Media Center versus the World
Over at ZDNet, I’ve just posted Part 1 in a three-part series comparing the leading digital media solutions for the living room. If you’re curious what you get with different DVRs, PC-based software like Beyond TV and Sage TV, and Windows Media Center, check out the feature table and the accompanying post.
Technorati tags: Media Center, digital media, TiVo, MythTV, Beyond TV, Sage TV, DirecTV, Xbox 360, Apple, iTV
You mention that Vista can work with DirecTV HD using add-in hardware. Can you be more specific? What hardware? This is the killer app for me, that would make me switch setups in a heartbeat. (I’m currently using BeyondTV, which, in conjunction with Beyond Media, I find to be more full-featured than MCE2005).
Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore said the hardware is under development and will be released in 2007, but it is not currently available.
And yes, that would be a killer feature for me as well.
Nice chart!
FYI TiVo Series2 can copy and playback MPEG-2 video grabbed from a home computer. They don’t do such a great job publicizing that…
Transferring Personal Video from a PC to a TiVo DVR
PC to TiVo AKA GoToTiVo AKA TiVoBack
ermmm.. I miss Mediaportal
errm, yeah where on earth is media portal? Interesting that you don’t inlcude the one product that gives the MCE experience a run for its money :/
The chart tells me nothing
For example lets take ‘Digital Photo’s’
The chart simply tells us a yes/no situation which is useless. The question is what are the features within digital photo’s
Example:
- Can you zoom/rotate/crop photos ?
- Can you view animated slideshow’s with ken burns effects ?
- Can you view/sort/organize your photos in various way (date, exif tags,…)
- etc etc….
Somewhat off topic, but I don’t know where to post this question.
Does anyone know if I’ll be able to dual boot the current version of Windows MCE with the Vista version of MCE on the same machine and have them read the same media files? I’m guessing this is a pretty tall request.
I have two extenders that I know won’t under Vista. The extender is the best part of MCE in my opinion. I’m hoping there is a band aid I can use till the 360 comes down in price or new extender hardware comes out. Otherwise, I may just do without the upgrade to Vista.