Consumer Electronics almost ready to replace Media Center?

[asm495]

My father's PVR broke recently and he wanted a unit that would enable him to copy onto disks if required. He is going to be getting this Panasonic device after I spent quite a while struggling to find something that would enable that:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic ... box_review

However, reading through the review made me think how close this is getting to being a practical alternative to Media Center. It has iPhone and Android apps that allow you to stream both live and recorded TV as well as playing most media formats over a network.

If for other devices in the house you get some form of cheap Android device with HDMI output that you run the Panasonic app on along with media apps then you finally get a solution that allows you to distribute your media effectively.

For me the main limitation for me is that it has just 2 tuners and I would like 4 ideally. I would happily trade the DVD/BluRay drive for that. The interface isn't as nice but it does work.

I'm beginning to think that in a year I could decommision my Win7 "server" and replace it with a piece of consumer electronics like this Panasonic and Android devices as Extenders.

I'll be interested to hear if anyone else thinks that they might go down this route soon!

[adam1991]

In the US the Ceton Q/Echo system is a piece of consumer electronics; and, with that, you get the best of ALL worlds--Media Center and 6 tuners in an appliance.

It's almost here.

[mark1234]

The Ceton will still be a Windows PC at heart. Be interesting to see how much they an effectively consumerise that, and how much complexity they can remove.

[asm495]

That will be interesting for Q/Echo to see how easy it is. The Panasonic device even my parents can use and they really struggled when I tried building a HTPC for them (that lasted all of a couple of weeks before I gave up with it).

I'm 8 years older than when I first started using Media Center and my life has changed considerably and I don't have as much time as I used to in order to experiment. Now there is real value in having something that "just works". However, I still want a distributed TV system where you can press stop in one room, walk into another and press play having it pick up where you left off. Nothing else has yet managed to do that!

[adam1991]

I agree wholeheartedly that there's incredible value in an appliance as opposed to a hobby piece.

I have much experience with systems that run Windows at the appliance level (Windows Embedded) as opposed to the consumer, off-the-shelf level. It's an *entirely* different experience if done right. XPE on the systems I've worked with over the last 10 years is rock solid. It's only been since late last year that those same systems made the move to Win 7 FES (For Embedded Systems); yes, it can take that long for a company to root through the Windows code and build your own and test it and do it right. But when it's solid, it's solid.

I have zero issues with Windows under the hood of an appliance, so long as it's been engineered by the provider from the ground up as a Windows Embedded device. I have every expectation that Ceton has in fact consumerized Windows under the hood of the Q, and has done so to a very high degree.

It makes me think that Microsoft would do well to lock out the problematic bits that Joe Sixpack rarely or never uses, and create a very stable system...Windows Sixpack Edition?

[erkotz]

I'm not arguing against the benefit of a dedicated device, but for most people in the US (myself included) a freeview-only device would basically be useless. 99% of my channels are encrypted, and likely 100% will be soon.

[adam1991]

However, I still want a distributed TV system where you can press stop in one room, walk into another and press play having it pick up where you left off. Nothing else has yet managed to do that!

ReplayTV managed to do that as of many, many years ago. It's not new at all.

(Can Tivo fake it?)

[kingwr]

In the U.S., many of the providers also have very capable devices. AT&T Uverse, DirecTV Media Center, and Dish Hopper all have 4+ tuners, "extender" capabilities, and the ability to stop a show in one room and pick it up in another. I don't know much about the cable cos., but I would find it hard to believe they don't have that, too.

[adam1991]

yes, even the cable companies have it:

http://www.wowway.com/our-products/ultra-tv/overview

Six tuners in the main unit, with small extenders throughout the house. Fairly inexpensive to rent, especially compared to the crap converter and DVR boxes they used to sell (and still do, for those who don't know better).

It's not a Ceton product, it's from Arris--but I strongly suspect the tuner inside is from Ceton, which makes me wonder if Ceton has agreements to keep the six tuner unit out of the hands of general consumers and make it available for OEMs only.

[crawfish]

In the U.S., many of the providers also have very capable devices. AT&T Uverse, DirecTV Media Center, and Dish Hopper all have 4+ tuners, "extender" capabilities, and the ability to stop a show in one room and pick it up in another. I don't know much about the cable cos., but I would find it hard to believe they don't have that, too.

I'm told Cox's whole home DVR has only two tuners and comes with a 500 GB hard drive. The client boxes have one tuner each but can't rewind Live TV when using it. In short, it's horrible.

[barnabas1969]

Brighthouse Networks (BHN) has a "whole home DVR". It works the same as crawfish described for Cox... except that you can have multiple dual-tuner DVR's around the house and can watch content from any DVR on any TV.

The problem though is that there isn't a shared recording schedule... so if you want to schedule more than two shows at the same time, you have to schedule the 3rd show on a different box... which means you need to either take a walk to the room where the other DVR is located, or use their crappy and horribly slow web interface to schedule the show. There is no conflict resolution in their scheme.

It was also very expensive. I was looking at their option when I found out about the Ceton card last year. If I had gone with BHN's whole-home DVR, it would have cost me $82.00/month in rental fees. That was for 5 TV's connected, with two of them connected to a dual-tuner DVR and the other three with a dumb box.

Windows Media Center with a CableCARD tuner is a far superior solution.

[erkotz]

However, I still want a distributed TV system where you can press stop in one room, walk into another and press play having it pick up where you left off. Nothing else has yet managed to do that!

ReplayTV managed to do that as of many, many years ago. It's not new at all.

(Can Tivo fake it?)

My parents are *STILL* using 3 ReplayTV 5000 units at home - between commercial advance and watching shows across the network, I haven't gotten them to give them up. Though all but one of their TVs is still SD, so they have little incentive to upgrade. Once Echo ships I may have to get them some Echos. Those ReplayTV's have to be 15 years old now...that's scary.

yes, even the cable companies have it:

http://www.wowway.com/our-products/ultra-tv/overview

Six tuners in the main unit, with small extenders throughout the house. Fairly inexpensive to rent, especially compared to the crap converter and DVR boxes they used to sell (and still do, for those who don't know better).

It's not a Ceton product, it's from Arris--but I strongly suspect the tuner inside is from Ceton, which makes me wonder if Ceton has agreements to keep the six tuner unit out of the hands of general consumers and make it available for OEMs only.

To the best of my knowledge, Arris is not using Ceton technology in this STB.

[adam1991]

Fascinating. So they bought Moxie for the software and rolled their own tuner, eh?

[asm495]

Interesting there is so much support for this in the US. In the UK there is almost none. My wife occasionally grumbles about why we have such a complicated setup. However I tell her that what she takes for granted of watching a recorded TV programme (which may be half way through recording) in one room, stopping, going to another and picking up where she left off is a rare thing!

[mark1234]

I believe this feature is coming to both VM/Tivo and Sky, but neither are in a hurry. Kind of surprising given that it would give them both an extra opportunity to rent/sell you an additional box for a monthly charge.

[slowbiscuit]

Fascinating. So they bought Moxie for the software and rolled their own tuner, eh?

They bought out Digeo for the IP and rolled it into their whole home product for the cableCos, yes. That's why they ditched the Moxi at retail, they never wanted to be in that business - they are a cable hardware company not a consumer one.

[tony_park]

Interesting there is so much support for this in the US. In the UK there is almost none. My wife occasionally grumbles about why we have such a complicated setup. However I tell her that what she takes for granted of watching a recorded TV programme (which may be half way through recording) in one room, stopping, going to another and picking up where she left off is a rare thing!

Evolve media have embedded windows 7 on their pcs. I'm running one of theirs currently, and it seems to work a lot better then installing a standard windows installation - we have a lot less problems with the hardware than we did with my original pc.

http://www.evolvemedia.eu/


Tony

[aeblank]

My parents are *STILL* using 3 ReplayTV 5000 units at home - between commercial advance and watching shows across the network, I haven't gotten them to give them up.

Mine too. I have 3 spares for them and my brother has 2. Should be ok for a while. I loved my replays, but i finally got into the hd game.