bjdraw:

Sorry to say it guys, but it looks like I am right.

I just received another private message and this one comes right out and says it.

"Hello bjdraw...


as for Fiji...


No DirectTV


No H264


and it will be an OEM only release ... no public release!"

Of course they could just be pulling my leg, but I'm afraid that they aren't.

well i did come across this on dbstalk

As of June 30th 2008... Project Fiji information leaked:

1. It will support DirecTV using the HDPC20
2. The HDPC-20 is being tested NOW by people using the Fiji Beta.
3. Fiji will be available as an upgrade to Vista Ultimate and Home Premium
4. As of the date above OEM involvement is not required.
5. Fiji as it currently exists includes a new Media Center only updater engine althought the speculation is that this may be combined with the regular updater in the final version. Currently it is separate.
6. Speculation is highest that this will be referred to as “Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008″.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=1667773&postcount=135

---

Marvin on Disapproving Rabbits

When asked about MCE support for their HD PVR, Hauppauge said it was contingent on the upcoming release of Microsoft's media center update pack. That would strongly indicate to me at the very least h.264 support is a feature.

 

This certainly makes thing more interesting. This makes me wonder if the DirecTV tuner is really being tested, but the few people who have contacted me are just left in the cold. This would make sense since MS wasn't happy that a few people leaked the inital details of the  beta.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

Snoods:

Fiji does support H.264 as some screenshots here show BBC HD in use in Europe and some set up shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/freesathd/

Seems to work fine in Europe, i have no idea about Direct TV

File extensions of recordings are no longer .dvr-ms they are now .wtv files.

Those are from the april release, I'm told that when RC0 was released it was removed.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

abuttino:

OEM is Microsofts kiss of death with Media Center and people that subscibe to satellite or don't want to buy a bloated pc full of crap..

Looks like MS has cooked the goose.

I don't know that they care at this point. If you look around on the forums, most media center users have either built their own media centers, or modified inexpensive off the self pc's. That's why all the interest around tuners, and motherboards, and sound cards, and HA, and screen hacks. Everyone is DIY'ing it. Honestly, I know many people who have computer (well, everyone, actually), but only two use media center. The vast majority are clueless, and don't care.

MS is aparently under the delusion that OEM is going to save them, but I don't see it. HP advertises how you can do cool things with photos and website and home video and other forms of self expresion, but when was the last time you saw them on TV with an add for Media Center? Even thier latest MediaSmart Connect is sold as an "Oh, by the way, it's a Media Center Extender, too!"  Dell, to my knowledge, has never advertised the Media Center capabilities. And no one, NO ONE!!!, who isn't specifically looking for it, is going to know that S1Digital, Velocity Micro, VidaBox, et al, even EXIST!! let alone sell cablecard equiped PC's.

One poster on AVS forums (who I can't quote cause the original was edited) had recently stated his firm had sold 'several hundred' cablecard PC's. And they were one of the first to sell them. Several hundred!! That must make the folks at AMD wring thier hands about the whole thing

DIY'ers are about the largest group of people who are interested in media center functionality, in fact, probabaly the only statiscally signifigant group of active Media Center users. It's hard to say because no one publishes sale figures for Media Center or ATI HDTV Wonder (I've even searched the SEC filings. Nothing!). Microsoft is just doing everything wrong when it comes to this market.Of course, if they continue with the OEM push, it's never gonna happen because very few people (outside of the greenbutton chorus) are gonna see the logic in paying a couple of grand for what the cable and satellite will give/rent to you for not anywhere near as much.

---

New System: Vista/AthlonX2BE/GigabyteGA-MA69G-S3H/HD3450/(2) M780/3GB Ram/320GB&750GB Drive/Westy 32 LCD via HDMI/

Old System: MCE/ Athlon3000+/Asus K8NE Deluxe/vBox Catseye 150/NVTV Dual SD/2GB RAM/250GB HD/Ahanix DVine 4/Westy 32 LCD/

I written a post about what I've learned here and via a few beta testers who contacted me privetly.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/07/05/no-directv-hd-for-vista-media-center-until-2010/

There are a few screen shots of Fiji and some other features too.

---

Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

Seriously, can the whole Media Center developement concept get any more bizarre?

I'm sure this has been referenced already but this is getting downright retarded:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/05/next-vista-media-center-leaked-no-directv-hd-till-2010/

Thank God for MSDN (which is provided to free to us) - no need to spend $ supporting this drivel. I'd hate to actually be a paying customer of MS these days. It's really quite a shame that they've squandered yet another opportunity to get in and take a definitive lead on something, yet as with most things, blundering Program Managers have gone way off track and delivered nothing of value.

This is extremely disappointing.  Although, there's nothng confirmed and it's still a bunch of speculation, however, the sources appear pretty good.  Honestly, I don't think Media Center is going to be getting much attention from MS going forward.  They don't make any money off of it as it's an OS addition, so why bother?  If no one runs MC, they still need MS's OS to run the competition, so why sink more development resources into something that is not driving revenue?

As a pre-emptive measure, I just downloaded Sage TV and decided to give it another shot.  I've installed it on our bedroom Vista MC PC and will try it for the 21 day trial.  If I can get it to the point where Mrs. Lobster is OK with it, then I plan on making the switch throughout the house.  I'm not crazy about the interface, but I suppose I can get used to it.  I have not even begun to look into the customization options, either.  3 weeks time should be enough.  If it pases the test, I'll most likely take my main MC rig, turn it into my Sage server box and slap the client software on the bedroom TV, pick up a Sage HD extender and put that in the spare room, and run another client off the loft TV. 

The HD-PVR was my last hope for VMC.  If we're not going to get the support for that then I've got to bail.  By the way, the setup of Sage was remarkably painless.  I did another install quite some time ago, and it was horrible.  For some reason, everything went right and was very very easy this time. 

---

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

ghostlobster:

This is extremely disappointing.  Although, there's nothng confirmed and it's still a bunch of speculation, however, the sources appear pretty good.  Honestly, I don't think Media Center is going to be getting much attention from MS going forward.  They don't make any money off of it as it's an OS addition, so why bother?  , everything went right and was very very easy this time. 

Finally someone get's it :)  We users are not MS's meant and potatoes, and VMC is not used by many.  It's what it comes down to.  Development costs is exspensive, and things like DVD streaming hurts their relationships with the publishers.

We just need third party developers to fix it for us.

 

-D

The only reason I've been able to hold on to MCE so long is the promise to the wife that DTV *IS* coming. I love MCE. I love the interface. I love the customization ability. I love DVR-MS toolbox. I love being able to have my ripped DVD's and Live and Recorded TV all in one place. I love being able to extend TV to all TV's in the house through the 360.

Unfortunately, DirecTV with it's 20 HD channels that we'd watch, more than triple what the local cable company offers, will win out. Once that STB is in the house, it's not going to be replaced.

dravor:

ghostlobster:

This is extremely disappointing.  Although, there's nothng confirmed and it's still a bunch of speculation, however, the sources appear pretty good.  Honestly, I don't think Media Center is going to be getting much attention from MS going forward.  They don't make any money off of it as it's an OS addition, so why bother?  , everything went right and was very very easy this time. 

Finally someone get's it :)  We users are not MS's meant and potatoes, and VMC is not used by many.  It's what it comes down to.  Development costs is exspensive, and things like DVD streaming hurts their relationships with the publishers.

We just need third party developers to fix it for us.

 

-D

3rd party developers can't fix broken architecture.  That's what MSFT needed to do with Fiji, and again, they have shown they are not targeting this community for solutions.  You don't need a 3rd party plugin, you need to dump VMC and move to SageTV or another platform.  If this isn't enough to convince you that MSFT is not working on the problems you care about, I don't know what will.

Wouldn't be a big disappointment for me. My biggest beef with my CableCARD system on Comcast is the absolute terrible quality of the over-compressed HD channels. From what I've been reading, though, DirectTV isn't any better. Some people say it's actually worse. What I want is uncompressed HD, but it seems only FIOS can deliver that experience and I have no idea when and if FIOS will ever be available in my area. Except for one channel all the channels I watch are available in HD now from Comcast, so I have really no reason to move to DirectTV. It's actually the opposite for me as I wouldn't be able to record clear-QAM via HDHomeRun anymore and there's no way I'm going OTA. Also, as far as I understand it, to record two channels at the same time with the DirectTV tuner you need two separate coax feeds from the dish. The room where my equipment is in only has one coax going to it. Unless the HDPC20 is a network tuner like the HDHomeRun, so I can put it in my network closet, I don't see myself going the DiretcTV route anytime soon.

Would it be possible to write a plug-in using VLC to stream the disc?

avanate:

I'm sure this has been referenced already but this is getting downright retarded:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/05/next-vista-media-center-leaked-no-directv-hd-till-2010/

Thank God for MSDN (which is provided to free to us) - no need to spend $ supporting this drivel. I'd hate to actually be a paying customer of MS these days. It's really quite a shame that they've squandered yet another opportunity to get in and take a definitive lead on something, yet as with most things, blundering Program Managers have gone way off track and delivered nothing of value.

If they do remove H.264 support from the released version, it's got to be because of some DRM thing. Makes me long for the old Microsoft - they would just have told the content providers, AACS, etc. to go pound sand and then released what they wanted anyway. And worried about the lawsuits later.

Now they're pussyfooting. What a disappointment.