Episode 65 - Build a Great Vista Home Theater PC!

[eminemdrdre00]

I think I counted 6 or 7 thoughts that Patrick liked.

[leftler]

A correction for the ep.

Yes, you can just ask for a CableCard from the cable provider and they will give you one, however, you can ONLY get a CableCard compatible tuner in a pre-built system made by one of the OEMs that CableLabs has approved. If you just stick the card in a PCMCIA slot without a compatible digital tuner nothing will happen. If you buy one of the tuners (say Ebay) that was ok'ed by CableLabs it will not work with a motherboard that not ok'ed with CableLabs either, they check for a special signature in the bios or some other chip soldered on to the mobo to check they are in an authorized system before they activate.

Also CableCard may be gone in a year or two now that Tru2Way is being finalized and will replace it as the industry standard.

EDIT--
Also you need a special version of vista that is CableCard approved too. So no linux/freeBSD and no reinstalling vista to remove shovelware, restore disks only.

[davmoo]

This was a *fantastic* episode! When it comes to anything home theater hardware related Robert Heron is The Man and second to none.

And unfortunately I have to overwhelmingly agree with one opinion he stated...the sun will explode, the moon will crash in to the earth, Hell will freeze over, and Pamela Anderson will win the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry all before the satellite TV industry will release any product similar to what the cablecard is in the cable TV industry, or willingly work with makers of DVRs who will not lock down the programming so it can't be moved off the device. This is my only real gripe with satellite TV, and the only reason I'll probably go to cable TV when I decide I just have to have HD programming other than OTA. Its also why I currently use TiVo boxes for my SD programming instead of Dish Network DVRs...with the Tivo moving a program to my PC to burn it on a DVD is as easy as running TiVo-To-Go and tell it which programs to move, but with a Dish DVR the first step is "remove hard drive from DVR and pray you never break it since your warranty is now void".

Originally Posted by Serafina

You want us to show you how to install Vista? Really? And if you don't want to use Vista, that's why we talked about Mythtv last week. You've got options!

When Pat said that vista was easier and what ever, I wanted to see it proven to me. I disagree,with his view.
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The main reason I wanted to see the mythtv demo was so that everyone knows there is something besides windows and mac out there. I will admit the mythtv demo could have been done a bit differently also. I am not against windows being shown, I just want the truth to be told. No system is perfect and that certainly includes linux, Windows is no panacea either unless you want to be blinded by all the hype. Besides I am tired of hearing What's linux.......?
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My step uncle came to visit us a few years back. He wanted to use my computer. At that time I was running suse linux 8.x with kde.(before Novell owned it) When he saw I was not running windows, he had a cow to put it nicely, I finally convinced him to relax and sit down to let me show him a few things and the gui environment was actually very easy to use. I set up his own login. To make a long story short, I did not get to use my computer again till he left. I even gave him linux cd's to take home and install on a spare computer at his home in California. One of his sons is an engineer and now runs linux exclusively also. I now have spare computers for visitors. I pretty much go through this same scenario with people when they see my computer. Thanks to revision3 and other media outlets now covering linux, I do not have to go through the same drill as much anymore.

[nextgenxbox]

Woh, Robert Heron! Awesome!

[nextgenxbox]

Originally Posted by eminemdrdre00

I think I counted 6 or 7 thoughts that Patrick liked.

Haha. We all have our crutches.

[serafina]

Originally Posted by computoman

When Pat said that vista was easier and what ever, I wanted to see it proven to me. I disagree,with his view.
---
The main reason I wanted to see the mythtv demo was so that everyone knows there is something besides windows and mac out there. I will admit the mythtv demo could have been done a bit differently also. I am not against windows being shown, I just want the truth to be told. No system is perfect and that certainly includes linux, Windows is no panacea either unless you want to be blinded by all the hype. Besides I am tired of hearing What's linux.......?

The show was about how to turn vista into a media center. We're assuming you've already got Vista running. There's just too much stuff to talk about once it's up, to waste time on a topic that would fit better on a completely different episode. If you want to see "Installing Vista" as its own episode, we'll take that into consideration.

[will_stutler]

its been said before but i would like to say it again,....Serafina you did an outstanding job,....its about time the show gets some class

[charliekwalker]

If someone at Systm would think it'd be a nice idea to do an episode on using a mac as a dvr, and if Patrick would like that thought.

[serafina]

Originally Posted by Will_Stutler

its been said before but i would like to say it again,....Serafina you did an outstanding job,....its about time the show gets some class

Hehe, aw, thanks!