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CE Pro’s take on the TV Feature Pack

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CE Pro have their take on the TV Feature pack, they have nice details on some of the new features including PlayReady, how QAM support works and the new TV format.

TV Pack is still shrouded in secrecy. OEMs still are not allowed to talk about its innate features and cannot even mention the word "Fiji".
What they can say goes something like this, in the words of Chris Morley, executive vice president of Fluid Digital. "I can't speak for what other OEMs are doing. I can just tell you that these are the features of our PCs."
Let's start with the biggest and most controversial feature of TV Pack: It is not available for existing Vista PCs. You must buy a new computer to get this "upgrade."
Apparently, Microsoft believes that only OEMs are in the position to "ensure that users get the best experience possible" from TV Pack, according to Ben Reed of Microsoft's
Windows Media Center product marketing.

Read the full post on CE Pro

Posted Aug 13 2008, 04:40 PM by Ian Dixon
Filed under: ,

Comments

John wrote re: CE Pro’s take on the TV Feature Pack
on 08-13-2008 7:04 PM
..

Thanks for the link Ian, it is a good read.

From the CE Pro post, let me get this straight...

"Today, integrating CableCard and QAM content within Media Center is inelegant, to say the least. TV Pack remedies some of the challenges."

Ok, so as I understand, a VMC Cablecard system without Cablecards, gets clear QAM channels just fine. So, Microsoft just made the already working clear QAM channels available when the Cablecards were _in_ the system. This seems like more of a "tweak".

"PlayReady now seems poised to help users stream CableCard content – that isn't flagged -- from one PC to another PlayReady-enabled PC"

Ok, I can already do this on VMC (non-Cablecard). That is, watch Recorded TV (SD/HD dvr-ms) on any Windows XP or Vista computer in my house. So, Microsoft needed to "enable" something that already works without Cablecards? Seems more like a "tweak".

"By all accounts, .WTV is better than DVR-MS, as it supports more compression schemes, shows 16x9 thumbnails, and does a better job with wireless, among other things."

Ok. More compression scemes is good. 16x9 thumbnails are new? I already get 16x9 thumbnails for recorded 16x9 HD shows in Recorded TV. Wireless? What does the file format have to do with wireless support?

The more I read about TV Pack, the more it looks like a "non-event". Mostly a bunch of fixes (tweaks?) for the Cablecard components. What about non-Cablecard VMC systems, will TV Pack work on those and what additional functionality would it provide (i.e. enabling clear QAM)? Seems like a lot of hype and speculation over nothing. And Microsoft spend a year+ developing this?

Ian Dixon wrote re: CE Pro’s take on the TV Feature Pack
on 08-13-2008 9:16 PM
..

@john make no mistake its a major pluming change. There is a significant re-architecture change. If your in japan or Europe the change is significant if your in the US they are nice to have features  

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