Mogulbasher:

The problem is many people have built their own Windows Home Server, and I can guarantee you that 90% of the WHS out there today are not cablecard OSFR Bios compatible. 

You are projecting your own needs on to "many people," which just isn't the case.

The fact is that WHS is already OEM only. There will probably be NO upgrade path from WHS1 to WHS2, you'll have to buy a new one or re-install. Not to mention most don't have 4TB of data. I mean I'm an enthusiast and I only have like 1TB. Seriously, most DVRs only have 180GB HDDs.

I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work, what I'm saying is that this setup has the potential for a REAL mass market, I'm talking about people who will never know that The Green Button even exists. People that will go to Best Buy, buy a box and come home and set it up -- actually probably have a Geek Squad person set it up.

Now you do bring up a great question, which is if all the WHS2 boxes from HP (and maybe Dell) will include the OCUR BIOS, instead of just the ones you order with tuners.

I'm probably one of the few that don't want Media Center running on my Home Server.  They are two totally separate machines in my house and I plan on keeping it that way.  My Windows Home Server is strickly meant for storage and home automation.  It doesn't have the power to play Blu-Rays or process TV Tuner feeds or handle Extender Traffic.  My Media Center is dedicated to hosting up the TV's around my house and ensure speed and usablitlity on my Extender interface is spot on.  The two machines do talk but it's ususally only one way.  I pull data directly from the home server for photos and music and DVD's.  My recorded TV stays on the Media Center where it is utilized the most.

I agree with Dan.  Keep em separate.  That being said, more options is never a bad thing.  WHS and VMC integration is low on my list though.  I do like the idea about an xbox 360 with tuners.  It is too bad blu-ray one the format wars.  Microsoft might have been more innovative with HD content. 

I think the real issue with extenders is that you really need a wired network.  How many people have that?  Nerds like me do, but the average person does not. 

Chris - Moderator:

FSUGrad1999:

Chris, not to sound too negative here because I'm a big fan... But it sounds like it may be time to pull those cheesey marketing "Learn How" and "New Extenders" videos if you know that MCX won't be supported like you guys had once planned....

Not a bad idea if such a concept is correct.  Just to make sure everyone is aware I don't work for Microsoft and have no say in the direction of the product (your text makes it appear as I might be "on the inside")

FSUGrad1999:

Some of those videos with the husband/wife actors talking through all the greatness that is media center mention many devices that will available in the future that will basically be MC extenders, including some TV's with it built right in.  I know some of that stuff is already out there...  But they make it sound like there's going to be a lot of choices....  If those products aren't going to come, you may wanna think about toning down the MCX hype in those videos, or pulling them altogether....

Okay, I did sound negative (sorry about that)...  But setting reasonable customer expectations is always a good idea...

I agree with you.  If the MCX platform is going to be a side-attraction, market it as that and not a core piece.  That side, I guess I should clarify that the Xbox 360 isn't going to loss Extender functionality, so it isn't like the whole MCX platform is going to die.  Third party hardware choices might, so in this case I would agree with you that Microsoft should not push them onto people.

Chris, I'm sorry.  I keep forgetting you don't work for M$....  my apologies...

Mogulbasher:

The problem is many people have built their own Windows Home Server, and I can guarantee you that 90% of the WHS out there today are not cablecard OSFR Bios compatible.  So if you are going to migrate the Media Center Experience to WHS ( A Great Idea by the way) you are going to have to remove the need for special BIOS tables on the MOBO or everyone is going to have to go out and get a new WHS.

then of course you have to ask the question, which is how do I get the 4TB of data on my old WHS over to the new one.  At which point the whole complexity of the thing makes it unworkable for the vast majoirity out there and we are back to square 1.

 

A

This is only with an OCUR solution....  The Dish tuner supposedly will work with any system (with powerful enough hardware) according to what Ben's saying....  And I'm not saying I'm all for moving MC into WHS, I'm saying I'd probably prefer to see the good stuff out of WHS (the folder replication across multiple drives that are all different sizes) into Win 7....  and not have a WHS.... 

The way I look at it is, my MC machine is powered up more often than not recording TV and serving up content... So why not just have one machine that does it all...  I'm not fond of the idea of adding another machine with a CPU and everything just for storage and backups...   That's not very green if you asked me....  I'd rather connect a RAID enclosure over eSATA with about 10 hot swappable bays in it...  if that's possible.

 

KGROPPE:

I agree with Dan.  Keep em separate.  That being said, more options is never a bad thing.  WHS and VMC integration is low on my list though.  I do like the idea about an xbox 360 with tuners.  It is too bad blu-ray one the format wars.  Microsoft might have been more innovative with HD content. 

I think the real issue with extenders is that you really need a wired network.  How many people have that?  Nerds like me do, but the average person does not. 

I think the main problem with extenders is that most people who use media center are tech heads already, and have spare machines and parts laying around....  and they'd rather build their own extender on the cheap...  Softsled.

Plus the 360 is a bit loud for a true home theater enthusiast.

FSUGrad1999:

KGROPPE:

I agree with Dan.  Keep em separate.  That being said, more options is never a bad thing.  WHS and VMC integration is low on my list though.  I do like the idea about an xbox 360 with tuners.  It is too bad blu-ray one the format wars.  Microsoft might have been more innovative with HD content. 

I think the real issue with extenders is that you really need a wired network.  How many people have that?  Nerds like me do, but the average person does not. 

I think the main problem with extenders is that most people who use media center are tech heads already, and have spare machines and parts laying around....  and they'd rather build their own extender on the cheap...  Softsled.

Plus the 360 is a bit loud for a true home theater enthusiast.

The main reason I want a softsled option is so I can build an extender with a blu-ray player.  Or someone figure out how to launch a blu-ray disk on the extender interface without having to rip the disk.  That would solve a bunch of problems in my house.

DanITman:

FSUGrad1999:

KGROPPE:

I agree with Dan.  Keep em separate.  That being said, more options is never a bad thing.  WHS and VMC integration is low on my list though.  I do like the idea about an xbox 360 with tuners.  It is too bad blu-ray one the format wars.  Microsoft might have been more innovative with HD content. 

I think the real issue with extenders is that you really need a wired network.  How many people have that?  Nerds like me do, but the average person does not. 

I think the main problem with extenders is that most people who use media center are tech heads already, and have spare machines and parts laying around....  and they'd rather build their own extender on the cheap...  Softsled.

Plus the 360 is a bit loud for a true home theater enthusiast.

The main reason I want a softsled option is so I can build an extender with a blu-ray player.  Or someone figure out how to launch a blu-ray disk on the extender interface without having to rip the disk.  That would solve a bunch of problems in my house.

That's another good point...  To me though, it makes zero sense why M$ wouldn't want to add in softsled, even if its just being able to view protected recordedTV and not liveTV.

I'm willing to bet most of us here at TGB have a laptop, and you would have yourself a portable TV....  That's a compelling selling point for MC....  your laptop is now a portable TV.  Watch your recordings out by the pool...  :)  I guess the major barrier there is bandwidth on G networks won't support 720p or 1080i....   But maybe it could be buffered?

I'm not sure what you're asking for here, but I believe it is rather easy to do what you just said as long as you have a laptop that can play the format (*.wtv being a possible issue here). Its not convenient how MS made us do it, but it can even be done inside the VMC interface on the remote machine. Without being able to set recordings in the Guide and watch live TV it is merely a playback device, but in any case you can already do that. I think with Win7 they are making this easier, too. Unfortunately they are still not aggregating tuners or letting you schedule a recording using the remote machine, and don't even think about being able to use a remote tuner to watch live TV. That kind of complexity requires third party software.

denyart:

I'm not sure what you're asking for here, but I believe it is rather easy to do what you just said as long as you have a laptop that can play the format (*.wtv being a possible issue here). Its not convenient how MS made us do it, but it can even be done inside the VMC interface on the remote machine. Without being able to set recordings in the Guide and watch live TV it is merely a playback device, but in any case you can already do that. I think with Win7 they are making this easier, too. Unfortunately they are still not aggregating tuners or letting you schedule a recording using the remote machine, and don't even think about being able to use a remote tuner to watch live TV. That kind of complexity requires third party software.

I know you can already do this for unprotected content (sort of)...  I'm talking about protected recordings made with a DCT/OCUR.

Ah, yes. Sorry, I forget there are people out there who actually get "premium" content into their media center's. I am more familiar with analog cable, OTA ATSC, and unencrypted QAM.

To me WHS heaven sent operating all the tuners and handling everything. Of course that is using sagetv and their great extenders.

To me having everything on one machine backed up and working well like a server is suppose to is great. When I first set sagetv up on WHS I said why can't WMC do this that is lame..

Why should I have to run 2 pc's to run extenders exclusively if i want to run WHS that makes no sense to me..

but that is me

PLUCKYHD:

To me WHS heaven sent operating all the tuners and handling everything. Of course that is using sagetv and their great extenders.

To me having everything on one machine backed up and working well like a server is suppose to is great. When I first set sagetv up on WHS I said why can't WMC do this that is lame..

Why should I have to run 2 pc's to run extenders exclusively if i want to run WHS that makes no sense to me..

but that is me

I agree.  They should either add MC to WHS or add the folder replication stuff to Win7, that way you can do this on one box...  I don't like the idea of having two boxes up and running all the time, when it could all be done with one.

PLUCKYHD:

To me WHS heaven sent operating all the tuners and handling everything. Of course that is using sagetv and their great extenders.

To me having everything on one machine backed up and working well like a server is suppose to is great. When I first set sagetv up on WHS I said why can't WMC do this that is lame..

Why should I have to run 2 pc's to run extenders exclusively if i want to run WHS that makes no sense to me..

but that is me

You should check out the entertainment 2.0 podcast.  Ben Drawbaugh talks a good deal about this.  Your idea seems very similar.  I know he thinks that what will happen with Home server 2008 since it shares the same base code as Windows 7\Vista.

I am in that few. Everyone talks of the WHS + Tuner Farm Nirvana™ but not that I have my little HP mediasmart chugging away, I want it to keep doing what it does so well. It's a low-power, low-wattage,  low-maintenance box geared towards storage and that's it. I apply the WHS-specific updates and no more.

I don't need to fiddle w/ other software updates or codec software or any of that detritus.

The only integration i'd like to see would be if Media Center's central storage of guide data, series recording data could stored on the WHS...

DanITman:

I'm probably one of the few that don't want Media Center running on my Home Server.  They are two totally separate machines in my house and I plan on keeping it that way.  My Windows Home Server is strickly meant for storage and home automation.  It doesn't have the power to play Blu-Rays or process TV Tuner feeds or handle Extender Traffic.  My Media Center is dedicated to hosting up the TV's around my house and ensure speed and usablitlity on my Extender interface is spot on.  The two machines do talk but it's ususally only one way.  I pull data directly from the home server for photos and music and DVD's.  My recorded TV stays on the Media Center where it is utilized the most.