Engadget HD Podcast 167 - 12.16.2009

Scheduling forced this slightly-delayed edition to be a throwback podcast without a live audience in the UStream chat, but we still found plenty to discuss. From Nielsen numbers to the freshly unveiled Boxee Box and the latest in CableCARD in tru2way news. We discuss the failure of the Cowboys Stadium "3D" experience and why it shouldn't affect your view of upcoming technology, plus what's new in discs: Blu-ray/DVD combos, trade in programs and free VOD offers. Closing this week out is a look at the latest wireless HD contender and the most premium HDMI cable ever made.

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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Richard Lawler

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Program
00:00:53 - Nielsen Three Screen Report: 99 percent of video still viewed on a TV
00:09:40 - Boxee Box pictured in the wild: it's small!
00:18:56 - Panasonic to make Boston the fourth tru2way market
00:27:10 - Are CableCARD tuners for Media Center sold out everywhere?
00:32:36 - Firewire's future on DVRs is up for debate
00:42:39 - Cowboys Stadium 3D scoreboard experiment doesn't go so well, turned off in less than seven minutes
00:49:37 - Bourne DVD / Blu-ray combo boxes are incredibly descriptive
00:57:17 - Poll: Do you plan on participating in a DVD to Blu-ray trade-in?
01:02:25 - Amazon's Disc+ program tosses in a free VOD with your Blu-ray or DVD
01:10:29 - WiGig Alliance completes multi-gigabit 60GHz wireless specification: let the streaming begin
01:15:07 - Wireworld's Platinum Starlight HDMI cable is only $1,000, better than your HDMI cable


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[buck11772 Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:30PM]

I see whats going on. Trying to silence us ustream chatters with no live version now. Now were am I going to post my witty comments. Hmmmmm wheres a place I could post comments on the show. Oh ya right here 2005 style in the comments area. I'll let this one slide this time.

[ConanDarkness93x Posted Dec 16th 2009 5:35PM]

I'm not caught up on listening to the shows so i don't know if you answered this but... Is Steve ever coming back?

[buck11772 Posted Dec 16th 2009 6:18PM]

Looks like the Bourne Flip disc are only 19.99 each on Amazon. Same price as a normal disc.

[reggie14 Posted Dec 18th 2009 12:00AM]

I'm not sure why you guys think implementing support for firewire recording should have been so easy. The only way you'd see support for 5C protected content over firewire on PCs is if they could come up with a DRM scheme on the PC to use with it. In general, DRM isn't easy to do well. You'd probably have/want to have special firewire cards that do the "DRM translation" in hardware (for lack of a better term) from 5c to whatever would be used on the PC, so unDRMed video never sat in memory. That wouldn't be cheap- for the company doing this, or the customers.

I'd hate to see firewire go away, because I actually am able to record almost all my HD channels over firewire. But, I understand I'm in the minority, and that firewire isn't doing most people any good.

[mordac Posted Dec 18th 2009 3:53AM]

@reggie14 I wouldn't miss it as much as I used to. Over the past few years Time Warner has added 5c to almost all the channels I'd like to watch, so I'm probably going to have to get an HD-PVR anyway.

Also, the box I was given from Time Warner had a working firewire port. No hoops or hurdles what so ever. It was fun while it lasted.

[reggie14 Posted Dec 18th 2009 8:29AM]

@mordac Comcast is actually going to the other way where I am. I get a higher percentage of my HD channels now than I did a year ago. Pretty much all of the new HD channels that Comcast put out around me aren't 5c protected. And some of the old channels that used to be protected had their flags reset when Comcast turned on the new channels.

I still have an HD-PVR too, though. I don't get SD channels over firewire (though, I haven't tried lately either), and I don't get premium channels like HBO over firewire either.

I had a pretty easy time getting firewire boxes. I had to go to the Comcast office and have them keep bringing out boxes until they showed me me one with a firewire port on the back (asking for a DCT6200 box gave me a blank stare), but they were relatively happy to do that both times.