DirectTV Vista Media Center PCs May Yet Appear

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 by MegaZone

Remember when Microsoft and DirecTV announced that they were developing tuner modules and the associated software that would allow vendors to sell Vista-based Media Center PCs with built-in DirecTV support? No? Well, I can’t blame you, since it was at CES 2006, nearly two years ago now. Since then there have been very few additional mentions of the development. Even at CES 2007, both parties were mum about the project. It seemed that it, like so many other CES announcements, had simply died a quiet death.

Well, CES 2008 is just a couple of weeks away, so we may hear something this time around. But Chris Lanier has some interesting info in his blog. He spotted a job posting which indicates Microsoft is still working on satellite TV support in Vista:

We are delivering next generation TV Tuners designed to deliver Premium TV experiences from world class Satellite TV network operators into the Media Center Edition PC. TV Experiences such as PPV, H.264 HD, in-band guide loading, all on newly developed dual-tuner TV receiver devices makes this job exciting and fast moving.

DirecTV isn’t mentioned by name, and the technologies listed apply equally to DirecTV and DISH Network, as well as other DBS providers outside the US, but it does provide some hope. He also found a second job posting which indicates the satellite TV support will not be confined to the US:

Working with Satellite TV providers, both in U.S. and Europe, you will help deliver native Satellite TV tuners allowing native content to flow directly into Media Center, opening up HDTV and NetOp experiences/services directly into the PC.

So it seems the project, at least satellite TV support in Vista Media Center in general, isn’t dead just yet. It remains to be seen if Microsoft and DirecTV are still actively engaged, or if this is just a platform development by Microsoft that would allow such support in Vista. In any case, it certainly has taken a while since the initial announcement, which made it sound like it would be seen in the then near future.

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

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Sound and Vision Magazine Talks Blu-Ray with Pixar’s John Lasseter

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 by MegaZone

Sound and Vision Magazine talked to Pixar’s John Lasseter about the feature-packed Blu-ray release of the Disney/Pixar film Cars. Lasseter is very much pro-Blu-ray and he comes across as being excited as a film maker with the format’s potential.

Similarly, when Lasseter heard about Blu-ray, he immediately started thinking of all the ways he could use it to enhance the experience of Pixar’s films. “I went to Bob Chapek over at Disney Home Entertainment, and said, ‘Teach me, teach me, teach me about what you can do with Blu-ray that you can’t do with DVD!’ There were two main things I got excited about. One was the new ways to do commentary, which I love. As a filmmaker, the commentary is the one true document of the making of the film, because everything’s fresh in your mind. Ten years later, I forget the stories of the little details of making Toy Story. But at the time, you know it. And the second thing is, a Blu-ray player is like a little computer, so there’s so much more you can do.

“I love making the movies for the theater, but I also love making them to be seen at home. With Blu-ray, all the high-definition and the amazing sound helps bring out the details — and we really, really stress the details. The amount of data this format can handle lets us go so much deeper into the story — the characters and their world — but also lets us talk about the filmmaking.”

Lasseter was behind the effort to make Cars an example of what Blu-ray can do, with the Car Finder Game and the Cine-Explore interface for commentary, etc.

For Lasseter, Blu-ray is clearly not a gimmick or a marketing tool, but a new, and pretty much untested, creative vehicle he can’t wait to take out on the road again to see where else it takes him. “We’ve been working on this version of Cars for well over a year — since even before the movie was finished — looking ahead to when Blu-ray would come out. We knew we wanted to create this, so we were really excited, but we wanted to wait until the technology settled down. As we get used to what we can and can’t do with Blu-ray, it’s the same thing as with computer animation: It gives us more ideas. I always say that art challenges technology, and technology inspires the art. With this disc, the art was challenging the technology. The more we get to know about Blu-ray, it’s going to inspire us to do great things that we can’t even think of right now.”

Read the full article for a lot more. I’m certainly interested in what Lasseter will come up with for future Pixar Blu-ray releases.

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Ongoing Comcast TiVo Coverage From Steve Garfield

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 by MegaZone

After blogging about his ordering and installation experience, Steve Garfield has continued to blog about his experience with his newly installed Comcast TiVo software. Everything from the new Comcast TiVo peanut to the differences with fast forward compared to a standalone TiVo. If you want to follow along, you can read just his posts flagged with ‘TiVo’, or, even better, simply subscribe to this RSS feed of just his ‘TiVo’ flagged posts. Or, of course, you can read his full blog or feed. Steve also has a photo set on Flickr documenting the installation and many screens of the TiVo OCAP interface.

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The Hollywood Reporter Predicts Blu-ray To Win In 2008

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 by MegaZone

Well, it is that time of year – time for end-of-year predictions about what will happen in the coming year. And The Hollywood Reporter isn’t pulling any punches with the headline:Prediction: Blu-ray blows away HD DVD.

2008 is the year Sony’s Howard Stringer and the Blu-ray Disc will slay HD DVD as effectively as Joseph Turok dispenses with dinosaurs. If you’re unfamiliar with that metaphor, you probably don’t have a PlayStation 3.

I’m still a staunch Blu-ray supporter, and my super-deluxe Blu-ray Blade Runner box set arrived today which I’m all giddy about, but I’m not as confident as I once was in Blu-ray’s absolute victory. If anything, things are less certain now than they were a year ago. Paramount’s and DreamWorks Animation’s jump to HD DVD, payola or not, took some of the wind out of Blu-ray’s sails. And while BD player prices have been dropping rapidly, Toshiba has been able to retain the low-price lead. I think Blu-ray still has the support to beat HD DVD, but I admit HD DVD has surprised me by holding out as long as it has already. The big unknown is Warner. If they remain on the fence then the slow war of attrition will continue. However, if they do pick sides, they could decide the outcome of the war – either a permanent stalemate or a Blu victory, depending on which way they swing.

I think we’ll see a lot of hype from both sides next month at CES. I don’t know what HD DVD’s story will be – maybe touting the possibilities of their 51GB disk. But, aside from that, there isn’t really anything new in their camp from a technology standpoint. Toshiba’s only recently launched their 3rd generation players, so I don’t know if they’d want to talk 4th gen yet. Maybe they’ll announce some additional manufacturers.

Blu-ray, on the other hand, will probably be talking up the move to Profile 1.1, with the recent update to the PS3 and the release of Profile 1.1 players and content. And, beyond that, toward Profile 2.0 aka BD-Live players and content due in 2008. (The HD DVD camp at this point would point out they’ve had 1.1/2.0 features since the start, and rightfully so.) We’ll probably see a number of new players announced for several vendors. Hopefully some of those will be low-cost models that will drive BD player pricing down below $200 in early 2008. And we’ll probably hear more about higher capacity BD media, with 100GB and 200GB capacities being bantered around. There has already been talk of using such media for home 3D content, as Hollywood seems to be embracing 3D again (and, I admit, I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far) and the first TVs capable of displaying 3D content are already on the market. But 3D content would mean another jump in data storage needs, and that’s where Blu-ray’s growth capability would come in handy.

In any case, I’m looking forward to CES and my feet are already starting to ache in anticipation of all the walking I’ll be doing.

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Getting The Comcast TiVo Software Installed

Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 by MegaZone

Blogger Steve Garfield happens to be a Boston area Comcast user, and he jumped on the opportunity to get the TiVo software – so quick that Comcast told him he was the first customer to have it installed! And, fortunately, and entertainingly, for us, he blogged the experience. It sounds like he had a little trouble getting it installed, partly due to a filter on his cable that was blocking the software download, but it all worked out in the end. And he confirms that existing recordings from the pre-TiVo software remain after the update. It is the early adopters like Steve who help smooth things out for those who follow.

If you got the TiVo software installed on your Comcast DVR, how was the experience?

Picked up from TiVo Blog.

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