Microsoft held a Windows Media Center conference at CEDIA this year, and while it was short and sweet, a number of major changes have been announced or discovered with regards to Windows 7's implementation of Media Center. Note that the list below covers the changes in Windows 7 only, and these changes may or may not be retroactive with the versions of MCE in Vista or XP.
So what do you guys think? With the removal of the OEM limitation of CableCARDS, I think the platform has a good chance of taking off again as a competitor to TiVO in the DIY crowd, especially with a new company (Ceton) making the CableCARD, SDV, and M-Stream Tuners at supposedly cheaper prices. If they can keep the cost at about $100 per tuner, I may just jump aboard.
- CableCARD Tuners are no longer OEM-only, and can be installed by anyone on any hardware
- DRM on CableCARD recordings has been loosened and no longer applies to every show recorded off the tuners, only flagged shows from content providers now.
- SDV support has been added! Great news for Comcast/TWC customers in the states.
- Videos from the new Zune Marketplace (including HD videos) work on Media Servers AND Extenders. New library of content to explore.
- The Dish Network Tuner was on the show floor! Channel Changing was slow, but it appears there's hope yet for Satellite Junkies.
- AP 2.0 allows system integrators to bypass the inherent limit of 5 Extenders. Not for the DIY crowd, unfortunately.
- Tuner limit has been changed from Four tuners in VU TVP to four tuners per type in Windows 7 Media Center. In theory, this means you could have 4 CableCARD Tuners, 4 ATSC/NTSC tuners, and another 4 Hauppage HD-PVRs hacked into it (No official support was announced for those boxes, alas).
So what do you guys think? With the removal of the OEM limitation of CableCARDS, I think the platform has a good chance of taking off again as a competitor to TiVO in the DIY crowd, especially with a new company (Ceton) making the CableCARD, SDV, and M-Stream Tuners at supposedly cheaper prices. If they can keep the cost at about $100 per tuner, I may just jump aboard.
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