All I Want From CES is a Reasonably Priced Media Center Solution
January 6th, 2007 @ 10:31 PM
CES starts tomorrow, and Vista-related Media Center PC stuff is bound to be present in a big way. I know that I’ve covered this before, but here again is my list of what I require in a solution:
- Cablecard/Dual tuners: While these might seem separate, they really go together quite intricately. Currently, I would need to use a cable box to do the channel switching, so that limits me to a single tuner (unless we got another cable box from Time Warner). The Cablecard removes that requirement, so that then opens up the possibility to have a dual tuner setup. In order of my preference, it would be a single dual tuner Cablecard and then two single tuner Cablecards.
- Live TV streaming: Part of this whole thing is a way to get TV down in my dad’s study, so a Media Center Extender hooked up either to his existing monitor or a second (smaller) dedicated one would be my first choice here. This part is actually currently possible with XP, but I’d have to be using a set top box to control the channels and that goes back to the single tuner limitation. Barring that, there is Sony’s LocationFree technology, but I’ve read quite a few mixed reports on its quality and effectiveness.
- PVR + Editing functionality: I not only want to be able to record shows, but edit out the commercials also. Then, transferring them to a PMP would be nice, but not an absolute requirement (assuming the DRM isn’t too horrendous to strip).
I’m happy to play the DRM game as long as everything I want to do is possible. If it’s not, then I guess I’ll either have to make some concessions or just keep looking around for what is possible to do.