Microsoft, how stupid are thee

[MStele]

You should do some serious research into Media Center, since everything in that post is just plain wrong.

1. Media Center is absolutely meant to replace your DVR/STB
2. DVR is the primary use of Media Center
3. I certainly like my HD television through my media center (which you say is impossible)
4. HDCP ... google 'playready'

=> having broken DVR functionality some 5 years after the product premiered (and 2 years since this is a known bug) is pretty pathetic.
(don't believe me ... head over to some of the media center specific forums and have a look at what their longest threads are.)

"A Home Theater PC (HTPC) or Media Center is a convergence device that combines a personal computer with a software application that supports video and music playback, and sometimes digital video recorder functionality. An HTPC integrates many or all components of a home theater into a single unit co-located with a home entertainment system."

Theres no real official definition but thats wiki and close enough. DVR is a feature that HTPCs have, but it is not the basis of existance. If an HTPC's sole purpose was to operate as a DVR, it would in fact be called a DVR instead of a "Home Theater" PC as they are marketed. For an HTPC, its primary duty is as a media playback device, but with the flexability of being able to do other tasks.

As for HD, I will admit that after some searching I did find some addon cards that have input and output for hdmi. I wasn't aware of them so I concede there.

I'm not sure why you directed me toward Playready. It is a just another form of DRM. I'm sure there will be many flavors of DRM that will come down the pipe.

Now, i'm not "plain wrong". You have your own opinion for exactly what MC was meant to do, and i'm not going to dispute your view, but you have to allow for some flexibility in this. MC is a tool, and as such will fulfill different purposes for different people. However, it is foremost a glorified media player and this is why until recently Microsoft has generally treated DVR as an afterthought. Until Vista MC, Windows MC was a gimic at best and only lately has there been a grass roots demand for a more capable system. I know your probably gonna get back on and dispute everything I just said for the sake of being right, but the truth of the matter is that with the exception of the HTPC description above, everything else is conjecture and a matter of perspective. There are no right answers, only preferred ones. HTPC is a relatively new idea and its still got some growing to do.

 

[Emulex]

my satellite box output component at 1080i (built in upsample in STB) - i usually pick 720p so as to not deal with deinterlacing - hava picks it up and MCE records it. never seen any stuttering. probably because i let the IRD upsample to one fixed output resolution

 

[coolVariable]

"A Home Theater PC (HTPC) or Media Center is a convergence device that combines a personal computer with a software application that supports video and music playback, and sometimes digital video recorder functionality. An HTPC integrates many or all components of a home theater into a single unit co-located with a home entertainment system."

Theres no real official definition but thats wiki and close enough. DVR is a feature that HTPCs have, but it is not the basis of existance. If an HTPC's sole purpose was to operate as a DVR, it would in fact be called a DVR instead of a "Home Theater" PC as they are marketed. For an HTPC, its primary duty is as a media playback device, but with the flexability of being able to do other tasks.

As for HD, I will admit that after some searching I did find some addon cards that have input and output for hdmi. I wasn't aware of them so I concede there.

I'm not sure why you directed me toward Playready. It is a just another form of DRM. I'm sure there will be many flavors of DRM that will come down the pipe.

Now, i'm not "plain wrong". You have your own opinion for exactly what MC was meant to do, and i'm not going to dispute your view, but you have to allow for some flexibility in this. MC is a tool, and as such will fulfill different purposes for different people. However, it is foremost a glorified media player and this is why until recently Microsoft has generally treated DVR as an afterthought. Until Vista MC, Windows MC was a gimic at best and only lately has there been a grass roots demand for a more capable system. I know your probably gonna get back on and dispute everything I just said for the sake of being right, but the truth of the matter is that with the exception of the HTPC description above, everything else is conjecture and a matter of perspective. There are no right answers, only preferred ones. HTPC is a relatively new idea and its still got some growing to do.

You should continue doing more research. You already admit with the above that you were wrong on 2 counts. Doesn't take much more to admit that you were wrong on the other 2.