VOOM to employ Windows Media 9

[compurocker]

This scares me.

Bill looked at the 15 billion a year in video games and figured he'd muscle his way into that billion dollar pie, then muscle everyone out later.

Someday if he hasn't already, he'll see the money made from satellite and muscle his way in, then nickle and dime our ass like he does. Under the M$ flag we'll pay for several tiers of sloppy service. I'm sure the package I have now would cost close to 200 a month.

As for updates. They'd charge us for DLC thru the system like they do on Xbox Live.
I'd rather have a sh*tter codec with large bandwidth than anything M$ makes to futher the monopoly on our lives.

Interesting thoughts.

There have been 5 or 10 downloads that have cost any money so far in 1.5 years Xbox Live has been available out of over 150 downloads made available in that time. And there is definitely a difference between "content" (extra missions, levels, game types, etc - ever hear of expansion packs in the PC gaming world?) and "patches" (bug fixes like the ones we regularly get for free on VOOM). What makes you think they would start charging us for downloading firmware updates? Assuming such is getting a bit ahead of yourself. Also keep in mind that $80/mo is not VOOM's regular price for VaVaVoom. It's going to go up whether you like it or not. We get a price hold until 2005 but then what?

Regardless of whether Microsoft is "nickel and diming" us for Xbox Live or not, their games are fun whether you subscribe to Xbox Live or download any extra content or not. As long as VOOM continues to be the premier source of HD programming, the quality holds up, and the price stays reasonable, I don't care if MS has a part of the pie.

Frankly I'd rather MS, an American company, take over my household than Sony. I can't tell you the number of houses I've been in where they've had a Sony TV, VCR, DVD, stereo, speakers, telephone, and Playstation. I used to have quite a bit of Sony stuff as a kid until I was old enough to figure out that a good name doesn't always equal a good product. And you think Microsoft is the one monopolizing our lives?! I agree that they have a choke hold on the operating system market and they are trying their hardest to get into our living rooms, but they're certainly not the only ones.

My only concern with WM9 as opposed to MPEG-4 is how compatible it will be. As others are saying, will our current box even support it? Of course if it doesn't, VOOM will replace it, but will future PVR's support it? VOOM's PVR solution sounds great but I'd like to have more than one choice when it comes to PVR, and I don't want the compression codec to limit those choices.

 

[madpoet]

I'm not sure you would ever have more PVR choices, given how the Voom PVR is designed on paper.

-MP

 

[compurocker]

That's just my point. The VOOM PVR is a pretty wild design. What if some of us don't need or don't want to pay for the extra bells and whistles (assuming they cost more than a standard Tivo or ReplayTV or other might cost). Hopefully the other, simpler, PVR options out there will support the WM9 format.

Don't get me wrong, I really dig the VOOM whole house PVR solution and as long as it is cost effective I will jump on it as soon as it's available.

 

[madpoet]

There is no universal HD PVR solution right now, so it's a little hard to predict what will or won't be compatible. I know those of us with DVHS decks are alarmed, because this move would seem to negate the promised firewire output (as would MPEG4).

 

[Ken F]

because this move would seem to negate the promised firewire output (as would MPEG4).

It only obsoletes existing D-VHS decks. Future D-VHS decks may support WM9 or MPEG4 over Firewire, and there's no reason that future blue-laser or blu-ray HD disk recorders with Firewire couldn't support the new codecs.

 

[madpoet]

Well, yes. But given the very slow rate of DVHS deck development, doing anything to discourage those of us who actually bought one is annoying .

 

[Sean Mota]

Source

VOOM designed its set-top box with the goal of using a next-generation compression technology to deliver additional programming in the limited amount of available satellite space. The company considered the MPEG-4 format but decided to use Windows Media 9 Series for SD channels later this year and for HD channels early next year. The technology will let the company double its offerings, offer better quality, and save money.

You can scratch MPEG-4 out of the equation. It is out and it looks like the current boxes are capable of doing WM9.

 

[madpoet]

Well, it doesn't say the current boxes can. On the other hand, it doesn't say they can't, so I suppose it'sa reasonable assumption.

 

[squicken]

Best forever
Ringo never

 

[rexoverbey]

WM9 supports 1080p so I hope that it will be distributed that way. Terminator in 1080p is awesome!

 

[madpoet]

The number of people who can actually display 1080p natively is fairly tiny... I doubt you're going to see too much of it. But hey, I could be wrong.

 

[Ken F]

The technology within the VOOM box was never going to do MPEG-4 H.264 decoding anyway. An upgrade was always going to be required. The first chips for H.264 decoding began shipping in the past month or two, so it's not possible that they are in the STB now.

The existing box does have an upgrade slot, which we currently use for the OTA module. I've always thought that the plan was to replace the OTA module with a new module integrating both OTA and H.264; perhaps they will do that with WM9 instead.

Note that most upcoming decoders for WM9 will probably do H.264 as well. Thus, it's quite possible that the switch from H.264 to WM9 requires no changes to their previous upgrade plan for the STBs.

 

[FunkyBoss]

I wonder if this will delay the PVR (even more)?

 

[vurbano]

Sean,

The current spec is 39 1080i HD channels with MPEG-2. The press release says more than 60 HD channels with WM9. That's not necessarily 60 1080i HD channels, however.

yeah could be sucky 720p ones.

 

[Seanb61]

The existing box does have an upgrade slot, which we currently use for the OTA module. I've always thought that the plan was to replace the OTA module with a new module integrating both OTA and H.264; perhaps they will do that with WM9 instead.
QUOTE]

I was under the impression that the upgrade slot was the one on the side (right side as you look at it) not the rear OTA module slot.

 

[txdude]

This is awesome!

 

[madpoet]

Or it could be the clearly superior 720p ones... let's not have this debate here Vurbano.

 

[DarrellP]

Or it could be the clearly superior 720p ones... let's not have this debate here Vurbano.

Allright, Children, we all know that Fox "Enhanced" 480P Widescreen kicks ass on everything out there. End of story.

 

[Ken F]

I was under the impression that the upgrade slot was the one on the side (right side as you look at it) not the rear OTA module slot.

You may be right. It's almost two months since I last had my box out, so I don't recall specifically what was on the back.

In either case, the WM9 hardware would just be substituted for whatever they had planned before. It's also possible MPEG-4 H.264 hardware they had planned all along also supports WM9.

 

[Sean Mota]

yeah could be sucky 720p ones.

Could be. But VOOM has been saying all along that their proprietary channels will be all 1080i. Not saying that either one is better but just stating that all exclusive channels are to be 1080i.