"Today [14-10-05] just so happens to mark the third birthday of Microsoft's Media Center Edition of Windows XP, which is likely why the company is rolling out a major update to the MCE product. Dubbed Rollup 2, the update is available to current WMC customers via Windows Update. Will you want it?"
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So this is basically a DRM version of windows designed to deliver content over the web. Naturally, consumers are opting for the Media center upgrade over the plain jane winXP home edition...
A service pack in the near future may implement a cough. cough. better version of DRM... cough cough...
Could not find any cool new features, like the delightful 6 button remote control in the new iMac.
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2005-07-06
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Only downside! That's a major downside, I have new 32" LCD-TV and using s-video is joke on that. iMac isn't real home-entertaiment system compared to MCE. If you take iMac you are pretty much fixed in one system with limited upgrading possibility. Thanks to Microsoft OEM system it's possible to build our own MCE system. So iMac with Front Row(which looks lot like MCE) is joke compared to MCE.
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RE[3]: linux media center?
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if you see ads poping up on a wma file this can have a couple of reasons:
-there is advertising in the media file
-you have no clue and filled your mashine with adware
-you have a bad case of braincancer and are hallucinating
i don't see where wma has an influence on any of these points. there are (at least on the european market) HDTV DVDs with wma encoded films. so if linux doesn't support it, it is obviously an disatvantage. of course, that is the fault of the content sellers, but who cares realy? lack of media support -> no good media desktop.
Member since:2005-10-02
I can't say about the situation in USA, but in Europe Linux Media Center's are a non-issue.
No legal issues what-so-ever and there are many guides how to create your own LME.
And wma-files aren't all that common. Especially not on DVD's. I still have to find one with wma-content.
Member since:2005-07-07
If you're interested in a linux muti-media centre you should check out MythTV ( http://www.mythtv.org/ ). Part of the fun of linux is the DIY mentality of stuff. You could scrape together a better than any PVR MythTV box (new) for under 400 USD... That number can go a lot lower if you happen to live in a computer graveyard like me 
The big things are to find a small form factor motherboard, and case, and to research why TV Tuner cards (etc) work well under linux... You could build a great media centre / PVR with bottom of the barrel 'new' parts... He, he, because everybody knows it's all about how sexy the case is on these things anyway
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It's not necessarily true---
You simply have to pay either a 1 time license fee of like $50,000 to $100,000 per CODEC OR a per unit sold license fee of $2-$3 per CODEC.
We're only talking a few CODECs here and quite frankly an alternative would be to develop a system using competing free formats like OGG, or PNG. I'm not familiar with the opensource video compression formats---I'm sure a Lossless one is easy to produce, but would have terrible compression. MP2 is the only one you need to compete with since MP4 is almost the same thing but is only beneficial for transmitting video over limited bandwidth connections.
hopefully we'll soon see an excellent open source video format with good compression.
Member since:2005-07-06
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no legal mp3 encoder no legal dvd player, no legal wma player, no legal aac player no legal Dolby decoder - no dice.
There are companies out there using MythTV to do just that. All of these big companies who think they're going to make a digital home, inclusding Microsoft and their silly MCs, are just p***ing patterns in the snow.
Everyone is waiting around looking for legitimate DRM stuff they can use so content companies won't get unhappy, and all of that stuff will simply never come. Why are people talking about the digital home and looking at streaming content everywhere? Because people pirated lots of MP3s and videoed stuff off the TV, and everyone now has quite large music and film collections which they never would have done spending lots of money on content. Apple has a billion dollar market now because piracy happened with MP3, so that Jobs guy can shut his mouth about stealing music.
For the digital home to actually work, content has to flow like water. It has to be free or available at a ridiculously low price. Without that you can simply forget people using Media Centres and god knows what else. The only people who are going to make this a success are those just going out and doing it today.
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Take a look at:
http://freevo.sourceforge.net/
Yes, it's a bitch to set up, but my friend builded up Media box for livingroom from scratch with gentoo+freevo, took a few days but it was damn worth it. It works and is easy to use :-)
Ps. Remember to select supported hardware if you plan to build HTPC on Linux - Nvidia cards support TV-Out :-)
Also remember to select compatible IRDA receiver. That + patience is all you need ;-D
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2005-07-09
For linux there is also mythtv http://www.mythtv.org bit like freevo with some extra features.
Alie
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This is about Windows Media Center responding to the iMac Media Center.
This is the ethics of business. Don't confuse moral dogma with ethics: they are different beasts.
Can the Konfabulator crap: he leveraged technology previously invented by Apple so get off your high horse.
It's amazing how folks can't see Apple's vision: If they can create a superior product they will do so. If they see a superior product that augments their vision they will offer a fair market price for the product: it's up to the company being offered to sell or not.
Member since:2005-07-06
This is about Windows Media Center responding to the iMac Media Center.
It actually isn't. Rollup 2 has been in the works for some time and MS scheduled Friday as the public launch (it's been available to OEMs for a couple weeks now) well before anything was know about Front Row.
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"See how apple only let iPOD play songs bought from iTunes and real had to reverse engineer it."
iPod can play all mp3 files and CD's you own. You just have to import them into iTunes. I know, it is tough to click your left mouse button 3 times consecutively.
Konfabulator was a better version copy of sherlock(an apple product). Dashboard just did the same thing to konfabulator.
I don't really see much need for a media center in the iMac or a Wintel PC. However, IMO the iMac was already the best value for a computer on the market, and now it is less expensive and has 3 new features and more speed, better graphics, faster RAM.
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I might be a Machead but I can admit that not all Apple's ideas are original (they just usually implement them better). Dashboard was a knockoff of Konfabulator, but then Konfabulator was a knockoff of Stardock. How far back do you wanna go? And of course Vista's Sidebar is a knockoff of all of the above.
Apple does copy MS sometimes. However MS copies Apple way more.
And yes, Front Row would be better in a Mac mini that you could hook up directly to your TV. I believe that in time this will become an option.
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I'd buy Apple's before I would buy Microsoft's. Apple's interface is much better, looks friendlier and more advanced, and it actually seems to work. Remember earlier this year when Bill Gates got on stage with Conan O'Brien to demonstrate MCE and alomst nothing worked and it was too hard for even Bill himself to operate?
If you do remember that, I suggest you head over to Apple.com and watch last week's Steve Jobs concert. Then decide for yourselves who is going to come out on top in this dogfight.
Member since:2005-07-06
Remember earlier this year when Bill Gates got on stage with Conan O'Brien to demonstrate MCE and alomst nothing worked and it was too hard for even Bill himself to operate?
MCE worked. The problem was with an IR extender they were using so Bill wouldn't have to be in line of sight with the MCE IR Receiver.
Member since:2005-07-17
Bill should do better with his flagship products!!!
Compare that example to Steve's "mactel" anouncement... where he worked on prototype hardware with the development platform... on stage.. and didn't tell anybody till the demo was almost over!!! that was a REALLY cool keynote speech... way better than any promo apperance Bill has done. It takes a lot of planning and knowladge of the stuff to pull that off.. something Bill and Microsoft just don't get.
Member since:2005-07-06
If you actually watched more of Bill's keynotes (particularly developer-oriented ones like WinHEC, PDC, VSLive!), you'd know that many times they also show off prototype, alpha, and beta software/hardware that works perfectly fine.
RE: Mactel -- I wouldn't call commonly available Intel hardware prototypes.
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Apple will do it better and right. Microsoft may win by pure numbers, but Apple will win from being innovated with it and a better design.
I mean fiddle around with 100 buttons(40+) on Microsofts remote compared to under 10 on the iMac's.
Apple makes Microsoft look like they are putting a square peg in a round whole! Nice one Bill..lol!
Member since:2005-07-06
I mean fiddle around with 100 buttons(40+) on Microsofts remote compared to under 10 on the iMac's.
Apple makes Microsoft look like they are putting a square peg in a round whole! Nice one Bill..lol!
The reason Front Row has so few buttons is because it isn't as featureful as MCE. For example, it has no TV interface, and if it did, you'd be stuck with Channel Up/Channel Down instead of being able to just directly key in the channel you want. Steve's comparison was a prime example of his usual reality distortion.
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It's already been perfectly well explained why there's only six buttons on the Mac remote. BECAUSE IT HARDLY DOES ANYTHING USEFUL. All those extra buttons on MCE remotes are not 'bloat'. They're for doing useful things that Front Row flat out doesn't do. That's like saying 'hey, my fifteen year old 13" analog TV beats your 52" HDTV because the remote has fewer buttons!!!!" Sheesh.
Member since:2005-07-06
The crappy 13" Samsung TV in my bedroom has a more intuitive remote than my 53" Hitachi HDTV in my living room. Granted, the picture is better, but the cumbersome remote and navigation system leave much to be desired. If I could somehow combine the higher quality picture with the much easier to use remote/on-screen navigation system, then I would be a very happy couch-potato!
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2005-07-06
This is the third anniversary of MCE, it is a credible implementation. Front Row looks like a descent beginning of an implementation too. But it should be better, Apple controls it end to end where as MCE runs on some diverse hardware. I have an HP MCE which I bought refurbished for a very reasonable price. MS has given me two very nice upgrades for free.
Without criticizing Apple hardware, I'm just not sure that integrating it with the iMac is a good idea--who wants an iMac in their entertainment center. It seems like the Mini would be a much better fit for it
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You mean they made it work. Gates did have to sit through 2 or 3 crashes of Windows Media Center Edition at the Consumer Electronic Show a while back. :}
BS. Watch the video. MCE did not crash. Bill couldn't communicate with it with the remote because an IR extender they were using failed. The problem was independent of MCE.
