PLUCKY,

I was thinking the other way around, that with TV Pack it may not require new firmware.  This PlayReady technology that is incorporated into TV Pack is a new DRM management suite developed by MS.  I was wondering if this has any effect on new cablecard recordings made with TV Pack.  As some have said, nothing plays in WMP because it doesn't recognize the .WTV format.  If I recall, cablecard recordings will not play in WMP either, but because of the DRM.  I read that some said that WMP would play the .WTV files.  I would be curious if a new Cablecard recorded program is playabe in WMP?

I guess it will be sorted out soon enough (i.e within at least two years).  The biggest draw of TV Pack (to me) is the native QAM and the ability to get rid of the 1000+ numbered channels and ability to put local HD back in the 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 range, where the wife is used to.  Also, the ability to set your preference to the HDHR tuners would be great.

Montyward:

I was thinking the other way around, that with TV Pack it may not require new firmware.

Surprised this hasn't been tested yet. All we need is 1 person with 2 upgraded media centers with at least 1 having a cable card tuner. Record on 1, try to play on another. Someone could even send a small file to someone else if no one has 2 machines they are willing to upgrade.

I may be in a position to test this next weekend, but not before. If someone doesn't post by then, I'll let you know what I find out then.

I too am happy for even this announcement. I'd like to hear more about Vista's MC future, but frankly I'm suprised to have heard this much this soon.  Thank you.

No surprises here at all.  However, I still cannot see what is so complicated about TV Pack that needs OEM assistance to get it working.  From my point of view the only part that was more tricky than Media Center was before was combining channels in the TV guide when using both DVB-S and DVB-T.

I don't see why the TV Pack was not released as a "Power Pack" like WHS.  This way it is not forced upon normal Vista users but anyone who knows about it and wants it can get it.  The decision to make this OEM only is going to enfuriate a large number of Media Center advocates.  Very short sited in my humble opinion.

SpoonsJTD:

I know this doesn't help, but the official announcement was only about what was and what wasn't in the July 16th OEM release, it didn't say that DirecTV wasn't coming later this year like the DSR's are telling us. Join me in my denial! :)

The biggest problem with going OEM-only is that you now have customers fragmented into three camps instead of two. (XP-MCE, Vista-RTM-MCE, Vista-TVPack-MCE). This means developers now have to write three versions of their plug-ins. Sure a lot of devs are dropping XP completely but that still leaves the requirement of needing two versions of plugins for Vista, or at the very least, additional code to make the plugin work on both Vista-RTM and vista-TVPack.

We already know some "Media Control" features no longer work and "video library+" has issues as well. I'm sure there are more but those are the only two plugins I really work with daily. I'm also hearing there are issues with the commercial-removal plugins that are probably related to the .wtv file format being different than the old one.

In the long run, this means there will be fewer plugins because some developers simply can't afford to buy a new TVPack-enabled PC that will only be used to test their plugin. Remember, not all plugin devs have full time jobs and not all of them live in countries where being able to afford multiple PC's is common. And development is hard enough without having to target multiple systems...

Why do I feel like I'm being punished for purchasing the retail version of Vista Ultimate?  I don't have any HP or Dell or OEM computers.  All my computers are home built.  I paid a premium price for the retail version, and now I can't even get an update that would satisfy atleast some of my issues with Vista.

Am I just reading this post wrong?  Will this EVER be available as an update to those of us that purchased retail versions of Vista?

Eric

VistaVick:

As a directv subscriber, I am livid at directv and microsoft. I am very close to switching providers now.

If directv is really not coming until the next of next year... damn I might be in the same boat man.  I've held onto directv far longer then I planned because of fiji.  Now I can drop it for comcast like I had originally planned.  Damn this sucks.  I realize that nobody can really say anything but I'd LOVE to hear some answers after the NDAs are done about what happened with the directv beta (is it still going on even?, or did it ever really start?)  Another year and a half is a long time to wait for anything new to come out for vmc...

boogmeister1:

Why do I feel like I'm being punished for purchasing the retail version of Vista Ultimate?  I don't have any HP or Dell or OEM computers.  All my computers are home built.  I paid a premium price for the retail version, and now I can't even get an update that would satisfy atleast some of my issues with Vista.

Am I just reading this post wrong?  Will this EVER be available as an update to those of us that purchased retail versions of Vista?

Eric

You are not alone in your thinking. I went the Vista route since I saw value-added bonus by doing things myself and not purchasing/leasing/renting a lockdowned device. One of my biggest issues is that OEM vendors ALWAYS strips down functions that meets their bottom line. Just like cellphone vendors here, when I buy a phone, I don't want your version of a Bluetooth stack, your version of ringtone, your ... etc... I want the freedom to chose what I want, when I want, and I want it.

By having MS sell directly to OEMs (most likely due to NDA/proprietary OEM information), it limits the OEM vendors to compete against you and me.

Seems like there are some considerable losses here if you think about it.  You will have to purchase a CableCard PC to get HD from Comcast now.  I only wanted to be able to record clear-QAM from Comcast and as of today I am out of luck.  People who were hoping to use the HD-PVR from Hauppauge are out of luck.  I hate to point it out but Windows Vista just isn't HD friendly as of today.  I mean the XBOX 360 is more HD friendly because you can purchase some sweet HD on there.  That's how I have gone without Comcast HD for this long.  I went with a hefty-priced non-CableCard PC earlier in the year and probably wont touch it until Windows 7.  The fact that I can't do a few clear-QAM channels using the TV Pack is bad enough.  I can only imagine how DirecTV customers feel....Q

I forgot to mention that you can't play HD-DVDs or even worse Blu-Rays straight thru Media Center...and there is not Blu-Ray capable extender now that I think about it even more!!!

Questions:

• Since this is OEM, does that mean it could be provided by a card manufacturer? Like as part of their driver package? Or is it to only be installed on new PC's?
• At my store, if I become an OEM, could I offer a service that installs this pack for people who bring in their RTM machines?

Well, it looks like I hit it pretty much on the head yesterday here:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/permalink/281532/281642/ShowThread.aspx#281642

and here:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/permalink/281532/281695/ShowThread.aspx#281695

Or, I am the evil enabler as dannyh predicted here:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/permalink/281532/281688/ShowThread.aspx#281688