>I'm told that a very high percentage of people who applied for the beta today said they're QAM users on the survey. I find that very interesting. Are there really, really that many of you?

Most of the US falls into the major city with buildings int he way or so far from the towers that antenna isn't an option..   QAM is a big deal for both those situations.  I know the hd homerun and EVO boxes became really popular in nyc (the city itself)..    I even have one in my neighbors house on a wireless network just for it so I can use it :)

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Bryan Socha
Media Center MVP

accident:

>   I even have one in my neighbors house on a wireless network just for it so I can use it :)

Hmmm...cable theft? 

 

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Ghostlobster
Very happy convert to SageTV! Finally, watching ESPN-HD in real HD on my HTPC without having to deal with the CableCARD fiasco!

fdisker:

Why is this a surprise?  More and more channels are going HD and almost none of them are being broadcast over the air.  I can get abc, cbs, nbc, fox and pbs free over the air but hd channels like mtv, espn/espn2, tnt, discovery and many others are QAM only.  My over the air PC based tuners are quickly becoming obsolete. 

It's a surprise because QAM isn't supported in Media Center except through an OCUR, which the majority of you don't have. I guess a more interesting question would have been, how many of you QAM users are using QAM with Media Center today, and how?

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

JessZahn:

It's a surprise because QAM isn't supported in Media Center except through an OCUR, which the majority of you don't have. I guess a more interesting question would have been, how many of you QAM users are using QAM with Media Center today, and how?

I'd say the majority who are using QAM are using it through the HDHomeRun.  Here in Houston Time Warner blocks the majority of channels but it is a good compliment to the OTA HDTV I get.

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.:: Vista Ultimate x64 :: Antec Fusion :: Corsair HX520w :: ASUS P5E-VM :: Core2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz :: 4GB RAM :: 128GB SSD System\Apps :: 1TB\5TB Data :: LG GGC-H20L BD/HD DVD :: HDHomeRun x2 ::.

I was kind of disappointed to see that IPTV was not a choice for how your TV was delivered

I know MS is pushing super hard to get into that market, so it was a bit of a shock to not see it in there

so I had to choose other, then explain IPTV

Thanks Jess for the oppurtunity.  I'm looking forward to it.

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Vista Home Prem : P4 @ 3.2GHz : 3GB DDR2 : HD2600 : Auzentech X-plosion : HVR1600 : DishNetwork : OTA HD : good ole 27"CRT : DMA2200

Like I said, it's a general questionnaire. Don't assume that because something is or is not on it that we are or are not doing a particular feature!

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

JessZahn:

I can probably answer general questions about the beta process if you have any.

Since it is still beta, the beta testers can also make sugestions, or they can only report bugs?

Thanks.

 

You will be able to make suggestions (you can in all beta programs that Microsoft does).  However, as I'm sure Jessica will note most of the main features are likely decided upon at this point.  Suggestions are generally kept for other betas and releases.

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Chris Lanier
The Green Button Forum Moderator

JessZahn:

Yeah, so everyone for whom I can correlate your Green Button username with a real name...just kidding. :-)

I'm told that a very high percentage of people who applied for the beta today said they're QAM users on the survey. I find that very interesting. Are there really, really that many of you?

 

OCUR/CableCard is way too cost-prohibitive. I have FiOS, and since I have to use the STBs to connect to my HTPC the only way to get HD is with QAM via the HD HomeRun.

Although it would be nice if Vista would support direct Firewire connections to my STBs, because then I could eliminate a lot of extra equipment from my setup: the analog tuner card, the HD HomeRun (the same HD QAM channels should come over the Firewire) and the IR blasters. Heck, I could probably even put the STBs in my garage and use Firewire-over-CAT5 convertors to get the signal to my living room.

Sorry, got off on a little daydream there :-)

Bauglir:

Although it would be nice if Vista would support direct Firewire connections to my STBs, because then I could eliminate a lot of extra equipment from my setup: the analog tuner card, the HD HomeRun (the same HD QAM channels should come over the Firewire) and the IR blasters. Heck, I could probably even put the STBs in my garage and use Firewire-over-CAT5 convertors to get the signal to my living room.

Sorry, got off on a little daydream there :-)

Youch!  QAM channel wandering has its own set of problems...could you imagine the issues brought up with 5c encryption if firewire was ever implemented??

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Ghostlobster
Very happy convert to SageTV! Finally, watching ESPN-HD in real HD on my HTPC without having to deal with the CableCARD fiasco!

JessZahn:

fdisker:

Why is this a surprise?  More and more channels are going HD and almost none of them are being broadcast over the air.  I can get abc, cbs, nbc, fox and pbs free over the air but hd channels like mtv, espn/espn2, tnt, discovery and many others are QAM only.  My over the air PC based tuners are quickly becoming obsolete. 

It's a surprise because QAM isn't supported in Media Center except through an OCUR, which the majority of you don't have. I guess a more interesting question would have been, how many of you QAM users are using QAM with Media Center today, and how?

I would feel most of us (besides HDhomerun users) do the same exact thing I do. A 3rd party program, so when I show is on, I close out the Media Center interface, Open the other program, watch my show then when I am done, close app, then open Media Center again. I'm sure there is other ways but, it involves closing media center to view these channels. One of the reasons I started the Feature request for QAM hd support post. I am also wondering if anyone is getting this to work with out an HDhomerun....

It's worth it to get the 200% better picture and the 5.1 audio from broadcast tv. I did play with an antenna for a while and I can get a few. The problem for me is, I would have to get a rotator, on a 1-'+ poll on my roof, and it would be a major cost, headache to even work with never mind scheduling a show to record. Never mind that I get most of the channels I want though QAM.

I've been on the fence with the HDhomerun, as if Microsoft supported it, I would not need to spend an extra almost $200 to get the channels, I can already watch, just can be a little painful to get running because I can't do it all via the remote.

Just my thoughts... If you want to track me: DavidinCT "@" hotmail.com :)

 

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-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

JessZahn:

I'm told that a very high percentage of people who applied for the beta today said they're QAM users on the survey. I find that very interesting. Are there really, really that many of you?

QAM support is the only thing that would actually get me to upgrade to Vista.  I've got my MCE 2005 setup (2 analog and 1 HD tuner) working great and have no reason to screw it up.  Of course, I'm one of the lucky ones that gets a great OTA signal (always 99% or 100% signal strength) from all the networks.  I just don't like having an antenna in the living room, even a small one.

JessZahn:

I'm told that a very high percentage of people who applied for the beta today said they're QAM users on the survey. I find that very interesting. Are there really, really that many of you?

 

I had to stop and really think about that question... I do have digital cable, and QAM is decoded in set the top boxes, which I record (using S-Video).   So am I a QAM user?  I answered no, although strictly speaking I could have answered yes, and I almost did answer it yes. 
I am a QAM user (it comes to my house, I use it, I record it), just not natively in MCE.  The question didn't specify, so could that explain the abnormally high percentage?

Chris - Moderator:

You will be able to make suggestions (you can in all beta programs that Microsoft does).  However, as I'm sure Jessica will note most of the main features are likely decided upon at this point.  Suggestions are generally kept for other betas and releases.

Yeah, pretty much. Typically we are certain on our broad themes for a given release, but we won't disclose which features are included in that theme and which aren't until we have a public beta - and even then, it's still as secret as it can be until we actually release (and for good reason: sometimes we need to add other features or remove ones that appeared in a beta before we ship. It's not final until it's final).

There is definitely room for suggestions on improving new and existing features, and beta testers are completely welcome (as are any of you via this forum) to make new feature suggestions. But if you said something like, "Hey, how about you support <insert unsupported TV standard here> in the very next release" it's unlikely we'd have the development time to do that in that next release unless it was already in the plan - but the idea would be saved for the next release after that.

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.