Mike Garcen's Blog - All Comments

re: Video: InternetTV for Windows 7 In Action

lithium630 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:03:51 GMT

The quality is crap and it doesn't work on extenders. Useless.

re: Video: InternetTV for Windows 7 In Action

gfheiche — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:54:54 GMT

Can you make it, so that I can add my own online tv stations, like

mediathek-video.br-online.de/.../b7mediathek.html

thanks

re: Blog: Upgrading to the Harmony 890 for RF Users

Mevi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:20:37 GMT

Too bad the ZWAVE Support is broken (once it becomes the controller, no other devices can control the other zwave devices)

I can't even buy a second 890 for the house :(

re: Review: Thinkflood's Redeye: A True iPhone Infrared Remote

ARobinso0502 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:25:44 GMT

For me another remote that misses the needs... I need a remote that's capable of both IR and RF... That's a All-in-One remote... I want to go from changing the channels on my MCE, to turning on my ceiling fan, after lowering my thermostat... (WIFI (n) and bluetooth (2.1) goes without saying)

re: Well How About That, Steve Talks about Media Center and Cable Card

Tracer — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:19:45 GMT

Yup caught the Silverlight Movies as well. I wondering when we might see it.

re: Well How About That, Steve Talks about Media Center and Cable Card

FSUGrad1999 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:32:40 GMT

I tried to watch it, but the video started stuttering and having problems right when they were about to start the MC portion of the presentation. I thought about going back to try and watch it today now that there's probably less folks hitting the site where the video is... But I decided against it, I don't think I can stomach any more Balmer for at least a few months.. That was painful.

re: Well How About That, Steve Talks about Media Center and Cable Card

mobly100 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:39:40 GMT

They also spoke about zune videos being available on pc, xbox and the zune. The DRM they use is broken and the vids are not avalable everywhere, I have about 40 videos that can no longer be watched (the error is no rights) you have to call the offshore support for about an hour and they just give your money back and say sorry. There seems to be zero escalation to someone who can actually troubleshoot the issue. The zune forums are full of people with the same problem. I hate Apple but at least there videos keep working....

re: All I Want For Christmas, by MissingRemote

DavidinCT — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:52:12 GMT

That is all I want for X-mas too, a nice 65" HDTV plasma for my Media Center and home theater. I've set up some of the Panasonic Pro plasmas before and they blew me away. I wish I could afford one now...

Anyone want to donate one to me :) I'll send my adress !!!

re: Guide to Troubleshooting Standby on your HTPC

josephandrews222 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:23:11 GMT

I have not yet read a word of this but I am going to now...and very much look forward to it.

I wonder how many people 'greenies' have these or related issues...

For me, the owner of a stock Dell XPS 420 with one Cablecard external ATI tuner (and two extenders, one an Xbox 360)...I have only recently realized that my rig does not sleep at all...at least in the way that I understand sleep...even when I tell it to.

The entire question of HTPC sleep, with tuners and extenders...and waking from sleep...I've been reading for a couple of days now and hope that what you've put together will help me save a few bucks on our electricity bill.

And as an owner of Macs and Windows boxes...it seems to me (well, at least for me)...that sleep is a much more reliable and usable option in the Mac OS...going back years and years.

Thanks.

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

milliri — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:57:32 GMT

can not download digital cable advisor in MCE. I have run the update and still don't see it. My computer gives me the message "your computer is not digital cable ready". Need to run the tool but can't get it loaded. Anyone have some ideas? Thanks, Rich

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

kingwr — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:11:56 GMT

I would guess your hardware does not have a hardware-assisted MPEG2/H.264 decoder.

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

johntraynor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:31:26 GMT

OK, so I just ran the advisor on a box I've been watching HD on for over a year via HD HomeRun boxes. The advisor tool gave my graphics hardware a "fail" and reported that to use a cablecard I'd need to upgrade my graphics hardware. What is this "advisor" looking for? In various configurations I've used this box to view OTA and local HD via ClearQAM, in addition to the current HD HomeRun config. And the advisor tells me my box is a FAIL? Really?

Sure, it's not high-end hardware; the Windows Experience Index scores only a 3.3 for both Aero desktop and for 3D graphics. But I've had NO issues watching HD...so the requirement seems to be set a bit too high.

I'm tempted to throw in a high end graphics card (with a loud fan that is very TV-viewing-unfriendly) just to pass the test, and then go back to the on-board graphics.

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

johntraynor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:20:34 GMT

In Clyde Hill, Comcast is charging me $5.10 per month for 2 cable cards. I have a single stream card in each of 2 ATI DCTs.

First one free? Apparently not.

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

akalavelle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:49:59 GMT

re: I live in kirkland, wa and i ordered a ati tv wonder digital cable card tuner. does anyone know what the cablecard from comcast will cost me?

The first cablecard shouldn't cost you anything except for the service call from comcast. (they insist that they send a tech out to set it up.)

Additional cablecards are currently $4.00 per month.

-----------------------------------

Just did this a couple weeks ago (I'm in Seattle). I just went into the Comcast store and traded my DVR for two cards. I haven't seen a bill yet but think the total for two cards was somewhere around $6/mo. They didn't make me have a tech come out but it did take a couple phone calls to get them paired right. Works like a charm now.

re: Digital Cable Advisor Tool and ATI 1.19 Firmware NOW AVAILABLE!!

JasonGerend — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:09:30 GMT

I tested the Copy Freely feature of the new firmware by recording content on a computer running Windows Vista Home Premium with the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner and a Cablecard from Comcast. I wasn't expecting this to work on Windows Vista, but it seems to be working. Small point, but nice for those of us who haven't yet upgraded to Windows 7 (I'll probably upgrade this weekend).

I posted a little more information about my testing on my blog.

Cheers!

Jason Gerend