HTPC

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: Motorola USB DVR Transcoder Concept: Media Experiences 2 Go Holy Flash Batman, DivX Brings Hulu To Your TV: Davis Freeberg’s Digital Connection Placeshifting for BeyondTV Has Arrived: Brent Evans Geek Tonic 1/3 of European Millennials Prefer Video on a PC: Connected Home 2 Go WiMAX … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: U-verse Launches Whole-Home DVR: Connected Home 2 Go Yahoo and Intel Preview the Widget Channel: Connected Home 2 Go Movies on SageTV: Brent Evans Geek Tonic The Making of a Demo Room: Connected Home 2 Go

Vista Media Center to Support SDV (But how?)

Chris Lanier reports that Microsoft has pledged researching support for switched digital video:

We [MS] are working to enable support for the CableLabs SDV Tuning Adaptor for Windows Media Center Digital Cable Tuners, ensuring that Windows Media Center users will be able to access switched content.

Ben Drawbaugh believes a PC-based USB connection should be sufficient to control the tuning adapter, while Chris contends new CableCARD tuners with USB ports will be required. Regardless of the implementation, I seriously doubt VMC users will have the ability to access switched channels this year. For those impacted, the best short-term solution to access all digital programming via PC is by renting a cable-co set-top box and recording programming using SageTV in conjunction with the Happauge HD PVR.

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Home Theater PC Video Podcast by Systm

If you’re interested in home theater PCs, check out last week’s Systm video podcast by Revision3. Patrick Norton hosts PCMag.com’s Robert Heron and they discuss basic HTPC requirements, hardware, tuner cards, Hauppauge HD-PVR, and Vista Media Center. There are even mentions of SageTV, BeyondTV and MediaPortal. It’s very high-level and focuses on Vista Media Center … Read more

Pandora Radio Plugin for SageTV

While the throngs of iPhone and iTouch users were trying out the new mobile Pandora Radio, one of the most popular free applications, I was testing out a new Pandora Radio Application on my SageTV Home Theater PC. Pandora radio is one of the more popular internet radio services and is a perfect match for … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: New Xbox 360 Dashboard, Netflix & Final Fantasy XIII: The Daleisphere Managing the Olympics Online and On TV: Media Experiences 2 Go SageTV 6.4.5 Public Beta Released: Brent Evans Geek Tonic IPTV Subscribers Pass 15 Million: Media Experiences 2 Go TV Stat Check: Media Experiences … Read more

HTPC Hard Drive Space – How Much is Enough?

Computer storage space has transformed over recent years to a point where we are actually talking about how many terabytes we have in our systems instead how many gigabytes. Home theater PCs are no longer limited in storage space thanks to the affordability of large hard drives. I’ve been slowly upgrading my HTPC storage by … Read more