Post by dkennedy on Dec 1, 2006 10:30:05 GMT -5
Dream of Streaming CableCard Content with Windows Vista? Think Again
December 1, 2006
By Charlie White, Gizmodo Magazine
If you're thinking the upcoming Windows Vista is going to let you use a CableCard instead of a set-top box to do whatever you want with your video, you might be disappointed.
Unless that PC is an official Media Center Extender (MCX)—of which the only one right now is the Microsoft Xbox 360—you may not be able to snag digital cable content on a CableCard-equipped PC and then stream that video over your network to any another PC.
Hey! Hey! Wait a doggone minute....
Without that extra-special MCX voodoo, protected HD content won't be viewable on anything but the PC on which the CableCards reside. It's a closed-loop system to keep those pesky pirates at bay.
This streaming thing might seem like a small detail, but it will make it less convenient and sometimes impossible to move video around your house unless mommy says it's okay. That's right, the owners of the content get to decide how you use it, not you. That stinks.
Before long, there will probably be lots of third-party devices with embedded Media Center Extenders (the MCX technology is code-named Pika), especially non-recording devices such as DVD players and keypads. But all those devices will give the content owners control over us, dictating what we can do with our video.
This can't be good.
December 1, 2006
By Charlie White, Gizmodo Magazine
If you're thinking the upcoming Windows Vista is going to let you use a CableCard instead of a set-top box to do whatever you want with your video, you might be disappointed.
Unless that PC is an official Media Center Extender (MCX)—of which the only one right now is the Microsoft Xbox 360—you may not be able to snag digital cable content on a CableCard-equipped PC and then stream that video over your network to any another PC.
Hey! Hey! Wait a doggone minute....
Without that extra-special MCX voodoo, protected HD content won't be viewable on anything but the PC on which the CableCards reside. It's a closed-loop system to keep those pesky pirates at bay.
This streaming thing might seem like a small detail, but it will make it less convenient and sometimes impossible to move video around your house unless mommy says it's okay. That's right, the owners of the content get to decide how you use it, not you. That stinks.
Before long, there will probably be lots of third-party devices with embedded Media Center Extenders (the MCX technology is code-named Pika), especially non-recording devices such as DVD players and keypads. But all those devices will give the content owners control over us, dictating what we can do with our video.
This can't be good.