VistaMediaCenterTvPack
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Microsoft's PBDA platform makes Big Content happy, should make TV tuning easier
What's this? A little standardization in the TV realm? Announced today at IBC2008, Microsoft has launched its Protected Broadcast Driver Architecture (PBDA), a new worldwide platform that was made possible by the recent release of Windows Media Center TV Pack. In short, this system enables the "PC-TV hardware ecosystem to integrate virtually any free or premium TV service into Windows Media Center," which keeps content guardians ultra-stoked while giving consumers more choice when it comes to TV tuning. Essentially, PBDA gives OEMs and tuner-makers the ability to develop and ship wares for WMC "regardless of geographic location or television standard." The initiative is being backed by some serious players, too -- Hauppauge, AVerMedia, NEC, and NXP just to name a few -- and a couple have already shipped PBDA-based solutions overseas. Hit the read link for more... if you dare.
Microsoft gets official with the Vista Media Center TV Pack
Although we've known all about the TV Pack (code named Fiji) for some time, Microsoft's Ben Reed posted the official details about it today over at The Green Button. As expected, most of the new stuff is for other international markets, but the few new features for the US have been long awaited. Unfortunately the one detail about the TV Pack that we most wanted to be wrong about is true, the it'll only be available on new PCs from OEMs -- lucky for us you can find it elsewhere. Ben says the OEM requirement was necessary because of the complexity of supporting the new features, but as an enthusiast, we still can't help but feel a little slighted by our friends at Redmond. The most interesting quote in the announcement is the words that were chosen to explain that the TV Pack is indeed missing native DirecTV tuner support which describes it as "subscription-based satellite tuners." This of course make us all the more confident that both DirecTV and Dish support are on their radar -- but who knows, maybe that's just wishful thinking. %Gallery-29109%
Engadget HD gets a first hand look at the Vista TV Pack (aka Fiji)
Still a month away from its official announcement at CEDIA -- Engadget HD got their hands on the final release of the Vista Media Center TV Pack (codename Fiji) and although the most anticipated features are missing, (H.264 and DirecTV) what is there, is well received. So if clear QAM, improved tuner support, and favorites is just what you ordered, then head over and have a look at the update that unfortunately you'll probably never get without buying a new PC.
Hands-on with the Vista Media Center TV Pack
The Microsoft eHome team's favorite beta tester is at it again, and this time they went as far as to share the RTM build of the Vista Media Center TV Pack (aka Fiji) with us -- lucky for us the update isn't language specific. We're not sure why Microsoft is officially holding back the details of this update until CEDIA, but either way all the previous details we shared with you are true. Although there is no H.264 support or DirecTV tuner information to be found, the new stuff we did find we really liked. We really had no idea how great native QAM support could be and this heterogeneous tuner support is much cooler than it sounds.%Gallery-29109%
