I did read the article. It does highlight much of what Media Center can do but also reiterates from the New York Times article what TiVo can do and throws in the analysis on the two. If MCE can do everything that TiVo can I think it is fair and that there is nothing wrong with pointing this out. It's nice having the third comparison with the HDTV cable box and the added analysis of what the author calls the "elephants in the room," HDTV and multiple tuners.
If there are features that were neglected in the review then there is nothing like a good slashdotting to fete them out.
An MCE box of course can be much more expensive than a TiVo too which perhaps should be mentioned -- although recently I've been surprised at how cheap these Media Centers are coming down for lower end systems and when you throw lifetime service in for the TiVo it is not that much cheaper really.
The review also addressed the HDTV issue and although neither Media Center or TiVo offer ideal opportunities here today (hence negative feature) suffering through the poorly designed cable UI is the alternative.
The HDTV TiVo DirecTV also seems to be suggested as an option but dismissed due to cost. I would have liked to have seen this (along with the Comcast Foundation box) explored more as was expressed in my comment submission.
Personally the HDTV TiVo was the direction that I went and have been extremely happy with my HDTV DirecTV TiVo despite the price. I still run my Media Center PC though as it allows me to do certain things that I can't with my closed box DirecTV system -- namely manage my pictures and music and get recorded content off the box on my laptop and for editing.
Then there is also the Linux Media Hub that HP is theoretically coming out wiht later this year which will support HDTV, again theoretically, which also might be mentioned in the whole conversation.
Although Ed seems to prefer Media Center I don't think this is "propoganda." It's a fair comparison and his opinion. I happen to agree with a lot of his observations while even ultimately moving my primary television platform to the superior HDTV DirecTV TiVo.
So what's so great about TiVoToGo? Everyone acts like this is some big great thing. TiVo spent the entire year in 2004 hyping the thing. I've been able to easily copy programs quickly and efficiently from my Microsoft Media Center PC since 2002. No password, no DRM, no access key, just drag and drop to my laptop over the internet. Frankly I think it's kind of stupid that TiVo spent 2004 making this their big initiative and using valuable engineering and marketing resources when TiVoToGo can only be used by less than half of their users. DirecTV users can't use it and Series 1 users can't use it (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for very valid reasons, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, it's DirecTV's fault, etc. etc. etc.). Instead, the company should have been focusing on 1. building a dual tuner standalone unit and 2. building a standalone HDTV unit. Good god, who would buy a single tuner DVR anymore? They have finally come to this realization and announced an upcoming unit to accommodate HDTV with dual tuners to be released in early 2006 but quite frankly it may be too little too late. When I can get a dual tuner HDTV box for a monthly fee from Comcast why will I want to shell out big bucks for the TiVo. They had a window of opportunity and they blew it. They chose instead to focus on "TiVoToGo" -- whoop de doo, I own two TiVos and can't even use it. No wonder the stock has gone from $20 to $3.63. I've got more on comments made yesterday by TiVo CEO Mike Ramsay at DEMO yesterday on my blog as well as some information on his recent personal switch from a Windows based PC to a Mac at http://thomashawk.com/2005/02/chip-shipley-speaks- with-tivos-mike.html
Agreed. It is refreshing to see what seems to be a new era of transparency coming from Microsoft these days. Between bloggers like Robert Scoble and what is perceived as a new openess in interviews like this I think that these are positive communication developments coming out of Redmond. You may not agree with the company but it's nice to know that they can these days have a honest discussion in a public forum.
In an interesting twist on the vilification of Microsoft as the big bad evil corporate empire with the contrasting "Don't Do Evil" Google, and in light of the incredibly stupid Wired story about Microsoft trying to discourage iPod use with their employees last week, it is worth noting today that on Matt Goyer's (a Microsoft employee) blog this morning that he is blogging about the fact that he uses Firefox as his default browser.
http://blog.mattgoyer.com/2005/02/08.html#a4032
Even more significant, Matt is asking others (yes Microsoft employees) on how to get around some of the Microsoft Firefox limitations.
"For the Softies out there, I use Firefox as my default browser, how do I get it to cache my work credentials so I don't need to login every time I visit an intranet site? Also, when I get home I can no longer post to HTML forms. Is there a way to fix that without going in and changing my proxies every time I switch on and off the MS network?"
While Google is publicly taking a lashing by some in the blogosphere over the firing of Mark Jen, Microsoft has been very open in giving Bloggers like Goyer and Microsoft's most famous blogger Robert Scoble a very wide berth.
Say what you will about Microsoft, but one thing that Microsoft has really done right is to embrace their blogging employees. This is an enormous amount of freedom. At the same time, Microsoft bloggers are generally very responsible with what they post.
Certainly Matt is not criticizing IE merely by choosing to use Firefox as his default browser instead. However, the fact that he can feel comfortable publishing this on his blog speaks volumes about the culture at Microsoft.
It's a nice thing to see.
TiVo... perhaps too little too late
on
TiVo to Offer SDK
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· Score: 1
I think it's grasping for straws at this point. Microsoft has offered all three of these "toys" through it's Media Center Edition software for over a year. People do not buy entertainment DVRs because they have weather forcasts on them or an RSS reader. The games they might offer could not compete with the richer gaming experience found elsewhere.
TiVo missed the mark by wasting the last year working on TiVoToGo which is useable by less than half of their subscribers (Series 1 and DirecTV users can't use it) and chock full of DRM and has been reported to have extremely slow file transfer speeds (this is probably as much do to problems with folks wireless networkds as anything.). Instead they should have been working on a two tuner standalone unit and an HDTV standalone unit. (Both things they say are coming now).
They also had an opportunity to strika a deal with cable that Ramsay botched trying to hold out for more money. Boy I bet they wish they had that cable deal now.
What TiVo should have realized from the beginning was it wasn't important how much they made from a cable deal, what was important was getting the users. Figure out a way to monetize them later.
TiVo's letter to the FCC regarding the CableCARD
on
A Brief FAQ on CableCards
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· Score: 2, Interesting
TiVo submitted a letter to the FCC this week suggesting that cable operators are not doing enough to promote the CableCARD and are not inclined to promote it, especially the more advanced cards which allow dual tuners. TiVo argues that it is not in the cable operators economic interest to promote them and that the cable companies are trying to completely control their access, guides and channels to the detriment of competitors like TiVo.
http://thomashawk.com/2005/01/tivos-letter-to-fcc- and-will-microsoft.html
Say what you will about Microsoft but I think it's really great the amount of communication that they are sharing with the public through blogs and posts like this. I think that to work somewhere where you can post a blog entry about technical glitches at CES and not get fired is pretty cool. Microsoft's most famous blogger, Robert Scoble, is often offering up posts that many might find to have "anti Microsoft" tones and he can do so without fear of losing his job. Sometimes criticism, even self criticism, can be a good thing and allows us all to improve. What impressed me the most about Sean's post is that it was allowed to happen at all. It adds a very human element to Microsoft and opens up a way for Microsoft and the public to directly communicate.
I think the tollerance that Microsoft has and the willingness to be open about problems and issues with their software is refreshing and will make the company and the software that much better in the long run.
Kudos to Sean and his team. They did a great job and pulled off a great recovery in one of those awkward technical moments that we've all been through ourselves in the past.
I seriously doubt this article
on
The Music Man
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· Score: 1
From the underwear model wife, to the sipping Grand Mariner upon arrival, the story strikes me as possibly being made up. I'd love to see some kind of screen shot verification of this 900,000 song collection.
I've collected music for a number of years and the time that would need to be devoted to scrubbing p2p downloads, meta data, bad files, etc. or ripping CDs is astronomical. Per this article it seems that this individual has been at this for less than a year and with children (which need attention) and a 16 hour a day job I'm highly suspicious that anyone could amass this kind of collection -- particularly with the attention to organization that the article seems to indicate.
I'm not calling the interviewer a liar, but I would like to see some kind of corabarating evidence of this urban legend collection to believe that it exists.
Has anyone heard of other collections this large? iTunes apparantly has 700,000 songs. I've never seen anything on the internet or anyone who is alleged to have had a collection this large.
What do you mean the name Owen Smigelski is kind of unique? I know like 17 different Owen Smigelskis. Now Crowen Smigelski or Brovakowen Smigelski now those might really be unique.
I hate to tell you all this but this whole China thing that you keep reading about everywhere is basically just a fad. Trust me, it won't be around 2 years from now. It's like oh it's great, Webvan can bring me my groceries... this is really cool... it's the future...
China? Same basic thing.
But there will be a lot of dumb angry men over there ready to fight when they realize that there are a lot more men in the population than women and only the smartest, richest, most succesful and best looking get women. Just what you want, an entire population filled with your least attractive mating candidates in the evolution pool angy, pissed off and ready to kick the shit out of someone.
Something that's bugged me about Slashdot comments is how self-important certain parts of it seem to be. Some of the more prominent comments seem to be story after story, self-congratulatory pieces about how exciting and important posting is ("Wow, look! We're important!") and for some reason that attitudes drives me nuts. Because... well... yeah, in some respect posting/commenting and "the voice of the people" and so on is important, although not nearly so much as they'd like to have us believe sometimes. Especially when our posts and comments cease being about something, and instead being about... posting. Ah well.
Hi... I'm Larry... the sweltering chipmunk... urrrrr!... I'm hot... I need a sweater...
Photoblogging is so kick ass. It rocks better than Linus Tor, whatever the hell his name is. To turn the mirror on Slashdot, how about checking out the commments over at http://blog.photoblogs.org/2004/11/photoblogs_slas.html#comments where the photobloggers comment back on the slashdot article. Example: "those comments are a joke, 3/4 of the negative viewpoints on there are coming from people who appear to not know anything about design, photography, art, or humanity for that matter. Reading most of them was a waste of my time, I would like to ask for those few moments of my life back...haha"
My own most recent photo series is entitled Reflections on Manhattan. http://thomashawk.com/2004/09/reflections-on-manha ttan.html
Now go buy a digital camera, get the hell out your house for once and go take some damn pictures of some flowers or something and report back! You only need to go outside for about two hours. Think of the bright side, you can start a hard drive defrag and it might be done by the time you get back.
Yes, all true, but how can this teach my child how to use a computer earlier? Perhaps with the early phrase: "Computing... goood. going outside the house very very baaaaad."
Per CNET:
"With Media Center Edition 2005, Microsoft is dipping its toe into the world of digital television. For systems in the United States, Microsoft is supporting recording high-definition TV, but only for free, antenna-based signals. Poole said the reason is that cable and satellite providers have not yet provided access to their high-definition signals."
Although only OTA, Microsoft has been very vocal about the new MCE 2005 supporting HDTV. Similar to one of the recorders in the review that only supports OTA HDTV, so does MCE 2005.
You might be confused with MCE 2004, which did not.
There are two ways you can use the guide. One is direct from the satellite (very slow) and another setting that is a much faster guide. Play around with it and you'll find a much faster guide.
Mike is right on so many different levels. Broadband content delivery will become extremely important... not just for television and hit movies but by turning 500 channels into 500,000 channels.
The opportunity in the fragmented content world that includes everything beneath the current 500 cable/satellite channels (the tail, as it has become the recent catch phrase) is a huge collective market. Both Microsoft and TiVo would be wise to address this market and be the first to offer this content via their living room devices.
A print ad you might see in the future would look something like this, "Sure you can get 500 channels on your cable television box... but after you've finished watching the Yale interview with author Kurt Vonnegut, can you get the 2004 rock climbing championship from Joshua Tree California?" TiVo... your tv. Who you want, What you want, When you want, How you want it (did we mention without the commercials?)... Why would you want anything else?
There will be a huge market in organizing, monitoring and broadcasting this new media. Tools will be needed to filter content and create a truly unique experience. Guides will need to be written and monitored along with these search tools.
This new content will become a stepping stone for the most creative to be picked up by the traditional mainstream content distribution channels -- to be discovered so to speak.
As the hand held video content becomes avaialable to every creative college kid, new shows like MTV's jackass will be developed without the constraint of media censorship. This new content will be promoted both by word of mouth but as well as by tracking services like today's Technorati ranks blogs and their popularity.
It is going to be a very exciting time for television over the next 10 years.
Although as fantastic as the TiVo service is, it's numbers are still tiny comparred to the potential. Two million subscribers is just tiny. Microsoft even smaller. But Bill Gates is putting $20 billion into this living room initiative and that may change some things.
The biggest barrier to adoption of a living room PC, either Microsoft's MCE or TiVo's Linux based system (really it's a computer and not a set top box), is the initial cost and that consumers NEED A REASON to upgrade and adopt the technology. The problem is the chicken vs. the egg and herein lies the rub. Those that truly understand how great TiVo is already have TiVo. You hear over and over again... "I wish I had just bought it earlier... it's so fantastic."
HDTV is one reason to buy it and upgrade, especially as the sale of HDTVs are exploding. Unfortunately Microsoft or TiVo still haven't gotten this one right yet. TiVo is ahead of Microsoft with a satellite HDTV unit but Microsoft's MCE 2005 and it's limited OTA capability is not enough to drive the consumer to buy the machine for HDTV.
Offering viewers alternative television programming at the smallest level is a reason to upgrade. We all are fanatics of something, hobbyists, enthusiasts -- fractured in our pursuits, but even more enthusiastic about them than television. This is the power that is eBay. They tapped the commercial market of the fractured hobbyist.
Initially research should be done to find the most profitable niches below mainstream television for maximum penetration. However it will not stop there.
As crazy as it sounds, you may be able to TiVo your kids' little league game and watch it later as someone on the team picked up the responsibility of videotaping it... or perhaps the Little League organization itself subsidises these tapings to promote their organization and bills the teams through the standard fees and dues.
Television is kind of important to a lot of people, but if your son plays Little League then this is much much more important than television could ever be to you. To be able to watch a Little League game afterwards with your son when you were out of town on business and missed the actual game or to let grandpa back in Maine get a season pass to the games, now THIS will drive box
I'm sure that people don't play illegally downloaded music on WMP though... right Steve?
It would seem to me that there would be no higher percentage of "thiefs" using iPods than WMP.
Of course Microsoft could always just cripple the mp3 playback on it's WMP and watch everyone switch players if they really wanted to.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's the photos that I took. http://thomashawk.com/2005/02/i-am-robot-hear-me-r oar.html
I did read the article. It does highlight much of what Media Center can do but also reiterates from the New York Times article what TiVo can do and throws in the analysis on the two. If MCE can do everything that TiVo can I think it is fair and that there is nothing wrong with pointing this out. It's nice having the third comparison with the HDTV cable box and the added analysis of what the author calls the "elephants in the room," HDTV and multiple tuners. If there are features that were neglected in the review then there is nothing like a good slashdotting to fete them out. An MCE box of course can be much more expensive than a TiVo too which perhaps should be mentioned -- although recently I've been surprised at how cheap these Media Centers are coming down for lower end systems and when you throw lifetime service in for the TiVo it is not that much cheaper really. The review also addressed the HDTV issue and although neither Media Center or TiVo offer ideal opportunities here today (hence negative feature) suffering through the poorly designed cable UI is the alternative. The HDTV TiVo DirecTV also seems to be suggested as an option but dismissed due to cost. I would have liked to have seen this (along with the Comcast Foundation box) explored more as was expressed in my comment submission. Personally the HDTV TiVo was the direction that I went and have been extremely happy with my HDTV DirecTV TiVo despite the price. I still run my Media Center PC though as it allows me to do certain things that I can't with my closed box DirecTV system -- namely manage my pictures and music and get recorded content off the box on my laptop and for editing. Then there is also the Linux Media Hub that HP is theoretically coming out wiht later this year which will support HDTV, again theoretically, which also might be mentioned in the whole conversation. Although Ed seems to prefer Media Center I don't think this is "propoganda." It's a fair comparison and his opinion. I happen to agree with a lot of his observations while even ultimately moving my primary television platform to the superior HDTV DirecTV TiVo.
So what's so great about TiVoToGo? Everyone acts like this is some big great thing. TiVo spent the entire year in 2004 hyping the thing. I've been able to easily copy programs quickly and efficiently from my Microsoft Media Center PC since 2002. No password, no DRM, no access key, just drag and drop to my laptop over the internet. Frankly I think it's kind of stupid that TiVo spent 2004 making this their big initiative and using valuable engineering and marketing resources when TiVoToGo can only be used by less than half of their users. DirecTV users can't use it and Series 1 users can't use it (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for very valid reasons, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, it's DirecTV's fault, etc. etc. etc.). Instead, the company should have been focusing on 1. building a dual tuner standalone unit and 2. building a standalone HDTV unit. Good god, who would buy a single tuner DVR anymore? They have finally come to this realization and announced an upcoming unit to accommodate HDTV with dual tuners to be released in early 2006 but quite frankly it may be too little too late. When I can get a dual tuner HDTV box for a monthly fee from Comcast why will I want to shell out big bucks for the TiVo. They had a window of opportunity and they blew it. They chose instead to focus on "TiVoToGo" -- whoop de doo, I own two TiVos and can't even use it. No wonder the stock has gone from $20 to $3.63. I've got more on comments made yesterday by TiVo CEO Mike Ramsay at DEMO yesterday on my blog as well as some information on his recent personal switch from a Windows based PC to a Mac at http://thomashawk.com/2005/02/chip-shipley-speaks- with-tivos-mike.html
Agreed. It is refreshing to see what seems to be a new era of transparency coming from Microsoft these days. Between bloggers like Robert Scoble and what is perceived as a new openess in interviews like this I think that these are positive communication developments coming out of Redmond. You may not agree with the company but it's nice to know that they can these days have a honest discussion in a public forum.
Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo! met with Mark Jen last night and is confirming that he was fired. http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/004157.htm l
In an interesting twist on the vilification of Microsoft as the big bad evil corporate empire with the contrasting "Don't Do Evil" Google, and in light of the incredibly stupid Wired story about Microsoft trying to discourage iPod use with their employees last week, it is worth noting today that on Matt Goyer's (a Microsoft employee) blog this morning that he is blogging about the fact that he uses Firefox as his default browser. http://blog.mattgoyer.com/2005/02/08.html#a4032 Even more significant, Matt is asking others (yes Microsoft employees) on how to get around some of the Microsoft Firefox limitations. "For the Softies out there, I use Firefox as my default browser, how do I get it to cache my work credentials so I don't need to login every time I visit an intranet site? Also, when I get home I can no longer post to HTML forms. Is there a way to fix that without going in and changing my proxies every time I switch on and off the MS network?" While Google is publicly taking a lashing by some in the blogosphere over the firing of Mark Jen, Microsoft has been very open in giving Bloggers like Goyer and Microsoft's most famous blogger Robert Scoble a very wide berth. Say what you will about Microsoft, but one thing that Microsoft has really done right is to embrace their blogging employees. This is an enormous amount of freedom. At the same time, Microsoft bloggers are generally very responsible with what they post. Certainly Matt is not criticizing IE merely by choosing to use Firefox as his default browser instead. However, the fact that he can feel comfortable publishing this on his blog speaks volumes about the culture at Microsoft. It's a nice thing to see.
Don't be evil Sergey.
I think it's grasping for straws at this point. Microsoft has offered all three of these "toys" through it's Media Center Edition software for over a year. People do not buy entertainment DVRs because they have weather forcasts on them or an RSS reader. The games they might offer could not compete with the richer gaming experience found elsewhere. TiVo missed the mark by wasting the last year working on TiVoToGo which is useable by less than half of their subscribers (Series 1 and DirecTV users can't use it) and chock full of DRM and has been reported to have extremely slow file transfer speeds (this is probably as much do to problems with folks wireless networkds as anything.). Instead they should have been working on a two tuner standalone unit and an HDTV standalone unit. (Both things they say are coming now). They also had an opportunity to strika a deal with cable that Ramsay botched trying to hold out for more money. Boy I bet they wish they had that cable deal now. What TiVo should have realized from the beginning was it wasn't important how much they made from a cable deal, what was important was getting the users. Figure out a way to monetize them later.
TiVo submitted a letter to the FCC this week suggesting that cable operators are not doing enough to promote the CableCARD and are not inclined to promote it, especially the more advanced cards which allow dual tuners. TiVo argues that it is not in the cable operators economic interest to promote them and that the cable companies are trying to completely control their access, guides and channels to the detriment of competitors like TiVo. http://thomashawk.com/2005/01/tivos-letter-to-fcc- and-will-microsoft.html
Say what you will about Microsoft but I think it's really great the amount of communication that they are sharing with the public through blogs and posts like this. I think that to work somewhere where you can post a blog entry about technical glitches at CES and not get fired is pretty cool. Microsoft's most famous blogger, Robert Scoble, is often offering up posts that many might find to have "anti Microsoft" tones and he can do so without fear of losing his job. Sometimes criticism, even self criticism, can be a good thing and allows us all to improve. What impressed me the most about Sean's post is that it was allowed to happen at all. It adds a very human element to Microsoft and opens up a way for Microsoft and the public to directly communicate. I think the tollerance that Microsoft has and the willingness to be open about problems and issues with their software is refreshing and will make the company and the software that much better in the long run. Kudos to Sean and his team. They did a great job and pulled off a great recovery in one of those awkward technical moments that we've all been through ourselves in the past.
Sorry. http://thomashawk.com/2005/01/hp-launching-linux-m edia-center-pc-to.html
I've designed a new logo for the combo Linux / HP Media Center PC. http://thomashawk.com/2005/01/hp-launching-linux-m edia-center-pc-to.html/
From the underwear model wife, to the sipping Grand Mariner upon arrival, the story strikes me as possibly being made up. I'd love to see some kind of screen shot verification of this 900,000 song collection. I've collected music for a number of years and the time that would need to be devoted to scrubbing p2p downloads, meta data, bad files, etc. or ripping CDs is astronomical. Per this article it seems that this individual has been at this for less than a year and with children (which need attention) and a 16 hour a day job I'm highly suspicious that anyone could amass this kind of collection -- particularly with the attention to organization that the article seems to indicate. I'm not calling the interviewer a liar, but I would like to see some kind of corabarating evidence of this urban legend collection to believe that it exists. Has anyone heard of other collections this large? iTunes apparantly has 700,000 songs. I've never seen anything on the internet or anyone who is alleged to have had a collection this large.
What do you mean the name Owen Smigelski is kind of unique? I know like 17 different Owen Smigelskis. Now Crowen Smigelski or Brovakowen Smigelski now those might really be unique.
I've got a picture of the more evil than satan search as well as a more comprehensive critique of the site which asks the question does Microsoft manipulate your search results at: http:// Is_Microsoft_Manipulating_the_Search_Results_with_ Their_New_MSN_Search_for_Their_Own_Agenda?
I hate to tell you all this but this whole China thing that you keep reading about everywhere is basically just a fad. Trust me, it won't be around 2 years from now. It's like oh it's great, Webvan can bring me my groceries... this is really cool... it's the future... China? Same basic thing. But there will be a lot of dumb angry men over there ready to fight when they realize that there are a lot more men in the population than women and only the smartest, richest, most succesful and best looking get women. Just what you want, an entire population filled with your least attractive mating candidates in the evolution pool angy, pissed off and ready to kick the shit out of someone.
Something that's bugged me about Slashdot comments is how self-important certain parts of it seem to be. Some of the more prominent comments seem to be story after story, self-congratulatory pieces about how exciting and important posting is ("Wow, look! We're important!") and for some reason that attitudes drives me nuts. Because... well... yeah, in some respect posting/commenting and "the voice of the people" and so on is important, although not nearly so much as they'd like to have us believe sometimes. Especially when our posts and comments cease being about something, and instead being about... posting. Ah well. Hi... I'm Larry... the sweltering chipmunk... urrrrr!... I'm hot... I need a sweater...
Bumperstickers are so last decade. Just post it on your blog.
Photoblogging is so kick ass. It rocks better than Linus Tor, whatever the hell his name is. To turn the mirror on Slashdot, how about checking out the commments over at http://blog.photoblogs.org/2004/11/photoblogs_slas .html#comments where the photobloggers comment back on the slashdot article. Example: "those comments are a joke, 3/4 of the negative viewpoints on there are coming from people who appear to not know anything about design, photography, art, or humanity for that matter. Reading most of them was a waste of my time, I would like to ask for those few moments of my life back...haha"
My own most recent photo series is entitled Reflections on Manhattan. http://thomashawk.com/2004/09/reflections-on-manha ttan.html
Now go buy a digital camera, get the hell out your house for once and go take some damn pictures of some flowers or something and report back! You only need to go outside for about two hours. Think of the bright side, you can start a hard drive defrag and it might be done by the time you get back.
Yes, all true, but how can this teach my child how to use a computer earlier? Perhaps with the early phrase: "Computing... goood. going outside the house very very baaaaad."
Per CNET: "With Media Center Edition 2005, Microsoft is dipping its toe into the world of digital television. For systems in the United States, Microsoft is supporting recording high-definition TV, but only for free, antenna-based signals. Poole said the reason is that cable and satellite providers have not yet provided access to their high-definition signals." Although only OTA, Microsoft has been very vocal about the new MCE 2005 supporting HDTV. Similar to one of the recorders in the review that only supports OTA HDTV, so does MCE 2005. You might be confused with MCE 2004, which did not.
There are two ways you can use the guide. One is direct from the satellite (very slow) and another setting that is a much faster guide. Play around with it and you'll find a much faster guide.
Mike is right on so many different levels. Broadband content delivery will become extremely important... not just for television and hit movies but by turning 500 channels into 500,000 channels. The opportunity in the fragmented content world that includes everything beneath the current 500 cable/satellite channels (the tail, as it has become the recent catch phrase) is a huge collective market. Both Microsoft and TiVo would be wise to address this market and be the first to offer this content via their living room devices. A print ad you might see in the future would look something like this, "Sure you can get 500 channels on your cable television box... but after you've finished watching the Yale interview with author Kurt Vonnegut, can you get the 2004 rock climbing championship from Joshua Tree California?" TiVo... your tv. Who you want, What you want, When you want, How you want it (did we mention without the commercials?)... Why would you want anything else? There will be a huge market in organizing, monitoring and broadcasting this new media. Tools will be needed to filter content and create a truly unique experience. Guides will need to be written and monitored along with these search tools. This new content will become a stepping stone for the most creative to be picked up by the traditional mainstream content distribution channels -- to be discovered so to speak. As the hand held video content becomes avaialable to every creative college kid, new shows like MTV's jackass will be developed without the constraint of media censorship. This new content will be promoted both by word of mouth but as well as by tracking services like today's Technorati ranks blogs and their popularity. It is going to be a very exciting time for television over the next 10 years. Although as fantastic as the TiVo service is, it's numbers are still tiny comparred to the potential. Two million subscribers is just tiny. Microsoft even smaller. But Bill Gates is putting $20 billion into this living room initiative and that may change some things. The biggest barrier to adoption of a living room PC, either Microsoft's MCE or TiVo's Linux based system (really it's a computer and not a set top box), is the initial cost and that consumers NEED A REASON to upgrade and adopt the technology. The problem is the chicken vs. the egg and herein lies the rub. Those that truly understand how great TiVo is already have TiVo. You hear over and over again... "I wish I had just bought it earlier... it's so fantastic." HDTV is one reason to buy it and upgrade, especially as the sale of HDTVs are exploding. Unfortunately Microsoft or TiVo still haven't gotten this one right yet. TiVo is ahead of Microsoft with a satellite HDTV unit but Microsoft's MCE 2005 and it's limited OTA capability is not enough to drive the consumer to buy the machine for HDTV. Offering viewers alternative television programming at the smallest level is a reason to upgrade. We all are fanatics of something, hobbyists, enthusiasts -- fractured in our pursuits, but even more enthusiastic about them than television. This is the power that is eBay. They tapped the commercial market of the fractured hobbyist. Initially research should be done to find the most profitable niches below mainstream television for maximum penetration. However it will not stop there. As crazy as it sounds, you may be able to TiVo your kids' little league game and watch it later as someone on the team picked up the responsibility of videotaping it... or perhaps the Little League organization itself subsidises these tapings to promote their organization and bills the teams through the standard fees and dues. Television is kind of important to a lot of people, but if your son plays Little League then this is much much more important than television could ever be to you. To be able to watch a Little League game afterwards with your son when you were out of town on business and missed the actual game or to let grandpa back in Maine get a season pass to the games, now THIS will drive box
"To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable." Aaron Copland, American Composer (1900-1990)
I'm sure that people don't play illegally downloaded music on WMP though... right Steve? It would seem to me that there would be no higher percentage of "thiefs" using iPods than WMP. Of course Microsoft could always just cripple the mp3 playback on it's WMP and watch everyone switch players if they really wanted to.