<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Johnny Russ <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jruss@mit.edu">jruss@mit.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">The recent posts about Blu-ray, and this announcement today from Microsoft (<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/12/microsofts-pbda-platform-makes-big-content-happy-should-make-t/" target="_blank">Microsoft PBDA platform</a>), bring up the ominous feeling I have had for some time that it is going to get more and more difficult to get the content I want in MythTV. I quote from the link:<br>
<br>"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."<br><br>I would rather not have the discussion turn into a Microsoft bashing session, but I would rather like to know where people see MythTV going over the next 10 or 15 years as the platforms for TV distribution go through the changes we see coming. It seems to me that, excluding OTA content, all the rest of the content is heading into protected, encrypted platforms. I have never been pleased with the setup of recieving a digital signal, then letting the cable box decode that to an analog signal, just so I can re-encode it again. But it seems like even that will become more problematic, rather than easier, as things move forward. Are MythTV users always going to be stuck hacking various devices to get something half way decent? Or is there any hope that MythTV could integrate into one of these new delivery systems like Tru2Way, one of these MS PBDA cards, or whatever it is that comes along?</div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>Depends on what content you want. I have basic cable. $17/mo for 12 channels, most of which are available OTA HD. As soon as my cable company goes the way of all digital or requiring me to have a STB, I'm dropping their service and changing to OTA. I can get the remainder of my content from Netflix (TV on DVD) or online (using flash services like Hulu via Firefox on my frontend for BSG). </div>
<div><br></div><div>Others may not find this situation acceptable as they have other content they want to watch via MythTV in which case analog capture using devices like the HD-PVR is the best option and should be available as long as analog output is available. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Kevin</div></div></div>