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Microsoft, never content with just monopolizing one segment of the market, has decided to dip its big, scary toes into the Slingbox-ish world of anywhere-TV with a new piece of software for its Media Center PCs. Using the newly acquired (but not new) WebGuide component -- created by a gentleman named Doug Berrett -- you can now tune into your Media Center content from any place you have web access. The software actually goes beyond what Slingbox is capable of, giving you full control over your system remotely, allowing you to set record times, change schedules, and generally go buck-wild, even from a mobile phone or WiFi equipped PDA. Ballmer and Co. also added an ITV function to MC PCs, though apparently all it does is offer C-rate "internet" content for MCE users. Clearly, what's exciting here is WebGuide -- the software is free, and presuming you already have your system up and running, you could be "slinging" video around before you know it.

Source: Microsoft adds Slingbox-like capability to its Media Center PCs - Engadget

During our chat with Microsoft today, we got wind of a brand new feature coming to Windows Media Center, and it's slated to hit just as D-Link and Linksys get official with their Media Center Extenders. Reportedly, Microsoft plans on unleashing Internet TV on or around September 27th, which will enable Media Center users to watch a variety of on-demand, ad-supported content free of charge. While details were kept slim, we do know that content will fall into Sports, Entertainment, News, Top Picks, Music and Movies categories. Additionally, the videos will reportedly be "better than SD quality, but not HD," although HD programs could certainly emerge in the future. Best of all, this feature will simply be delivered as a normal software update, and while it seems that we'll have to wait until Digital Life before we know any more, feel free to peep the gallery below for a few shots of the Internet TV beta in action.

Microsoft bringing Internet TV feature to Windows Media Center - Engadget

Ok, we're gonna break this down, Microsoft really didn't do us any favors of simplicity this time. As you may remember, back in late 2004 Microsoft's hardware partners announced Windows Media Center Extenders, which were basically STBs that could replicate a cheesy version of Media Center's interface on your TV over your home network. Not surprisingly, people didn't want another box (let alone a box with a crappy UI that wasn't as good as a real Media Center) so those boxes never took off. But the best (and most frequently used) implementation came way later on with the Xbox 360, which was able to far better replicate the XP and Vista Media Center experience.
So today Microsoft is announcing a reinvigorated Media Center Extender effort called... wait for it... Extenders for Windows Media Center. Ok, the name totally sucks, but the important part is Microsoft upgraded its wayward Extender system with a new version that takes full advantage of Vista (including live HDTV streaming), supports 802.11n, and adds something that really blew our mind: codecs we actually care about, namely XviD and DivX. Niveus, Linksys, and D-Link will all be launching new devices based on this software platform, so watch out for those -- as well as DVD players, TVs, and all manner of other home theater devices Microsoft is apparently trying to get this new system built right into. Unfortunately this new Extender rev isn't being announced for the Xbox 360 (yet), so we'll all have to wait a while longer before playing XviD and DivX movies on that thing -- without transcoding, anyway.

Source: Microsoft debuts Extenders for Windows Media Center, adds DivX and XviD - Engadget

They may have taken a bit longer than the company initially claimed, but S1Digital's new CableCARD-enabled Media Centers are apparently now finally shipping. That desirable option is available on the company's ProLine Quad Server and FX Editions, and its Home Series Platinum Edition, each of which boast a pair of CableCARD slots to let you watch and record two channels at the same time. It looks like you'll also be able to keep plenty of those recordings on deck, with up to 3.75 terabytes of storage on the Server Edition and 2.25 terabytes on the Platinum Edition. Otherwise, you can expect Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processors depending on the model, along with optional HD DVD or Blu-ray drives, and NVIDIA PureVideo HD video processors, with Windows Vista running the show. From the looks of it, S1Digital is only selling the Home Series Media Center directly to customers, with the higher-end options reserved for dealers and custom installers.

Source: S1Digital's CableCARD-equipped Media Centers now shipping - Engadget

Use this Keyspan RF (radio frequency) remote to control your Windows Vista PC from 90 feet away, a distance the company takes great glee in exclaiming is three times the distance of infrared remotes. You just plug that USB receiver into your PC, and you're good to go, remote-controlling all those movie files you've ripped off, or even the scant few you've bought, with the greatest of ease. How would we use such a thing?

In our home theater, we like having the PC tucked away in the server closet in the next room, completely out of earshot but still close enough for its cable to reach the projector. Since this Keyspan RF remote can see through walls like some sort of electro-Superman, it will give us a computer viewing experience that's decidedly TV-like. It might be worth a try for $49

Source: Media Center Control: Keyspan RF Remote for Windows Vista Sees Through Walls - Gizmodo

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of millions of people with good taste in TV cheering the return of Futurama! Fans of the series will be glad to know that the show will return on November 27th as a full-length movie being released on DVD. The initial release will be followed by 3 more DVD movies!

After all 4 DVD movies have been released, they’ll be chopped up into 16 episodes which will air on Comedy Central along with NEW episodes created for Comedy Central.

Welcome back Futurama, welcome back!

Source: TV Squad

Source: The Animation Blog » Blog Archive » Futurama returns November 27th

We got some very reliable information from an inside source on TiVo's newest DVR -- and guess what, it's called the TiVo HD (good luck trying to trademark that one, TiVo). Granted, we've heard most of this already, but our sources confirmed the TiVo HD will launch with a 160GB drive (or, as TiVo likes to put it, 160 hours SD / 20 hours HD), two CableCARD tuners, and possibly also an ATSC tuner. We can also further confirm it won't have THX certification, frontal display, or the Glo remote, but the $300 price tag is set, so it won't pinch the pocketbook quite so hard. Supposedly it's launching this week, possibly as early as tomorrow. Given that the cheapest box TiVo sells is still $100 (or sometimes free), it stands to reason this will be the new mid-range model, but from what we understand TiVo is on its way to phasing out the Series2 brand entirely.

Source: TiVo HD DVR is the newest Series3, TiVoToGo coming back - Engadget

CinemaNow, fine purveyor of downloadable film and TV content, has recently updated its Media Manager support for Vista, allowing you to use its Burn-to-DVD service, and enabling your Xbox 360 to act as a bridge from your PC to your TV -- adding an interesting new option to the media center sphere. So starting right now, you can download and watch your favorite movies and television shows without ever having to let go of the Xbox controller, which could be detrimental to your relationships, but really good for catching up on any episodes of 24 you might have missed.

CinemaNow updates Vista support, plays nice with Xbox 360 - Engadget

High definition video streaming over power jacks? We say bring it Sharp, if you can. Meet the HN-VA40S pair, a HomePlug AV 1.1 PowerLine Computing (PLC) solution with the promise of an effective 85Mbps (200Mbps theoretical) across your home's electrical outlets -- ample bandwidth and QoS to stream HD video throughout the home. The ¥17,000 (about $137) HN-VA10 adapter feeds whatever data you bung down its Ethernet jack to the 4-port, ¥13,000 (about $105) HN-VA40 Ethernet hub plugged into any outlet up to 150-meters away. Better yet, save a few bills and buy the set for about ¥24,000 (about $194) when these ship August 24th in Japan. Don't be shy now; you can connect up to 16 units to the same network although we'd suggest waiting for a review before dropping that much dough.

Source: Sharp's HN-VA40S HomePlug AV 4-port Ethernet HUB: HD streaming over electrical wiring - Engadget

Never before have we had so many options for getting HD content, but these marketing claims are getting out of control. DirecTV kicked it off at CES this year, claiming 100 national HD channels, then followed up with commercials just to make sure everyone got the word. The cable companies responded by suing, and now in what we can only call: if you can't beat em' join em', a Comcast exec announced that they will have 400 HD channels this year, and 800 in 2008. Never-mind the fact that there are nowhere near that many HD channels of available content, but 800 quality HD channels would take up almost 11 Gbps of throughput (using today's technology). So in order to make this work, we presume they will need to deploy Switched Digital Video, which is great and all, but renders every CableCARD device made today obsolete.

Source: Comcast promises 400 HD channels this year and 800 the next - Engadget

Now this is Interesting. According to TrustedReviews, Euro-powerhouse Philips was showing off this dedicated media streamer at Computex last week. The brushed aluminum enclosure packs HDMI and optical audio outs for your home entertainment rig and a 40GB disk which can be expanded via USB 2.0. Unfortunately, neither the interface nor the specs were on show. Now, anyone care to guess what that stubby slot is for? Read-on for a picture of the backside.

Source: Philips preparing assault on Apple TV - Engadget

The Pinnacle PCTV USB Stick that you may have grown quite fond of over the past year has finally decided to get with the times, as the newest iteration throws HD capability into the minuscule tuner while still ringing up a penny under a Benjamin. The Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick steps it down a notch from its Professional sibling, but still allows users to "view live television on their PC with pause, rewind, and fast-forward timeshifting functionality." Pinnacle's latest USB 2.0 tuner is "about the size of a key," gets all the necessary juice right from the USB port, supports NTSC and ATSC broadcasts, and comes bundled with the firm's TVCenter Pro software. Best of all, this no frills portable TV tuner can get live programming on your laptop or desktop right now for a mere $99.99.

Source: Pinnacle kicks out $100 PCTV HD Stick USB tuner - Engadget

TiVo's Series 3, one of the best HD DVRs ever, has a $200 rebate going for it right now.

That brings the $606 box on Amazon to an astounding $406. That's the first time it's been available for less then $500, and just about the right price for it, me thinks

Source: Dealzmodo: TiVo Series 3 for $400 (Cheapest Ever) - Gizmodo

Last time on Ins and Outs we introduced the concept of buyshifting -- what it means, what it is, and where it's going. But now it's time to get down to the brass tacks. That's right, we're talking about whether it's viable for the average consumer -- more specifically, where it falls on the cost scale. The results might actually surprise you. So let's dig in, shall we?
For the "standard" HD+DVR package -- your kind of baseline TV-consuming experience -- the monthly bill for San Francisco's Comcast digital cable service is $78. If the average household watches 8 hours of programming per day (yes, it's true), that comes out to about $0.32 per hour. Comcast also charges $0.99 per episode through its VOD service. iTunes, of course, charges $1.99 per episode, or $34.99 per season ($1.59 per episode at an assumed 22 episodes per season). Buying the DVDs on Amazon ranges from about $25-$40 per season ($1.14 to $1.81 per episode).
Since your cable bill is fixed (well, not really, as the cable industry has managed to increase billing at a rate that exceeds inflation for the past 10 consecutive years – big surprise), it comes out to $936 annually. (Side note: for simplicity's sake we'll assume that your average satellite bill is comparable to cable.) So let's see the results on a per-year, per-month, and per-episode basis, assuming one season per year, 22 episodes per season per show.

Source: Ins and Outs: Is buyshifting the future of television? (part 2) - Engadget

If you're a fan of Meizu's audio gear then you'll be stoked at this, the skinny Meizu M6se. At just 7-mm (0.28-inches) thin, it extracts the bulk from the original M6 while remaining true (for good or for bad) to the original design and control. In case you're keeping track (and we know you are) the new M6 packs an extra 0.5-mm (0.02-inches) of negligible chub compared to its famously slim iPod nano competitor. Yet it packs a relatively massive 2.4-inch QVGA display and FM tuner. You can still expect support for all the MP3, WAV, OGG audio and AVI video you can stuff into its 8GB of flash for an incredibly cheap $130. Right, that's about half the cost of the 8GB nano assuming the price remains the same when these hit domestic markets. So if you buy on price and specs vs. emotional appeal and a friendly ecosystem, well, you'll want to keep an eye on that August ship date.

Source: Meizu's M6se: nano-thin with video and FM tuner for $100 less - Engadget

I want to record high def cable TV, at full resolution. So there are only a few choices: TiVo Series 3, a Vista Media Center PC with Cable cards, or a rental box from the cable company. I realize that this list has a price spread of a few bucks a month to rent the cable company DVR to several thousand dollars to get the PC, but let's ignore that for a second.

I compared the TiVo and Vista machine with Cable Card this week. And I think you'll be surprised to know that the Media Center PC has a better user interface when it comes to recording shows, channel surfing, and watching TV. And playback of music, videos, and photos. The TiVo's OS just feels aged compared to the slick Vista Media Center interface. Did that surprise you?

I just wrote that Microsoft's interface is better than the TiVo's. Madness, I know.

Source: Battlemodo: CableCARD Vista Media Center PC vs. Tivo Series 3 - Gizmodo

So now that at least one of us here at Engadget has a fully functional Vista CableCARD home theater rig, we're ready to take on your questions. This probably isn't the kind of thing that we can do an extensive review of -- it is, after all, just the same Vista Media Center you're already used to, except with CableCARD as the video input this time -- but we're happy to do our best to field whatever queries you've got. Post 'em in comments, we'll do our best to answer them after the break!

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Source: Vista CableCARD Media Center PCs - what do you want to know? - Engadget

Hey home theater PC lovers! Those of you who are still waiting around for CableCARD-enabled machines in order to get high-def cable in your home theater setup don't have to wait much longer, since these CC machines are finally shipping.

If you wanted to get a sneak peek at what you're going to get with these systems, check out our exclusive first hands on with Niveus's systems back in April. We'll have more coverage on these soon as well. – Jason Chen

Source: CableCARD Media Centers Shipping: Get a Sneak Peek Now - Gizmodo

Ricavision continues to rock the SideShow action today -- in addition to the devices unveiled yesterday, it looks like they're finally ready to ship that nifty SideShow-enabled Vista Media Center Edition we saw back at CES as the RICA100. There's been a few changes since -- Bluetooth range has been increased to 300 meters, the button layout has been substantially beefed-up and revised to meet Microsoft's MCE guidelines, and the docking / charging cradle has been totally redesigned into a smaller, sleeker unit. All those changes don't come cheap, though -- the RICA100's MSRP is now $299, up from $199. We can't help but notice that this design is just a render too, though -- let's hope Ricavision shows off an actual physical product sometime soon.

Source: Ricavision unveils its latest Sideshow/MCE remote, the RICA100 - Engadget