Agreed -

These companies treat their customers as clients (and they should for the premium they charge).

I for one wish I could talk my wife into letting me get one.

But given the flux of late with DirecTV boxes etc. I am lucky I get any toys.

tboyce:

Will the Greenbutton special be available with the TV Pack?  Will you be offering 3-4 tuners with Ultimate on these systems?

I'm sure we'll work out something nice :)

What is the "greebutton" special?

Btw,

VM is saying, this AM, microsoft PULLED the cablecard support until FURHTER NOTICE from FIJI!!!!!!!!!!!!

ant to make sure GAMES will pass the 5.1 (like Half-Life 2, portal, etc) and I not need 6 analog outs :)
Trace: No, not yet on the FIJI. and Yes, for the game audio.  This link should help to explain it. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338&p=2
you: Any ETA on the FiJI disaster? It is really frustrating if you want to say add an HDHOMERUN with one of the cablecards (that works fin with FIJI but is a mess without it)
Trace: I understand.  Let me see if we have any word on the FIJI yet.
Trace: I am told that digital cable support has been removed from FIJI until further notice and we have no idea when "further notice" is expected.
you: wow

*IF* this is true, it could be an early indication of a reversal on the OEM-only status (?)

Who knows....

It just keeps getting better and better. But if it takes a reinstall, it still probably won't be "generally" released BUT if MS at least allows the OEMs to distribute it to customers that request it, that is a big step forward.

1. Please see post #1 in this thread for a list of US based features included in the feature pack on a S1Digital system and the answers to the same questions that keep getting asked. Everything is there. (It would be a bit funny if we increased CableCard support to four tuners if the TV Pack didn't support CableCard, now, wouldn't it?)

2. Hopefully we can post a new TGB special (but now MS own the site, I don't know if we can. If not, I'll post here and let you know how you can get it offline).

 

FYI

The Digital Cable (CableCARD) Tuner continues to be supported in the Windows Media Center TV Pack.  The Windows Media Center TV Pack OEM’s determine the tuner configurations that are offered to their customers.

Thank you for the reply (officially). I find it - odd - that one of the premier MCE OEM's is stating this emphatically. For fun, just give them a call. I don't want to put words in their mouth but they even give DATES as to when MS changed their mind and WHEN MS may "unchange" their mind.

 

VM has a good name here and I trust them. S1Digital is also a great outfit. I guess until we see OCCUR ship with TV pack we can choose who to believe.

 

Is it possible some OEM's are just "confused"? If so this is NOT a good sign for microsoft.

 

rafaelmu:

FYI

The Digital Cable (CableCARD) Tuner continues to be supported in the Windows Media Center TV Pack.  The Windows Media Center TV Pack OEM’s determine the tuner configurations that are offered to their customers.

You are asking a CSR for an OEM that might not have the best information?  To me, it kind of goes without saying for any semi-large to large OEM that their CSRs are not going to always have fresh information.  VM is pretty big, and I don't think every single one of their CSRs is skilled on answering questions about a product that VM isn't shipping as of yet.

I'd take the word of Microsoft any day over a CSR.  I'm not meaning to put down VMs support, I'm sure they do a great job, but your talking about a product they don't have.

I opened a support case with VM, took over a week to get a response but finally got one yesterday.  They have no plans to offer the TV pack as of now, and when they do they will not offer existing customers anyway of getting it.  So me personally I'm going to be buying a S1 system very soon, just talking the wife into it.

mabrown:

So me personally I'm going to be buying a S1 system very soon, just talking the wife into it.

Good luck

rgreenpc:

mabrown:

So me personally I'm going to be buying a S1 system very soon, just talking the wife into it.

Good luck

Good luck with what?  The machine or the wife?  Not worried about either.. I know the machine is awesome, and I always get what I want.

Not that this will be a shock to anyone, but Dell XPS support doesn't know anything (or at least won't tell me anything) about this update.

He did (rather weakly) assure me Dell would be on top of any sort of update of this kind and that when it's available, the current customers would be taken care of (or at least that's what he implied).

It's just so frustrating, though, that they seem to know a lot less than the average forum user does. He had me literally hook up to a remote desktop connection with him so I could show him some websites (including this one) that talk about the TV pack, because he had no information on it himself.

wbbigtymer:

Not that this will be a shock to anyone, but Dell XPS support doesn't know anything (or at least won't tell me anything) about this update.

He did (rather weakly) assure me Dell would be on top of any sort of update of this kind and that when it's available, the current customers would be taken care of (or at least that's what he implied).

It's just so frustrating, though, that they seem to know a lot less than the average forum user does. He had me literally hook up to a remote desktop connection with him so I could show him some websites (including this one) that talk about the TV pack, because he had no information on it himself.

That's why you don't buy a Media Center from a big box OEM...

Yeah, but for the price of a VM or S1 system, you could buy your second XPS 420 when TV Pack comes out and still end up with a cheaper system overall, and sell the old(er) one.   Who knows when TV Pack is available from Dell, but it sounds like VM isn't going to be releasing it anytime soon either.

Its not that they don't have a nice product with great service, but is is really worth twice the cost?