Entertainment 2.0-Episode 60: Revenge of the Skype

What kind of tuners where you trying to get DVBLink to work with?  I would like to get a Net Top to replace my tower which just died, but it would mean replacing my Dual Tuner PCI card.  I thought DVBLink Server pack would be the solution, letting me move my tuner card to my WHS.  

However my tuner takes S-Video from a blaster-controlled STB.  DVBLink does not work with analog tuners.  If your tuner is ATSC or QAM it might work.  If you have a STB it seems the only solution is the HDPVR.

In regards to Mediaroom, this is the way I understand it will work (I am a Uverse subscriber).  Mediacenter will be able to receive and decode the TV stream directly through the network, and save to the local HDD.  This would be like cable card for Uverse, but without the need for any hardware.  If AT&T implements this, it will succeed where Dish and DirecTV have failed.

There will also be a Mediaroom tab on the main menu which leads to the Mediaroom UI.  In this area the Media Center will act like a Mediaroom client STB, and be able to access and schedule recordings on the DVR using the Whole Home DVR functionality that Uverse already has.  

This would almost be like softsled.  You could use Media Center's native live TV section on any PC without needing a tuner anywhere.  You can have centralized EPG if you record programs to the DVR.  There wasn't any mention of DRM for recordings made to the Media Center.  Hopefully it will be possible to play them on other PCs in the Home Group, but I think it is more likely to have the same restrictions as cable card recordings.

There will also be the ability of IPTV providers to offer pay-per-view to any subscribers who have broadband internet, using Silverlight Smooth Streaming.

Hopefully AT&T rolls out this functionality.  If it does, then any $200 Net Top I buy could be an extender.