Q: What legislative and/or technical framework will allow me to watch TV from my home country (UK) even though I live in the US?

You could do this now if you have friends/family still living there.  Grab yourself a Slingbox and ship it over to your family/friends and have them connect it to an extra set-top box.  Then you could connect over the Internet and tune everything in realtime.  Other than that, I would expect much.

Q: Why is it that Vista Media Center video decoding requires so much more CPU power than XP Media Center?

I believe this is a result of a mixture of EVR, DXVA, and DRM, however I believe hardware acceleration has been picked back up in SP1.

Q: Ballpark timing on the PC HD satellite solutions for DirecTV and/or Dish.

I’m still expecting the Media Center beta to end around Oct/Nov, so the tuners will hopefully be out in time for the holidays.

Q: Do you use VMC as your primary DVR? Do you use media center extenders on a regular basis? If so how many tuners does your VMC box have and how many extenders do you use?

Yep, I use Media Center as my primary DVR packed with ATSC tuners.  I have has a standard DIRECTV H20 receiver (non-DVR), but I’ve been waiting on the DIRECTV HDPC-20  tuner for Media Center to ditch that as a viewing source.  ATSC and the occasional live HD program on the H20 suits me now, mainly because my schedule doesn’t allow me to watch all the shows I want (even recorded, I think I’m backed up full seasons on some stuff right now!).

Q: Would you rather have The DirecTV MCE (HDPC-20) or CableCard MCE? (SDV BOCUR)?  I wonder who will truly have a better HD lineup by this fall?

I would rather have the HDPC-20 for two reasons, one is that I have DIRECTV now, and the other is that DIRECTV has HD right now.  Cable depends greater on your provider and location.  For example, Comcast/TWC/etc where you live will have a different HD line-up from what Comcast/TWC/etc where I live does.  I’m also not a big fan of Comcast, who is my sole option for a cable provider.

Q: Do you believe the Home Server bug fix is going to be sufficient enough that I could begin storing home videos and pictures again without too much worry?  It is very cool to have music, home videos and pics digitally, but what are you recommendations for making sure these don't get lost.  I feel like I need 3 or 4 levels of backup.

Yes and no.  First of all, you should always have multiple backup sets and never put all your trust in a single location.  However, your right that you should be able to feel that your data is safe on a device specifically meant for data backup.  Windows Home Server started as one of the best products that Microsoft has ever done, sadly this data corruption problem (and how long it has taken Microsoft to fix it) puts a dagger in the whole experience.

Got a question?  Post them here and as a part of Media Center Week I’ll pick a few everyday and answer them.  Also don’t forget to enter for the Big Screen Giveaway!