Media Center made (too) simple

This is interesting. LG’s new LRM-519 Digital Media Recorder is “a combination digital video recorder (DVR) and DVD recorder powered by Windows® Media Center Technologies with a 160-gigabyte hard drive for unparalleled recording flexibility.”

OK, and this is different from a TiVo box how? Let’s add up the differences:

• Media Center interface. It really is an improvement over the TiVo interface, but only enough to appeal to the true cognoscenti.
• Expandability. You need to hack the crap out of a TiVo to put in a bigger hard disk. (Here is a cached version of the site I relied on when I hacked my TiVo.) With LG’s unit, you plug an external drive into a USB port.
• DVD recording. Yes, Humax has a TiVo-powered DVD recorder, too.
• Networking. TiVo to Go takes some setup, but it works. The LG unit can send programs to any other Windows XP computer without any fuss.
• DVD playback. I can’t tell from the LG press release, but I assume that the LG unit does DVD playback, not just recording.
• Music and pictures. Really easy with a Media Center box, not so easy with TiVo.

At $599 MSRP, this is pricey. Considerably higher than just about anything from TiVo. And here’s where the deal falls apart:

The Microsoft Program Guide service subscription is available for a $249 one-time fee, $99.99 for a one-year subscription, or for $9.99 for a one-month subscription.

I like the idea of a dedicated Media Center box with certified hardware, drivers, and no extra software to add instability. But why charge for the service that every other Media Center owner gets for free?

(via Peter Near)