BBC, Bill Gates plots a Windows future:
We have brought out the Media Center PC. That’s really our showcase. It shows how with a single remote control you can get at all these capabilities and then we are making sure that it connects up to everything else.
Read the interview if you’re interested in BillG’s thoughts on the future of home entertainment.
Thomas Hawk, E Television and LaCie Big Disk Problems:
Well this weekend I attempted to rehook a television signal back into my MCE machine and I was reminded that television indeed may be the biggest thing still holding Media Center back. The issue really boils down to two things. 1. Really poor television quality and 2. Incredibly complex set up.
Thomas, that sucks about your TV quality. I personally haven’t experienced this, but I’m curious what TV tuner you have? I know you’re using an upgraded machine so maybe a newer card would fix the problem because I know we made significant improvements in TV quality from 2004 to 2005. Also, are you using the latest drivers for your card? They can have a huge impact on quality.
For those that want to understand the technical reasons why Thomas’s video may be degraded, my co-worker Charlie Owen, responded at length in Thomas’s comments:
All of the encoding of the content for DirectTV is done at the ‘head end’ with *very, very* expensive equipment. Essentially, you are downloading a file from the satellite and decoding it on your DirectTV set top box for display on your HDTV.
All of the encoding of the content for Media Center is done on the Media Center PC with consumer quality equipment (some of which is really good and some of which is only so - so). Another Analog –> Digital conversion is introduced with the use of digital cable / satellite sources which *could* be the source of your degraded quality.
For example…
DirectTV = Source –> Encode to Digital –> Download to Set Top Box –> Decode to Analog –> Out To Display
Media Center with DirectTV = Source –> Encode to Digital –> Download to Set Top Box –> Decode to Analog –> Out to Media Center –> Encode to Digital –> Spool out to hard disk (equivalent to Download) –> Decode to Analog –> Out to Display
As for the TV setup problem. Ideally we would include a DVD decoder but for many reasons we don’t and instead leave it up to the computer manufacturer to ship the correct one.
To understand some of the reasons why we might not ship with a Microsoft supplied DVD decoder read the anonymous comment in Thomas’s blog:
DVD decoders are not free, they’re licensed (MPEG2 is a proprietary algorithm). Most DVD drives come with a DVD decoder of some sort (usually bundled in with a software player like WinDVD or PowerDVD). Suppose Microsoft were to bundle a DVD decoder with MCE 2005. This means that the average consumer purchasing a MCE computer at Best Buy will end up paying double for a DVD decoder - once for the one bundled with the DVD drive and once for the one bundled with MCE. Rather than unnecessarily push the price of MCE up (estimate $20, which would be a ~15% increase), Microsoft chooses to let its OEM’s decide when and how to include a DVD decoder. It’s a logical choice that saves you money.
Though yes, that error message sucks and should be improved. We really should tell you what’s wrong instead of hiding behind a generic message.
Keep in mind with a fresh MCE 2005 machine straight from the store should have all the right decoders and drivers installed. Sounds like our ‘depending on computer manufacturers’ upgrade story could use some work. And ideally a customer should never have to know what MPEG stands for or what DVD decoders do. Customers have that luxury with Tivos and
A recently asked question from an online MCE discussion, ‘Is there any way to import album art that’s embedded in mp3 files?’
We do not use embedded art for album covers (i.e. in an albums gallery). For a song art (song details, now playing) we give embedded pictures priority whose picture type is 3 [front cover], 1 [32 x 32 pixel file icon], or 0 [other] priority over art found in the directory.
With the answer from our MCE music PM.
CNET, FAQ: CableCard? What’s that?
If you’re shopping for a new TV or personal video recorder (PVR) this year, you should know something about CableCard.
Update: Also read CNET, Five reasons not to buy an HDTV with CableCard
Do you know what HDMI is?
While my TV supposedly has an HDMI port until I read, Gearing up for HDMI on the Desktop, over at AnandTech I didn’t really know what it was.
After reading the article my take away summary is to think of HDMI as DVI+HDCP+Digital audio all in one connector. I’d also conclude that any new TV you buy should have at least DVI+HDCP, but ideally both DVI and HDMI.
My roommates blame the MCE whenever our OTA HDTV gets a little shakey. Looks like instead they should be blaming the US government. From AVS:
Most of you are aware of the occassional breakup of the KOMO-DT HDTV video. After doing some research, I have speculated that it was a result of interference from an airborne picket radar that is flying over the Puget Sound 24/7. These radars operate at very high power about 3.9 GHz, just below the ABC network’s 4 GHz satellite receive frequency. The radar antenna takes about six seconds to revolve, and the racetrack circuit the plane is flying take about 30 minutes to complete. All this fits that pattern.
I heard about some problems with the HP z545 Digital Entertainment Center and thought I’d pass the solutions on to you:
Overheating DVD drive. It looks like the z545 has problems with the DVD drive overheating if you do not have enough clearance between the case and your cabinet (if it’s in one).
Deinterlacing “combing” artifacts: It appears that the z545 is not shipping with the best possible DVD decoder.
Media Center kicks ass for a CarPC! It runs great, touchscreen is really nice to use with it, easy to navigate from both remote and touchscreen, fast and smooth UI that looks great, etc. I’m pretty much gonna leave it up to the video and the pictures below for the details.
Check out his Car MCE PC Demo Video.
Features currently implemented:
Check out the last one on the last. Auto sync!
I’d like to see a Mac Mini do all that :).
Pete Near, In Depth: Media Center Extenders - Xbox vs HP.
Stuck between deciding what kind of Extender you should get? If so, read Pete’s indepth comparison.
Heads up that some of you are installing TweakMCE on your non-USA MCEs by hacking the registry. A note from our dev team:
changing the ident regkey will cause future QFEs and new versions of MCE to fail to install.
You’ve been warned. Also note that we will shortly be releasing a new build of TweakMCE that will work on non-USA MCE machines so the reg hack will no longer be necessary.