cncb wrote:And yet they still continue selling them like everything is cool...
Hey, they have a warehouse full of the things. They spent a bunch of money developing them, and probably even more to build them. They have to clear out the inventory or else they'll be in a deep hole with the product.
slowbiscuit wrote:Wow - a new openness from Ceton, Eric? You could've explained this long ago in any of the Q threads btw.
Can you explain why you've abandoned further updates for the Echo too?
They're "working hard", don't you remember? We just don't know what, exactly, they're working on. But... even though I'm not exactly a Ceton fan, I can't imagine that they will never release some fixes for the Echo's multiple problems. That would be shameful and unforgivable. I did expect those fixes sooner though.
IownFIVEechos wrote:I will never buy another Ceton product. I don't care if its Q etc etc.. Just my opinion...
What? I thought your Echos work perfectly now. What happened?
kingwr wrote:I stand by my earlier predictions...
And people call
me crazy?
Dean L. Surkin wrote:Can the Roku, for example, wirelessly stream HD content at sufficient quality?
You folks need to remember that Internet streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, etc) are all
buffered. Media Center doesn't buffer (well, at least not very much, and definitely not in a way that lost packets can be re-transmitted more than a few milliseconds after the first transmission)... so any comparison between a Media Center extender and a Roku/AppleTV/etc. really don't apply.
Mashman wrote:Microsoft is abandoning extenders, because they will no longer be needed. The movement is to DLNA
Keep dreaming, but that isn't going to happen. First, there is only one DLNA client today that also supports DTCP/IP. That's the PS3. I don't know if the PS4 will support it, but it might. And... even on the PS3, the interface sucks... there is no guide data... and no recording capability. What makes you think that DLNA is the future of HTPC?
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As far as the "Q" is concerned... based on my experience with the Echo, I would never, ever, buy a "Q" or similar product from Ceton. They missed the mark by such a wide margin on the Echo that I could never trust them with my money on such a product in the future. I understand what Eric wrote here though. We all know that Media Center has some bugs and odd quirks. The average consumer wouldn't live with those bugs... so, if the "Q" was based on Media Center... with no possibility of ever getting those bugs/quirks fixed by Microsoft... the average consumer would crucify Ceton, even if they
didn't make the same egregious mistakes that they made with the Echo.
What I really hope to see in the next few years... is a new Windows-based product similar to Media Center that includes support for various tuners (including ATSC, CableCARD, and DVB-T/S/C) that makes use of the already-CableLabs-approved Microsoft PlayReady DRM scheme for CableCARD. This would require a company to spend the money necessary to license PlayReady, which is MUCH, MUCH cheaper than getting a separate CableLabs certification. The solution would also need to incorporate means for playback of local content as well as streaming Internet resources... and a hardware and/or software solution so that it could be easily streamed around the house to multiple TV's, similar to the "extender" concept.
I do believe that this is possible. And, I hope that a company who already has a stake (like Silicondust) will develop it.
Broadcast television, whether it be Over-The-Air, Cable, or Satellite, is not going away anytime in the near future. At least not for the next 10 years. Streaming media will definitely grow over that period, and may eventually replace broadcast television... so the smart thing is to develop a platform which will work well in either environment. Media Center
could have filled that need... but Microsoft chose to go in a different direction. They were ahead of their time with Windows XP Media Center Edition, and lost interest at precisely the moment when their product could have shone above the rest.
Media Center has always been and still is a small fraction of Microsoft's revenue. How many licenses of Windows have been sold solely for the purpose of building an HTPC? Then, of those, how many were solely because of Media Center? I'm sure the number is small compared to the number of Windows licenses that have been sold in total.
My point is that Microsoft is not in the business of selling software for HTPC's. At most, it was a distraction for them. They spent significant resources on it, and probably lost money on the venture. Now, they have refocused their efforts on selling operating systems and other things like games and movies that bring recurring revenue. The game consoles are merely a device with which to access their other revenue streams... games, movies, music, etc.
What we really need, is a company to build a software package similar to Media Center. That software package would need to build on the strengths of Windows, which is the most popular operating system in the world. It would need to support PlayReady in order to support CableCARD in North America, but it would also need the ability to export the stream (with DRM) to mobile devices, which is possible today... but no company has implemented that yet. It would need to support as many tuners as possible, and would benefit from support of things like DiSEqC 2.2. It would need to include support for (and a revenue stream from) Internet sources such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon, and others.
That company will need to pony-up the money for licensing of the technologies, and the willingness to invest in the development of the hardware/software to achieve the goal... which is profit.
So far, the only such company is TiVo. And, their pricing structure is unattractive to many of us (including me... now).
Honestly, if TiVo had the Roamio and Mini when I first got into Media Center 32 months ago... I would have bought it in a heartbeat... even at today's prices of those products. I spent somewhere between $2500-2800 on my Media Center system, including extenders and software. That serves 5 TV's. If I bought a Roamio Pro and four Mini's with lifetime service, that's $2100. Granted, the Pro has 3TB of storage space compared to my 4TB... and it has 6 CableCARD tuners compared to my 6 CableCARD plus 4 ATSC/QAM tuners... but I think I would have chosen the Roamio if it was available in 2011.
Their "Premier" system that was available at the time... with the limitation of only being able to "copy" (vs. "stream") recordings between devices (and then only non-copy-protected shows) caused me to look elsewhere.
The only thing TiVo lacks today... now that I've gotten used to having 10 tuners (6 CableCARD + 4 ATSC/QAM) is an integrated recording schedule between multiple Roamio DVR's. If they allowed me to have a Roamio Pro, plus a Roamio (base, with ATSC tuners)... and those two devices could have an integrated recording schedule... plus 3 "Mini's"... I might switch today!
So... somebody needs to compete with TiVo. The foundation exists in Media Center. A company with the means needs to buy the rights to Media Center, and continue development. That company might have a chance.
I know... I'm dreaming... but, you can't blame a guy for hoping, can you?