Multimedia revolution coming!!

[Dan Berndt]

I have been looking at a bunch of different types of consumer electronics equipment recently and it appears to me that we are on the threshold of yet another electronics revolution (I guess I had an epiphany). This revolution is being accelerated by the introduction of high definition televisions and media center PCs. As with most of the recent electronics revolutions in recent years, this one too will have a major impact on our everyday lives.

Consumer electronics equipment appears to be merging in a big way. Digital satellite, cable and television reception, digital video recording, digital recording playback (DVDs), high speed computer gaming, high speed Internet access, personal computing and video-phoning are merging and being processed in high definition for televisions!! Many of you many thing think, as I did, that this merger is still a long ways off, but it seams that half the personal computers in the electronics superstores now have television receivers, read and write DVD players and Windows Media Center operating system, not to mention high speed Internet access.

Granted that most of these personal computers fall far short of being really useful media centers, a few, like the HP Z550 series with HDTV output, come real close to getting the job done. These systems are still a little pricey for the average household but as time goes on these systems will grow more and more versatile and powerful and less and less expensive.

Why am I posting this in a satellite forum? Because I don't believe the satellite or cable media providers should or will be able to charge such outrageous prices for receivers for much longer. $800 for a Dish DVR is just ridiculous, especially when that amount comes close to paying for one of these media centers!

You can do almost everything on a media center that you can do on a satellite DVR including watching one channel while recording another. I can't find a receiver card for Dish or DirecTV but I did find satellite receiver cards for some of those big dish services. If you had a media center PC you should be able to install a $100 satellite receiver card instead of pay $800 for a new DVR.

All you can do with a satellite receiver, even a DVR, is watch satellite reception. With a media center PC you can do so much more. The possibilities are endless.

Wouldn't you like to get satellite, cable and television reception, play and record movies and programming, have unlimited high definition video on demand, do high speed gaming, have Internet access and do video-phoning all though the same box using the same high definition television? This sounds like a lot to put in one box but the media center PCs are half way there already. This is a revolution who's day has come.

 

[Van]

I'd love it, I'd also love to be able to aford it all, the price of a good sized hd set is still out of the reach of the every day joe and the fact that internet services are going up more and more even though the equipment has become cheaper is pushing it further and further out of the reach of you and me.

 

[wobbie]

Van, of course the price for internet is going to keep going up. I just heard this morning that Comcast was raising their cable rates 6%. Here in Omaha they don't raise the cable rates it seems. They just keep jacking the price that they charge for the internet service. Or tell you to sign up for their "Bundle B.S." and you get a "discount" on your cable. Hell they could give me free cable and I'd still keep my DISH.

 

[Van]

I have comca$t for my internet and its bundled with basic basic television that only provides the locals, I pay $42 a month for this bundle, if I didnt have this then I would be paying $57 a month for straight internet. I'd switch to another service but the only other cable competitor here isnt running any promo's and has become just as expensive. DSL isnt worth it when you have to pay for a basic phone package of $35 a month just to have an active line that I wont ever use.

 

[Stargazer]

I do not see how the internet is going to keep going up. If anything it is going to go down and has been for a while now as the service improves. Verizon DSL 784K is $15 and Dialup is as cheap as $7 now. Heck some areas are starting to get free wi-fi. I realize that some areas that do not have competition may experience an increase in rates but that will all change once wi-max and perhaps other competition comes ot the area.

I think the future for one box for television, computing, and internet may be here as soon as within the next five years. It should be made to be upgradable just as computers are unless they can be made cheap enough to be throw aways. Solid state for DVR's and computers would be built into the box anyways which would make them more reliable, cheaper, and smaller.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

Your living in a dream market.

80% of the US has no competition what so ever and will remain that way as long as providers don't have to share the public resources us Tax payers paid for.

Wi-Fi Max is a joke right now and has been since Intel proposed it.

The one box solution is already here its called a smart house. The technology is there, consumer confidence in it and the big brother feeling isn't.

 

[Stargazer]

Perhaps some of the broadband providers know they can charge more not only due to the monopoly but also due to the fact that their broadband service is being used to get cheaper phone service.

 

[Van]

It goes up because they can charge more and get away with it. Remember all the talk from the internet providers back in the day that said the cost would go down as the technology improved? All that talk was by the dial up providers and for the most part it has been true except for AOL and Earthlink. DSL isnt any better where Im at as there is only one true DSL provider and thats SBC wich has a strangle hold on local telco service. Comcast owns the lions share of the cable service followed up by Wide open west and Brighthouse wich has no competition in its markets due to city contracts that it has to be the only cable provider. Comcast and Wide open west however are in the same neighborhoods but there is no competition between them at all, they both charge nearly the same in sub fee's.

 

[SimpleSimon]

The competition is between classes of provider.

In Woodland Park, you can get your high-speed via cable, DSL, or any of THREE separate WiFi companies - and as a last resort, satellite..

Where I am (boonies), depending on line of sight, you have 2 WiFi nets, satellite, and maybe DSL.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

Perhaps some of the broadband providers know they can charge more not only due to the monopoly but also due to the fact that their broadband service is being used to get cheaper phone service.

If you actually sit down and break it down there isn't a cable company that provides VOIP any cheaper then a POTS line from the local Telco. Compare apples to apples and you'll see that.

Cox Omaha VOIP vs Qwest POTS, last check when I lived there Qwest was $2-3 dollars cheaper but Cox VOIP was easier to get because they weren't running strict credit checks like Qwest was.

So your comment about doing the gouging because VOIP is cheaper is no where in the ball park.

 

[Van]

Vonage package for $24.99 provides nationwide unlimited calling for free, last I checked SBC doesnt even offer local service for that cheap let alone with long distance service and for it to be unlimited.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

Van

I said Cable Companys that provides VOIP, not VOIP only providers. VOIP only providers have no real infastructure other then on there end. So yes they can beat POTS prices but not there quality of service as there quality of serivce is base on the service of the data network there operating over.

Which is far less then what Cable Companys have to have as there VOIP network has to be seperated onto a dedicated network once it reaches the head end and then tied into the POTS network via the national back bone.

So no there not able to offer phone service cheaper cause they can. Like Stargazer suggested.

 

[Dan Berndt]

It's funny how fast things happen sometimes. Here I was talking about a technology revolution and something happens that makes the revolution seem so much closer. The thing I'm talking about is the agreement between Cablelabs and Microsoft to start allowing CableCARDT modules in personal computers.

(http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=112298&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=783842&highlight=)

This is the opening of the proverbial Pandora's Box of media center personal computing. I don't think I can overstate how important this event is to the entertainment industry. This ranks right up there with the introduction of the DVD, the DVR and, dare I say it, the Internet itself.

These modules will push the entire entertainment industry over to media center personal computing. It won't be long before the satellite providers will HAVE to start allowing satellite PC modules or they will start loosing customers back to cable by the truckloads. Going after the CableCARDT modual development sounds to me like the smartest thing cable companies have done in ten years.

Like I said before, the possibilities of media center personal computing are endless and only limited by your imagination. The CableCARDT PC modual is taking us one giant step closer to main stream media center personal computing.

 

[Faw]

You can do almost everything on a media center that you can do on a satellite DVR including watching one channel while recording another. I can't find a receiver card for Dish or DirecTV but I did find satellite receiver cards for some of those big dish services. If you had a media center PC you should be able to install a $100 satellite receiver card instead of pay $800 for a new DVR.

Dish HAD a receiver card, it was on a Gateway machine. It was called the DishLink PCI card. I would love to get my hands on one. Who knows, I could build my own receiver.