What's next after WMC?

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DavidinCT

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What's next after WMC?

#1

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Jan 24, 2017 8:01 pm

mcewinter wrote:If getting upset would speed things along then I would give it a try but right now I feel it's worth the wait. I'm slowly turning the page on Media Center and Tivo doesn't appeal to me so I'm choosing to be patient.
Even though Media Center is offically dead, it STILL WORKS...

I wish there was a solid true full replacement for WMC including DRM channels but, there isn't and even the HDR option does not have the extras that WMC has...

[Moderator note: split topic]
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

adam1991

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#2

Post by adam1991 » Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:01 pm

Frankly, the DRM stuff is quickly being solved with streaming.

I mean, you can get HBO and Showtime without any problems, and without subscribing to cable.

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mcewinter

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#3

Post by mcewinter » Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:04 pm

adam1991 wrote:Frankly, the DRM stuff is quickly being solved with streaming.

I mean, you can get HBO and Showtime without any problems, and without subscribing to cable.
True, if you pay for them.

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#4

Post by RyC » Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:18 pm

If you're on legacy TWC (and Cox maybe?) then everything but the locals are copy-once. The streaming apps for a lot of the other channels aren't nearly as solid as HBO/Showtime

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#5

Post by adam1991 » Thu Jan 26, 2017 12:26 am

mcewinter wrote:
adam1991 wrote:Frankly, the DRM stuff is quickly being solved with streaming.

I mean, you can get HBO and Showtime without any problems, and without subscribing to cable.
True, if you pay for them.
Ummm....my point was, you're paying for them to be delivered by the pay TV infrastructure over the traditional coax infrastructure into the cable-company-owned cable box and into your TV. Now you are no longer limited to that traditional pay TV infrastructure; you can pay your money and choose to get those channels in other ways that don't involve DVRs that don't play with DRM.

In other words, you're paying for those services anyway. What were YOU talking about?

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#6

Post by adam1991 » Thu Jan 26, 2017 12:28 am

RyC wrote:If you're on legacy TWC (and Cox maybe?) then everything but the locals are copy-once. The streaming apps for a lot of the other channels aren't nearly as solid as HBO/Showtime
I've found that instead of recording my OTA prime time TV, I can watch the shows on Hulu the next day. (Well, except for CBS.)

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mcewinter

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#7

Post by mcewinter » Thu Jan 26, 2017 2:25 pm

adam1991 wrote:
mcewinter wrote:
adam1991 wrote:Frankly, the DRM stuff is quickly being solved with streaming.

I mean, you can get HBO and Showtime without any problems, and without subscribing to cable.
True, if you pay for them.
Ummm....my point was, you're paying for them to be delivered by the pay TV infrastructure over the traditional coax infrastructure into the cable-company-owned cable box and into your TV. Now you are no longer limited to that traditional pay TV infrastructure; you can pay your money and choose to get those channels in other ways that don't involve DVRs that don't play with DRM.

In other words, you're paying for those services anyway. What were YOU talking about?
I get HBO for free per my current contract. Most other streaming services require that I log in with my Comcast credentials. Merely switching to streaming services isn't as simple as you make it sound; they're all pretty lackluster to boot.

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#8

Post by adam1991 » Thu Jan 26, 2017 11:40 pm

HBO and Showtime sell their services a la carte, without you being a cable customer or needing a cable login.

So yes, switching to streaming services is that simple.

It's also incredibly simple to re-assess your needs and choose to do something different than pay the cable company $200/month for every channel "just in case!". (Yes, I truly believe that people feel afraid to stop doing pay TV out of fear of missing out on stuff they don't care about anyway.)

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#9

Post by mcewinter » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:56 pm

adam1991 wrote:HBO and Showtime sell their services a la carte, without you being a cable customer or needing a cable login.

So yes, switching to streaming services is that simple.

It's also incredibly simple to re-assess your needs and choose to do something different than pay the cable company $200/month for every channel "just in case!". (Yes, I truly believe that people feel afraid to stop doing pay TV out of fear of missing out on stuff they don't care about anyway.)
The services that don't require a prerequisite login have pretty selective choices. They may provide the last episode or three of a particular show or perhaps not at all. The services that have reasonable catalogs are either pay services or require a service provider login. Jumping from app to app trying to discover something to watch doesn't appeal to me.

Weather you admit it or not, cutting the cord is a compromise.

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#10

Post by adam1991 » Fri Jan 27, 2017 5:29 pm

Nobody said it wasn't.

But HBO and Showtime are completely available to anyone who doesn't do business with a pay TV company. That was my entire point.

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#11

Post by RyC » Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:19 pm

https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/vie ... 19&t=63894

Live TV for copy-once announced for Xbox One with Android and Windows 10 to follow shortly. Big caveat is that AMD based GPUs and APUs can't deinterlace MPEG2 properly apparently.

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#12

Post by adam1991 » Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:49 pm

Live TV? How quaint.

If that isn't tuning the piano on the after deck of the Titanic as it's going down, I don't know what is.

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#13

Post by mcewinter » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:40 pm

adam1991 wrote:Live TV? How quaint.

If that isn't tuning the piano on the after deck of the Titanic as it's going down, I don't know what is.
Have you ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? You're Marvin.

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#14

Post by adam1991 » Mon Jan 30, 2017 10:30 pm

Never read it, no.

But with all that SD needs to work on, I would put live TV *way* at the bottom of the list.

Frankly, this live TV thing tells me that SD has little to no intention on focusing on the more important things like DRM channels.

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#15

Post by mcewinter » Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:09 am

adam1991 wrote:Never read it, no.

But with all that SD needs to work on, I would put live TV *way* at the bottom of the list.

Frankly, this live TV thing tells me that SD has little to no intention on focusing on the more important things like DRM channels.
Their goal is playback and recording of protected content. Perhaps you feel that they'll fail?

https://forum.silicondust.com/forum/vie ... 19&t=63894

"Plan continues to be full DVR support of protected channels. The Windows 10 release with Live TV support of protected channels is an important milestone."

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#16

Post by RyC » Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:56 am

This has been brought up before but maybe the circumstances are different now. The new FCC will be just about as un-consumer friendly as you could possible imagine. What's to say they drop the requirement to support third party CableCARD devices within the next few years (or months!)? I realize there are millions of CableCARDs in their own set top boxes, but I think they could easily cut off support for third party devices just to rid themselves of the "hassle" we cause. I'm sure there are support costs associated with us that they would like to get rid of.

An introduction to the new FCC commissioner: https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Tru ... FCC-138792

Tivo seems like they want to get out of the retail market, Ceton's dead, and SiliconDust is plowing a ton of resources into creating a platform that may be obsolete sooner than we know. That's pretty much the extent of the retail CableCARD market. I get the feeling that anything the cable companies ask the FCC for, they will receive now. Pai thinks we have plenty of competition as it is currently, so there will be no need to create an actual successor/replacement for CableCARD or create any other open access system. We're gonna be stuck renting boxes or watching streaming apps with forced ads forever.
Last edited by RyC on Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

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#17

Post by adam1991 » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:00 am

mcewinter wrote:Their goal is playback and recording of protected content. Perhaps you feel that they'll fail?
Frankly, yes.

Many have been waiting for this, or for definable progress on this, beyond lip service.

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#18

Post by adam1991 » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:02 am

RyC wrote:Tivo seems like they want to get out of the retail market
They've said so, yes.

That doesn't mean anything more than they want to get into licensing the technology to hardware partners to build, sell, and maintain. Nothing unusual to see here. Move along.

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#19

Post by RyC » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:16 am

adam1991 wrote:
RyC wrote:Tivo seems like they want to get out of the retail market
They've said so, yes.

That doesn't mean anything more than they want to get into licensing the technology to hardware partners to build, sell, and maintain. Nothing unusual to see here. Move along.
This is not the point I'm trying to argue. People have said they can't kill CableCARD because of the large installed base in their own boxes, they can't kill CableCARD because they need to have a viable replacement option, and I'm theorizing they can kill CableCARD right here and right now under the new FCC because screw the consumer. Tivo knows this, and they know that the retail market is small and shrinking, so they want to focus on the more profitable parts of the business. I'm not faulting them for that.

I realize I'm being alarmist and none of this may come to pass, but the new FCC Commissioner really scares the heck out of me.

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#20

Post by mcewinter » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:35 am

adam1991 wrote:
mcewinter wrote:Their goal is playback and recording of protected content. Perhaps you feel that they'll fail?
Frankly, yes.

Many have been waiting for this, or for definable progress on this, beyond lip service.
Maybe you're right. It has been taking them quite a long time but even as my patience is beginning to wear thin, there aren't many other options that appeal to me.

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