*Sub-Thread* Consoles as the Ultimate Media Hub

[patsu]

Now that you mentioned it, we have long cancelled our cable too. Right now, we can find an abundance of TV shows, US or rest of world, on *drum roll* Youtube. Quality sucks but for stand up comedies, overseas drama series (even with subtitles), anime, blah... it's hard to beat.

 

[thatdude90210]

I'm running SageTV on my HTPC. I have two HD tuners in the form of the HDHomerun, and two analog tuners for a total of 4 tuners. I can stream to any PC in the house with full SageTV interface with "Sage Client." I can stream over the internet, just like slingbox, to work with full interface with "Sage placeshifter."

I only have 500GB, but I can increase if needed anytime just by plugging in a new harddrive.

I have full access to all the video (and music) files. Just grab my wireless mouse, cut out a scene with VideoRedo, and I can upload that to youtube.

Is a console going to replace that?

Btw, is it such a good idea to give your console that much media function? Seems to me that the more non-gaming function your console has, the fewer games people will buy.

 

[J_Saint]

I think Sony and MS surprised a lot of people in adding Divx/Xvid capabilities. It will be interesting to see whether they continue to add format support. Besides competing with each other I think we'll start seeing more media streamers at CES that are much more diverse with format support. The Popcorn Hour for example looks promising and may be an alternative for those looking for more than what the 360/PS3 offers.

 

[wco81]

I'm running SageTV on my HTPC. I have two HD tuners in the form of the HDHomerun, and two analog tuners for a total of 4 tuners. I can stream to any PC in the house with full SageTV interface with "Sage Client." I can stream over the internet, just like slingbox, to work with full interface with "Sage placeshifter."

I only have 500GB, but I can increase if needed anytime just by plugging in a new harddrive.

I have full access to all the video (and music) files. Just grab my wireless mouse, cut out a scene with VideoRedo, and I can upload that to youtube.

Is a console going to replace that?

Btw, is it such a good idea to give your console that much media function? Seems to me that the more non-gaming function your console has, the fewer games people will buy.

Sounds good. But can you record cable and satellite channels using Sage, including channels like HBO and Showtime?

 

[Nesh]

I'm running SageTV on my HTPC. I have two HD tuners in the form of the HDHomerun, and two analog tuners for a total of 4 tuners. I can stream to any PC in the house with full SageTV interface with "Sage Client." I can stream over the internet, just like slingbox, to work with full interface with "Sage placeshifter."

I only have 500GB, but I can increase if needed anytime just by plugging in a new harddrive.

I have full access to all the video (and music) files. Just grab my wireless mouse, cut out a scene with VideoRedo, and I can upload that to youtube.

Is a console going to replace that?

Btw, is it such a good idea to give your console that much media function? Seems to me that the more non-gaming function your console has, the fewer games people will buy.

Certaintly not for you. But for me it might.

I dont know if my PC can do it and even if it can I lack the knowledge to do what you have done.

 

[thatdude90210]

Sounds good. But can you record cable and satellite channels using Sage, including channels like HBO and Showtime?

I have basic cable so I'm just recording unencrypted QAM cable channels. Some people are recording from their STB through firewire. I'm not sure on this, I think they are controlling the cable STB with either serial port or through USB-uirt. I haven't followed that at all so I'm not sure what level of success they have with channels like HBO or SHO.

 

[mrcorbo]

Sounds good. But can you record cable and satellite channels using Sage, including channels like HBO and Showtime?

HD or SD?

 

[wco81]

HD.

Actually, didn't MS announce awhile back a deal with Direct TV to have a DTV tuner module to use with Vista's Media Center features?

 

[RobertR1]

Since we're on topic. Here's my situation:

I have a few UK Region DVD's that I'd love to play onto the TV via the 360. What software is best to ignore the region coding and rip the DVD so I can stream it via the 360?

 

[-tkf-]

Since we're on topic. Here's my situation:

I have a few UK Region DVD's that I'd love to play onto the TV via the 360. What software is best to ignore the region coding and rip the DVD so I can stream it via the 360?

Risky but best way is a hacked firmware on your DVD drive.

When that is done, you can use www.doom9.org as a guide for pretty much everything.

Personally i use a DVD "decrypter" that creates MPEG2 files aka "streams" from the Vob files on the DVD´s.

 

[tuna]

You are not using VLC player at all? It is the best movie player for Linux systems. With VLC you can actually play your movies directly (on PS3) from your server.

Do you have a guide how to set up VLC as a upnp server?

 

[mrcorbo]

HD.

Actually, didn't MS announce awhile back a deal with Direct TV to have a DTV tuner module to use with Vista's Media Center features?

OK, well for premium channels in HD you would need Cablecard and that's only supported by Vista's MC. So no go for Sage. You would also pretty much have to buy a new system with this function in mind since CableLabs will only allow systems that they certify to access encrypted content.

I was able to put together a Dell system (the XPS 420) with a single tuner for $1,079.00 as a start point to give an idea what this would cost.

Not sure what happened or is happening with DirectTV.

 

[wco81]

Besides the cost, no custom-built HTPC will have mass-market sales to compete with set top boxes.

All the extra features from MC or HTPC are fine but they won't trump price.

Consoles have the price and the wide distribution but they're not really ready to replace the DVRs or cable/satellite tuner boxes either.

 

[mrcorbo]

Besides the cost, no custom-built HTPC will have mass-market sales to compete with set top boxes.

All the extra features from MC or HTPC are fine but they won't trump price.

Consoles have the price and the wide distribution but they're not really ready to replace the DVRs or cable/satellite tuner boxes either.

I wouldn't argue that (though that Dell system was pretty much off the shelf with only one piece added). If you'll remember that wasn't the issue, though. The issue was what made a better Media Hub. By definition a specific purpose device like a DVR or cable/satellite tuner device doesn't qualify for that discussion.

Now, if you want to argue that there aren't masses of people begging for any kind of media hub at this time I'd say you're probably right.

 

[NovemberMike]

Since we're on topic. Here's my situation:

I have a few UK Region DVD's that I'd love to play onto the TV via the 360. What software is best to ignore the region coding and rip the DVD so I can stream it via the 360?

DVDDecrypter works for me. I am not sure if you can find a download, but if you can get it it takes away all region protection.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If you'll remember that wasn't the issue, though. The issue was what made a better Media Hub.

Not quite. The topic span off from the NPD thread where it was raised that the market could change over the next years to be very media-hub focussed, where the XB360 and PS3 would increase in appeal and the Wii would decrease. That topic was removed from NPD to here, but that's the actual premise to the discussion - are consoles ideally suited to grab that market. If it were PCs versus consoles as Media Hub's in terms of functions, that'd be a topic for the AV forum. In this case 'Ultimate' refers more to 'Ultimate selling' rather than 'Ultimate functionality' which would always go to a multi thousand dollar box!

 

[mrcorbo]

But that same reason to prefer a standalone stereo works for a standalone DVD player versus a PC, and a standalone media box rather than a media PC. PC's are faf and overcomplicated for most people's use. Yes, they are far more flexible, but most people don't need that. A box that plays your discs and download content, and interfaces with your portable devices, and lets you record TV and play games, without the complexity of a full blown OS with drivers, utilities, competing applications and the like, has a lot of appeal. From my experiences with these devices, PS3 is far better than an expensive Media PC in almost every way for my interests. A friend upgraded his MPC with the latest ATi GPU and DVD playback software, spending an extra £100 or so on noise reduction, and the result was far louder than PS3 and with a 'bug' in the software that means DVD's are rendered in naff-o-vision with red's banding and blocking to a horrific extent. This was apparently a change in the software as it was 'upgraded' for 'security reasons' so it has to use the GPU hardware and not a software renderer.

As a would-be owner of a media box, PC is too much effort. PS3 isn't perfect, but it's very close to the ideal solution for less techie folk, which is the majority of people out there. A properly developed system that does PVR and media playback of the major formats without needing a half dozen different boxes or a problematic PC is valid idea IMO. Sadly the creators of would-be solutions tend to go with overcomplicated too, resulting in hardware incompatibilities between TVs and players etc. Even a TV isn't just a TV any more, but has pages of options to worry about.

These comments along with those of others along the same lines were what I was responding to with my initial post. I was just trying to express my different perspective as someone who in fact uses a MC PC every day as his primary media playback device. The PS3 would be a serious downgrade in almost every way and the 360 is even worse for my usage and my applications are not exotic in any way.

Weren't you the one wanting to rip DVDs? An HTPC can do that today with a free software package from within the MC UI. Neither PS3 or 360 can or will ever be able to do that.

 

[wco81]

Only reason for most people to rip DVDs would be to put movies on iPods or whatever.

Geeks like the idea of a media server but most people won't invest in the kind of storage you need just to store even a moderate DVD collection online.

 

[pjbliverpool]

There is no way my 360 could replace my PC in the lounge for soooo many reasons. Even putting storage completely aside there's the issue of interface - both input and output.

A monitor that doesn't hog the TV is essential and an easy to use input device is perhaps even more so.

I suppose you could setup a PS3 to run through a TV and monitor and also use a K/M but it would be a very poor impression of a PC while carrying virtually all the hassle.

Its different devices for different people though. For me, the PC is perfect as a net browser + music player + miscellaneous. When it comes to playing DVD's I would actually prefer a set-top box or console. Games are probably 50-50. Single player is 100% PC but same room multiplayer is 100% console.

 

[one]

I suppose you could setup a PS3 to run through a TV and monitor and also use a K/M but it would be a very poor impression of a PC while carrying virtually all the hassle.

Is PC without KB/M as usable as PS3?