I didn't get in either but I see this as good news. It means

a. it does exist and is closer than I thought.

b. It is probably OEM I can't image microsoft sending computers out to everyone only tuners.

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
5TB in storage and counting

asterix:

I managed to get in. I haven't seen anything about an NDA so I'll report what I can as it progresses.

Consider everything to be under NDA, including e-mails.  That is, unless you want to get kicked out of the beta. 

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Chris Lanier
The Green Button Forum Moderator

PLUCKYHD:

I didn't get in either but I see this as good news. It means

a. it does exist and is closer than I thought.

b. It is probably OEM I can't image microsoft sending computers out to everyone only tuners.

I don't believe the CableCard beta involved MS sending out computers so this doesn't mean much.  I believe they only sent out OCUR tuners to beta testers.

OCUR don't do much without PCs with the current BIOS. 

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Chris Lanier
The Green Button Forum Moderator

I was kinda surprised I didn't get in on this one.

Oh well....

Good luck and squash all the bugs so I can buy two soon. :)

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My VMC setup:
(2) Xbox360s
System 1 -
Dell XPS410 (2.6Ghz C2D, 2GB Ram,Nvidia 8600GT, Blu-ray internal, HD-DVD external (X360 drive), (2) Vboxx DTA150s (OTA HD), 1 HVR-1150 (OTA HD) and Dish Network

I would like an explanation of how you see this being OEM?

No one really knows how it will work.  D* works different from CableLabs in that it is not an open spec for others to build off of.  They also work different in that sales and installation of traditional D* equipment is done through a third party.  Because of all these varibles it is hard to say what's going to happen.

However, I'd say it has a very good chance of being consumer installed without need for special PCs and such.  That said, we don't know if you have to lease them from D* or if you can buy them upfront, if they will charge any other monthly fees, etc (other than your regular access card).

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Chris Lanier
The Green Button Forum Moderator

another issue is if they will allow us to have more than one of these devices per account....  i dont know about others but i will be wanthing more than one of these devices.  two tuners isnt enough imo for a whole house system. 

I don't know if you heard but these are two tuners built into one device. If you get more than one of these you prolly will have to get a RAID array to deal with the bandwidth. Especially when you are recording 4 HD shows at a time.

abuttino:

I don't know if you heard but these are two tuners built into one device. If you get more than one of these you prolly will have to get a RAID array to deal with the bandwidth. Especially when you are recording 4 HD shows at a time.

I don't think so.. I have 2 HDHomeRuns and frequently record 4 shows at a time (while watching an already recorded show).  This is from a single 500GB SATA drive and don't have any issues.

I've also had a few times that I've been recording 4 HD shows as well as 2 SD shows from my PVR-500.

I think I've heard that DirecTV will use MPEG4 which is better compression than the current HD from the HDHomeRun which is MPEG2 so the overhead should be less.

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Vista Ultimate with TV Pack
Core 2 Duo E4500 @ 2.2GHz (OC'd to 2.9) / 4 Gigs Ram
c: 80 Gig d: 500 Gig SATA
Tuners: PVR-500 / HDHomeRun x 2 / WinTV 1600
Extenders: DMA-2200 / DMA-2100 x 2

Linksys V1 extender (for sale..anyone interested?)

surge:

abuttino:

I don't know if you heard but these are two tuners built into one device. If you get more than one of these you prolly will have to get a RAID array to deal with the bandwidth. Especially when you are recording 4 HD shows at a time.

I don't think so.. I have 2 HDHomeRuns and frequently record 4 shows at a time (while watching an already recorded show).  This is from a single 500GB SATA drive and don't have any issues.

I've also had a few times that I've been recording 4 HD shows as well as 2 SD shows from my PVR-500.

I think I've heard that DirecTV will use MPEG4 which is better compression than the current HD from the HDHomeRun which is MPEG2 so the overhead should be less.

agreed.... i have 4 tuners right now (2hd 2sd) and there have been a few times im recording on 3 tuners watching a 4th.  and its never even had the slightest problem handling all of that on a single 500 gig sata2 drive.  and the mpeg4 will help seeing its about 1/2 the bw of mpeg2.

Well, this beta program is an encouraging development.  I want so badly to get rid of Comcast and use a better HD solution for my HTPC.  This will also give me an excuse to build (or buy, if it is OEM only) a new HTPC system!

asterix:

I managed to get in. I haven't seen anything about an NDA so I'll report what I can as it progresses.

Want to stay in....make that your last post on the subject.

Why would you assume that MS scans this forum looking for posts regarding Beta programs, when they obviously spend no time here seeing what customer want improved in their MCE and VMC products?

BTW, i did not get into the Beta program either.  I wonder if they can track Beta program applications back to individual comments in this forum?  Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense that I would not be included.  I have been an MCE user since 2004 and a DirecTV customer since 1992, with HD MPEG-4 since 2006, and I use both XBox 360 and OEM extenders and was a Beta tester for both Windows NT and Windows Server 2003.  Of course, I lied on my application and said that I was using Vista, and I even went as far as making a note that I would be willing to pay for any DirecTV hardware.  I wonder what the criteria were?

WRK

I was about to make the same reply... Except i don't have the same background as you, but well said.