[lguvenoz]

Anyone know if Vista is going to be currently supported, or am I SOL with RC2?

Direct link to the page with this info:

http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp

Assuming you have the ViiV components running under Vista, I would guess that the HR20 wouldn't care. It's talking over the wire to your PC so as long as it supports the appropriate communications you should be fine. Vista simply adds to the capabilities of the existing IP stack (things like full IPv6 support, etc.) so there really should be no difference.

I have the released version of Vista running on my PC, but it's an AMD unit so ViiV is not something I have been looking at with Vista.

 

[lguvenoz]

Here's an interesting interview from this past March with an MS executive on lots of stuff including some info on Vista and DirecTV...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/02/the-clicker-a-sitdown-with-microsofts-joe-belfiore-part-i/

The information on CableCard is a little distressing to those of us that like our very custom home-grown systems, but we'll have to see what D* comes up with. The most worrisome is that the CableCard discussion states that their technology will only support a single stream per device so you would have to have a card for each stream... ugly stuff that I can only hope D* won't do to the PC community.

 

[lguvenoz]

While I agree it will be a huge barrier, it does appear that DTCP-IP is a consortium license of five companies: Hitachi, Ltd., Intel Corporation, Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, and Toshiba Corporation. What I don't know is how opensource projects handle the licensing fees (upwards of $50k for mass distributions.)

Cheers,
Tom

The problem is that this will be a huge hurdle for Intel and anyone else to overcome. Given that companies like Microsoft are putting a lot of effort into similar technologies that are not tied to the brand of chip (things like Output Content Protection in Vista) I would be curious as to what would motivate anyone to support something like DTCP-IP?? Probably the same number as flocked to MicroChannel Architecture of the PS2....

 

[lguvenoz]

Since I can already do this with my Xbox360 (including 1080p, which the HR20 can't do) and my PCs throughout the house, why do I need to go buy an Intel Viiv-based computer?

This is the thing for D* to look at. I can do this as well today.

I have a two tuner OTA card running under Vista Ultimate that can record HDTV content and stream it at full resolution to my XBox360. MS built all of this into their new network stack to appease the content gods... Very cool stuff that is all from the *software* not a particular hardware vendor.

 

[lguvenoz]

and where are you going to get 1080p content from ? One day it will exist but not over the air either HD DVD/Bluray or maybe cable and satellite. ATSC doesn't support 1080p .
Not to mention I amsure that cost you 1500$ total or more the HR20 is 1/3 of the price or less and Vista doesn't support MPEG 4 yet maybe one day so the only content you could play would be 1080i MPEG2 or WMV-HD .

Vista does support MPEG4 depending upon the capture card (some existing cards support H.264). It also supports disk encryption, bus encryption and network encryption and trusting. All of the software pieces you would ever need to support distribution over your home network with the necessary protections to appease the content distributors.

Add to that hardware support for up to 4 parallel tuners, and you have a tremendous opportunity to build a true HTPC that distributes throughout your house. The biggest drawback to the whole setup is the bandwidth requirements for HDTV streaming. None of us should be surprised, but it's huge (your standard 802.11g wireless ain't gonna cut it). Mine can handle it, but it's over 100Mbps switched networking today, and I plan to upgrade to gigabit.

The networking piece is kind of interesting from ViiV. I've noticed that most, if not all, of the support hardware from Intel is all supporting gigabit networking. I also have noticed a lot of noise about the lack of wireless networking support being mandated. Realities of networking will hit home as people start doing more with streaming HD quality video, but that is where the real fun begins...

 

[lguvenoz]

Oh well, I was planning on getting a new machine for the Vista release anyways :lol:

I'm enjoying it today, but I half expect to need to do another round of upgrades once the hardware pieces I want (can you see D* tuner card) become available. I'm just postponing any significant upgrades until we all find out what hoops we will be forced to jump through. I just hope they're nowhere near as bad as the stuff being discussed around CableCards.

 

[lguvenoz]

Again, to all of the "other" setups out there.

Great... you have a solution that you are happy with.
No one is saying you have to use this method... use what makes sense for your setup, your systems, your configurations, ect...

No one is going to "force" you to purchase a ViiV system... no one is going to "force" you to use this feature of the HR20.

But if in your setup... if this fits... then it is a feature to you.
Just like any other feature (OTA, "Dual Buffers", Active, ect...) may matter to you, may not... doesn't make it any less valuable to the next guy.

I have an XBOX360, that can connect to my Media Servers... however, my XBOX360 isn't on all the time... and I do have a ViiV PC... so having access to my MP3's via my wired network in my house, is one step closer to what I want...

So bottom line...
If you are not happy that you will need a ViiV complaint system...
Then add that to the column of reasons why YOU don't like the HR20.

But, doesn't change the fact that it (soon to be) is a feature of the HR20.
And just like any other feature, there are requirements for it...

Great point Earl. I think it's awesome that they're reaching out to the computer community. I'll be interested to see how much activity they drum up around this. Even more so I'll be curious to see what sort of UI D* comes up with for the HR20 for things like browsing and listening to your music library.

It would be nice if they had maybe exercised their rekindled relationship with MS to do things using the standard MCE capabilities at the software level instead of hardware, but hey it is better than nothing and things are definitely advancing.

 

[lguvenoz]

That's what I'm waiting for. Strictly going by what the MS rep said in the previously linked engadget interview, this recent development and, my daydreams, I'm guessing an external receiver that connects via usb or firewire and is controlled by MCE, which could then be shared across the network to HR20s, all of which would make the MCE/ViiV requirement make some sense.

Well, I can dream, can't I?:lol:

I do hope that CES sheds some light. My honest hope is that from D* perspective they remove ViiV from the tuner card discussion. They should leverage the components of Vista and develop a PCI-Express internal solution. Vista can then guarantee the integrity and security of data all the way from the tuner card to the disk and over the network to distribution points. None of these elements in Vista mandate ViiV so it would be the most friendly to the user community.

How's that for a dream... Companies thinking of users first :lol: