific predictions are made and how theories are strengthened.
Before you spew out more bible-jibble-jabble...
The question is how do you DISPROVE the existence of GOD. You can't.
If it cannot be disproved, it cannot be science.
Just because you are an expert at something does not make you a good teacher. Teaching takes more than knowledge, it takes other traits like empathy, emotional understanding, doggedness, etc., and most importantly, passion for teaching.
I had some BRILLIANT professors in college. The guys with well known theorems named after them. And there was no question, they were absolutely brilliant.
And you know what? They were TERRIBLE teachers. Why? Because they were WAY ahead of most students on things they were teaching. They could not understand why most mortal students could not grasp some of the concepts that were so natural to them. The professors basically left the students behind and we were left to fend for ourselves.
Does that make them less expert on their issues? NO! Does that make them good teachers? HELL, NO!
Just because you know stuff does not mean that you can teach it.
P.S. Another popular example... Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan are the greatest basketball players ever, and they all SUCKED as a coach.
Slashdot Mirror
I have 2GHz Celeron with NVidia 5700 (which is far from the top end) and I can watch HDTV (while recording another HDTV broadcast AND an analog broadcast). ALL IN 1920 by 1080!!!
Don't blame hardware and crappy driver issues on MCE. As long as you stick to Intel chipset and recommended hardware, you don't need much power to run MCE smoothly.
I have two Fusion5 HDTV cards ( As long as you stick to monitors that are computer friendly (plasma, lcd, dlp), you will have almost no problem with video or futz with PowerStrip. I mean, come on, you are going to spend a grand on MCE, you should be spending at least double that for your TV.
Oh really? You mean I can watch my TV through Apple iTunes?
What? I can only watch 4 lousy ABC shows? What? Only 320 by 200 resolution???
You sir, obviously either do not watch any TV or don't watch anything other than broken, streaming, lame broadcasts on your PC.
Watch HD football on MCE and get back to me when iTunes can do the same.
I will expect to hear from you in about 20 years. See YA!
This guy's problem is not Windows Media Center, it is because he built the machine himself. If he did any research, he would have learned that hardware compatibility is key to having a smooth running MCE. Using built in sound chip? PUHLEEZE! Unless you have Intel chipset, you are going to have some major problems (VIA boards SUCK!!!) You could have gotten a $20 Chaintech AV-710 and he would never have had to deal with his sound problems. And poor picture? I am guessing he purchased some cheap 1st generation tuners. If you would have gotten ATI 550 based tuners, the picture quality would surpass that of any Tivo. And did you even try HDTV??? IT ROCKS!!! It is VERY important that you test out hardware compatibility before building an MCE yourself (unless you want to do a LOT of experimentation). Which is WHY MS DOES NOT SELL MCE by itself!!! If you have the right hardware setup, MCE is a pleasure. I have over 500GB recorded TV and another 100GB of music and picture. I also have about 50 DVD's ripped on the hard drive that I can watch without ever getting up from the couch. There is no other device (including APPLE) that will allow you to do that as easily as MCE.
All that link is saying is how Apple is launching iDVD! I've got a new for ya. I don't know how much A/V equipment you own but... a DVD player does not equal Digital HUB!!! DVD Players for PC was available in 1998!!!
Any "digital hub" that does not include TV functions is DOA (oh, it is only the MOST POPULAR media activity that most Americans, check that, the ENTIRE WORLD enjoys).
Dude, just because you did your "presentation" at Microsoft, that makes you an "insider" on MS' digital hub strategy? Give me a freakin break.
I WORKED at Microsoft Home. Bill laid down the vision for the Media Hub strategy in early-mid 90's when he set his sights on video-on-demand.
For your information, XBOX (which you indicated was copying Apple's "digital hub strategy" by your "years" comment) was SHIPPED in 2001. And it had pretty much all the media capabilities that XBOX 360 will have (store music, watch DVD, MCE extender, etc.). A REALY digital hub, Windows Media Center shipped 2002 (after being in pipeline for more than 3 years).
Apple gets a lot of credit for making digital music a reality, but give me a break about Apple's "digital hub" strategy BS. They are playing catch up and everyone know it.
I think everyone would agree that Apple has changed their mind on the digital hub strategy recently (>3 years). Which is why I was wondering how you could claim that Apple has been on digital media hub strategy for years (which to me is more than 3 years).
Care to show any examples that is older than 2004? Or can we just agree that Apple is jumping on the bandwagon that Microsoft and even Linux has been on for much much longer than Apple?
Yes, re-writing history to suit Apple's image makes you an Apple guy.
On the otherhand, Microsoft has been working on digital hub strategy for close to 10 years.
Care to elaborate? Or are you just a knee-jerk Apple guy?
I've worked in hi-tech for many years, including many years designing games. I can honestly say, if making money was your main objective, game industry is about the worst you can pick. The chances of a game that you created/worked on becoming a big success is as rare as publishing a best-seller.
There are literally thousands of games that come out every year. And only a handful make any real profit (including big guys).
Being it more art than science, even if you put the best talent doing best they can, it certainly does not guarantee that they will succeed (market taste is very fickle).
You can make FAR greater and easier money creating a niche tool for a banking industry than toiling for years in games.
Folks, this is called SARCASM! Read the parent!
You did notice the sarcasm in my post, didn't you?
Isn't 1 or 2 home blowing up everyday enough to stop this madness? Did you see all the fires and explosions caused by Natural Gas in New Orleans after the hurricanes? I can cook with electric ranges and heat with oil burners, why do you need to bring this dangerous substance to our homes?
Don't even get me started on Propane Gas GRILLS!!!
Obviously you are too clueless to take my advice. Since you have no clue what a "hub" is, let me explain. hub (hb) noun A center of activity or interest; a focal point. Hmmm... the word "media hub" would indicate that it is the center of the all media activity. And guess what media activity DOMINATES a typical American citizen's life...oh wait, ITS A FREAKIN TV!!! How could you call a device a "media hub" when it does not include the very activity that is most popular??? HTPC is an endangered specie? Who says? You? The boy clueless? Next time you go to local computer store (say Fry's) check out all the Windows Media Center model they have. At the Fry's here, about 10% of PC models are Windows Media Center PC's. Endangered? I don't think so. You have obviously never looked at MCE if you think MythTV can run in the same circle. More valid comparison would be with Tivo boxes, which are, guess what... Linux boxes!!! There is better chance that Tivo and other PVR devices will become a media hub than Apple computer with a remote. I am sure this is too much for you to comprehend. And that is why you are the only one (out of millions on Slashdot) who thinks Jobs is trying to compete with Xbox 360.
If you have any clue about HTPC or home media devices in general, then you would know that Microsoft ALREADY HAS a device that IS positioned as a home media hub, with video and music capabilities and there are already downloadable content for this device.
It is called Windows Media Center. And guess what? It has TV tuners. You know, that thing that most Americans spend their free time enjoying?
XBox 360 is first and foremost a GAME CONSOLE!!! It is not "positioned" as a media hub. It is at best positioned as a complementary piece to the Windows Media Center. And if you are still clueless, ask any A/V enthusiast if a device with a 20GB hard drive (sold separately!) can be seriously be positioned as a "media hub".
Your comment would have been somewhat plausible if you said "FrontRow vs MCE", but you still would have been laughed off as FrontRow does not have a TV tuner. How any device without a TV tuner is supposed to be positioned as a media hub is beyond me.
It is a nice PC with a remote control from extra convenience. It has awhile to go before it can claim to be a media hub.
Get a clue, genius.
No, you are the only one.
Yeah! I LOVE watching 320 by 240 images on my 100" projection screen!!! Who needs HDTV when you can download crap from i-Tunes??? Me? I will stick to my Windows Media Center with Fusion5 HDTV tuner watching 1920 by 1080 broadcast on my wall. Poor me...
You are still not making a cogent argument. You say that MS is trying to dominate everything in the computing world by going to set top boxes. Well, you can easily argue that Google has the kind of dominance in Search/Internet as MS does in OS. Which means that you can make the same argument against Google as say that Google is just trying to dominate everything in ad-based world (set-top boxes, in this sense is much closer to Googles main business than MS). So the question still is; why is that when MS does it, it is because they are just trying to protect their turf, but when Google does it, it is because they are "putting it (money) in to the 'cool' technologies". You have responded twice without answering this question (and just nitpicking on the exact quotation). Now can you answer why?
That's pathetic. You were arguing that Google's strategy was "cooler (your word)" than MS, even though everything Google is doing is just following what MS has been doing for years.
And your argument about MS' only aim is to protect its monopoly is bogus.
MS's TV efforts is perfectly representative of the fallacy of your argument.
Set Top Boxes are NOT threatening MS's Windows business (at least not any near future). You can argue that they were trying to EXPAND their business but not PROTECTING their existing business.
If you want to argue that they were protecting their current business by expansion, then you can say the same thing about what Google is doing right now (expanding their ad-based business to TV).
So, why is it when MS does something is nasty, but when Google does the exact same thing it is "cool"???
What a BS!
Hmm... let see some of the "cool" technologies that Google has been investing lately (publicly announced).
GoogleTV - Oh, is that like Microsoft Digital Media division which has been investigating TV on demand for over a decade?
GoogleIM - Oh, is that like Microsoft's Messenger that MS has had for close to a decade now?
GMail - You mean Hotmail competitor?
Yeah, it really looks like Google is blazing its own trails... NOT!!!
Hey, Google may out maneuver Microsoft and execute better, but please stop this BS about how their strategy is different, better, altruistic, and cooler. They are just investing into every area that MS is investing in.
Ummm... last time I checked you Viagra was not a requirement to view porn, no matter how old you are.
You DO need it to satisfy a real woman, but that is not a problem that most geeks face.
It is actually billg@microsoft.com
And yes you can send as many questions as you would like. Just be aware that this alias gets millions of emails, so you may have to wait a while to get your answers.
Just one more...
2 4300.Ev.r.html
This article is almost tailor made for you.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr2000/9557
Here is the first item that came up with my simple search (and there are hundreds of articles).
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec03/chimp.l ife.hrs.html
And here is a useful quote...
"Celera generated some 18 million DNA sequence "reads," or about two-thirds as many as were required for the first sequencing of the human genome. "
Few more than a "few base pairs", I'd say...
Prediction is part of build any solid theory (like Evolution) and it has been proven time and time again. And I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "Missing Link".
Here is a nice, recent prediction based on evolutionary theory.
It has been generally understood that Chimapanzees, Gorillas, and humans share common ancestors (no, we did not evolve FROM gorillas, we evolved with them). How? Through HUGE AMOUNT of fossil and geological evidences that we have collected over last century or so (and the term "missing link" is properly used in this context where we have found many species of early hominids that share same traits with chimpanzee's ancestors).
HA! You say. How do you know if you can rely on that fossil evidence? You want some predictions. Well, science did. They predicted that if chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans share same ancestors, their DNA's should also be very similar. Not only that they should have the sort of changes you would only expect from recent diversion and the rate of change observed in DNA should be roughly corresponding to the rate of change we have seen in fossil evidences.
And guess what happened when they did the DNA analysis!!! IT MATCHED!!! It followed and verified the theory.
That is how scientific predictions are made and how theories are strengthened.
Thus ends the lesson...
Before you spew out more bible-jibble-jabble... The question is how do you DISPROVE the existence of GOD. You can't. If it cannot be disproved, it cannot be science.
That is a total BS.
Just because you are an expert at something does not make you a good teacher. Teaching takes more than knowledge, it takes other traits like empathy, emotional understanding, doggedness, etc., and most importantly, passion for teaching.
I had some BRILLIANT professors in college. The guys with well known theorems named after them. And there was no question, they were absolutely brilliant.
And you know what? They were TERRIBLE teachers. Why? Because they were WAY ahead of most students on things they were teaching. They could not understand why most mortal students could not grasp some of the concepts that were so natural to them. The professors basically left the students behind and we were left to fend for ourselves.
Does that make them less expert on their issues? NO! Does that make them good teachers? HELL, NO!
Just because you know stuff does not mean that you can teach it.
P.S. Another popular example... Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan are the greatest basketball players ever, and they all SUCKED as a coach.