It seems as though there is now some sort of official word regarding the much anticipated Windows Media Center TV Pack. From Chris Lanier’s Blog:
Today Microsoft made the Windows Media Center TV Pack official. Formally codenamed Fiji, the TV Pack is meant to add support for various TV signal types within Vista Media Center. News about the TV Pack has been leaking out for the past month, and instead of waiting for CEDIA as originally planned Microsoft let the cat out of the bag today so people will know exactly what to expect and not to expect within the TV Pack.
First of all, yes the TV Pack is OEM only. The official word for the OEM only release has basically centered around the installation method, which according to Microsoft was designed for a clean install of Vista Service Pack 1 (plus a few patches) before the new software bits can be loaded. As some have already figured out, it is possible to avoid the clean install method and just install it on your existing Vista SP1 install, but of course it isn’t suggested. Outside of the install method the TV Pack is very dependent on new hardware (TV Tuners) and thus that likely played into the decision to make the product OEM only. Sadly, Microsoft seems to have forgotten the big splash they wanted to make by including Media Center in two of the Vista SKUs and getting away from the OEM only release. By providing the TV Pack as an OEM only release they have (once again) kicked all existing news while they were already down.
From Chris’s link at The Green Button:
We do want the Windows Media Center community to know that Microsoft will continue to improve upon the Windows Media Center experience for our customers worldwide, by adding content partnerships and enhanced features. We will share these developments as they become available.
What a crock of BS!
I cannot find an official news release on the Microsoft website. This does not mean much, since I have my own problems looking up a lot of things on their site. Regardless, if this true, my personal opinion is that we have begun to see the end of Windows Media Center as a viable product. If Microsoft is so concerned about hardware compatibility, I really do not see why they could not add a simple check in the install process to check for a compatible TV tuner, which is the only item, IMHO, that could cause a failed install.
Other than the above, I have no words to describe how disappointed I am with Microsoft. Other than, does anyone have a link to the 64-bit RTM version of TV Pack?
August 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Switching over to Mac looks better and better every day.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
August 8th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
–long post warning - sorry, but once I get going …–
I’ve never been a big fan of the Media Center TV experience anyway; I use Beyond TV for my scheduling and recording, which, among other things, doesn’t put DRM wrappers around the video files. Yay for straightforward MPG2 and WMV formats. As a side benefit, since they’re not Media Center TV files, my Home Server backs them up
Although they’re all moved to the WHS Video share anyway once they’re finished recording anyway, so I guess they’re backed up via the PP1 Server Backup function ^_^
I’ve just recently started using the Media Center built into the 2 Vista Ultimate PCs, 2 Vista Home Premium, and 1 Media Center 2005 systems I have. So far, there’s a lot I like, and some I don’t like. The lack of easy configuration is one aspect I’m not keen on, and the entire TV section’s another area I don’t even use.
Before I got the WHS and its easy media sharing, I used just the basic Windows Media Player to view the recordings. Now I’m getting very used to the DVD Gallery view in Media Center.
On the other other hand, I can definitely see where, if they don’t push the formerly-fiji enhancements out to the general MC crowd, then someone at Microsoft needs to get their product vision checked. IMANSHO, major enhancements to an operating system being made available only to OEMs, not to home installers and upgraders, is a really bad business decision, smacking of questionable vision and dubious ethics.
Would these same people be willing to stand behind a decision to support, for instance, USB 3.0 when that comes out, but only via OEMs? Only even that’s not a very good analogy. Media Center is the entire REASON for the Media Center operating system versions, and is one of the major selling points behind Vista Home Premium and Ultimate (or else they wouldn’t bother making it a check mark item on the Compare Versions tables.)
So anyway … while this decision on the TV Pack doesn’t end up affecting me directly, I see it as a very poor decision to be made in any case.
On the minor mitigation side of things - just because it’s an OEM release, is it possible that at least the major OEMs will be pushing it out to their users as an upgrade? This still won’t help anyone who purchased an O/S upgrade that includes Media Center or who purchased their own OEM/system builder discs. But it might help people who have an HP Media Center PC, etc.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
i’m not sure if I’m upset or not. I need to buy a new copy of vista soon..if i can get an OEM copy with this in it from say newegg.com then it doesn’t bother me. as long as the features warrant it and since I have to get a new copy anyway…
sigh
definetly not the model we were hoping for tho..
August 9th, 2008 at 2:18 am
For many years, I have been a windows user, a microsoft tech ed conference attendee, and I have always like Microsoft. Everybody has their complaints, but all in all they are on top of their game.
I purchased a media smart server with WHS awhile back, and really enjoyed the product. I was especially was happy when power pack 1 was released. They did not make any stipulations like these stated above. I felt it was a great improvement to an already great OS.
I am not happy with this TV Pack decision by Microsoft. People pay good money for their software, and expect good support and updates as they come out. I, myself do not have Vista, however I feel bad for those individuals who already have vista, and are not able to take advantage of this improvement.
Why can’t Microsoft be consistent with their offerings to loyal customers.
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Besides the Point…
Just like Matthew above…I have also been enticed by Apple lately with their awesome product line. Mac Mini in particular. All of this was brought on by Plex. A great HTPC application that has been evolved from XBMC (a favorite still to this day of mine on my old school x-box)
My hackintosh can run PLEX, but a sleek mac mini would look beautiful beside my TV.
I have to say that I am leaning toward the Apple line of products. I haven’t used one since Apple II gs, when I played paperboy as a kid, but feel like it would increase my computer knowledge and make me more well rounded. And all of these darn photoshop tutorials I read wouldn’t bother me with the Ctrl key not being there.
The WHS is treating me nicely, but put togethor with a mac mini with plex would be a media center dream for me. Throw in Parallel desktop and it would be even better.
All hail PLEX…
Go check out the site and increase the following…(a new RC should be on its way soon!)
http://elan.plexapp.com
There is a great post in Plex’s forums describing methods for grabbing TV Shows. Hopefully someone will find this useful.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:54 am
hmmm. I smell a new Apple marketing campaign. lol!
August 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
You guys gotta give the eHome team that they have balls to pull a stunt of like this
Before I purchased my media center I checked for alternatives but I didn’t find any. A friend of mine has a mac mini. It’s small and quiet (not silent) but there is no TV support (record TV / Guide etc.) and the interface is not nearly as nice as VMC imo.
I spent some time looking at Linux and MythTV (i think it was called), to get some basic experience with Linux I installed Ubuntu on my IBM x31 an never was able to get WLAN working with WPA-PSK (I’ll never get that week back of my life, it’s gone). Looking at MythTV there was some posts saying it was really really easy, but it didn’t look easy to me and lots of users had problems with drivers. So I purchased a VMC box and thought I was good to go. 1 year and 3 TV tuners later I have a fairly stable system that only crash once a week - I suspect due to HDMI-TV issue with PC not acknowlegde that the TV display is on/off/on.
I would love to see a rock solid stable Linux alternative. But so far VMC seems to be alone in the market and hence MS can act as a monopoly. I’m not aware of an Apple product that will compete.
Maybe the eHome team should treat VMC like xbox. Control the hardware and build a superior experience with the software and allow developers to build add-ons that add niche features but are not able to make the box unstable. Heck build a server solution and sell better extenders that offers the same UI as VMC does today with the animations.
It could happen, not now, but maybe in 2015?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I found links to the 64-bit edition as well as the 32-bit in [URL=http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1050312&page=2]this thread[/URL]…
August 10th, 2008 at 4:32 am
While I’m disappointed in Microsoft, I’m not really all that worried about this. It’s not a new OS and it’s not licensed differently; since the TV Pack has already been leaked, they can’t stop us from installing it. With acquiring and installing the TV Pack being this trivial, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me even if it’s officially for OEMs only.
August 10th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Makes me wonder if MS leaked it themselves. That way, the “enthusiasts” get it which makes them happy, and “quieter”. MS will get the what work/what doesn’t feedback at TGB. “Unofficial” Beta testing at its best.
I can’t comment about the DVB standards from a Euro viewpoint, but I don’t see a big deal regarding QAM in the U.S. ClearQAM, whether OTA or cable, is not going to add that much content to MC. Better integration into MC, which is nice. But if you just plug your cable into your PC tuner, install the Pack; you will not get that many QAM channels, as most are “locked”.
Now, if someone comes up with a different/better solution, let us know.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Jim I doubt that MS leaked the RTM package. See http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/post/283672.aspx for Jeff’s response to that theory and reason why the left the link at the tgb.
From a Denmark perspective it’s really disappointing that MS can not deliver proper dvb-t support. A VMC user can watch 4 channels today via dvb-t. Next year there will be 35 channels and none of them can be watched with media center as it lacks mpeg4 an dvb-t with CI card.
So anyone looking for a media center (PVR) in Denmark, and probably also in other countries in Europe, will have to look at other solutions than MS.
I find it really hard to understand why MS can’t deliver. Look at DVBViewer http://www.dvbviewer.com/en/index.php?page=features . How hard can it be MS?
August 11th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I don’t know if it is the same thing as mentioned above, but when shopping on HP.COM I ran across this operating system option and thought it pertinent:
“Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 for digital cable tuner (32-bit)”
Any thoughts?