- Re: UK Radio stations (on Freeview) now in guide at last
- Posted by John Lockwood on February 7th, 2008
On 6/2/08 12:58, in article u8ygq$LaIHA.3400@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl, "Mr & Mrs
L" <nospamrodlawrence@live.co.uk> wrote:
Fiji is merely an update to the Media Center portion of Vista. Vista itself
is supposed to get a Service Pack (SP1) much sooner. Fiji will not be an
update for Media Center 2005. Knowing Microsoft it is likely Fiji will
require you to have already installed Vista SP1. (This is not necessarily a
bad thing.)
Conspiracy theorists might take the view that only now are long overdue and
needed changes to support DVB subtitles (etc.) happening because DirecTV in
the US (part of the same Murdoch group as Sky here in the UK) now use the
same DVB standards as we have been using for years. However apparently
Microsoft has been talking the talk about supporting DirecTV for TWO YEARS,
and still has not walked the walk. (By the time Fiji is available it will be
more like three years.)
There are still no signs of Microsoft even thinking of European support for
MSN Remote Record, and practically no UK/European content in Media Center
Online Spotlight. (If anything the amount of UK/European content has gone
down.)
Microsoft are going about this the wrong way, Apple with the iTunes store
sells in all the major markets, not just the US. Apart from being able to
increase sales this way, it also increases mindshare, which in turn leads to
more sales in a virtuous cycle. Microsoft only sell the Zune in the US, so
that does not benefit from the same effect, likewise the danger is that if
Media Center continues to neglect none US markets someone will eventually
come along with a solution which does not and then will eat Media Center for
lunch. The only reason this has not happened as of yet, is that the
competition to Media Center is itself currently failing to address none US
markets and is generally a greatly inferior product as well. While the new
iTunes rentals facility with its integration to AppleTV is a possible
threat, as of yet the content is for all intents and purposes limited to the
US _SO FAR_.
It is time for Microsoft to wakeup about this before it is too late for them
and Apple (again) kick Microsoft's butt.
Note: their are suggestions that the BBC might exploit the new rentals
technology in iTunes and AppleTV to provide their programs FREE for seven
days as a catch-up service for UK viewers. This would provide an infinitely
better solution than the current ghastly iPlayer.
Are you listening Microsoft?
- Posted by Mr & Mrs L on February 8th, 2008
"John Lockwood" <john.lockwood@amtec.co.uk> wrote in message
news:C3D0910F.2B097%john.lockwood@amtec.co.uk...
out. I can see a day when Linux offers up a serious MCE contender. I believe
XBMC is currently being ported to Linux. If it can support TV tuners it
looks promising.
- Posted by Mr & Mrs L on February 8th, 2008
"John Lockwood" <john.lockwood@amtec.co.uk> wrote in message
news:C3D0910F.2B097%john.lockwood@amtec.co.uk...
out. I can see a day when Linux offers up a serious MCE contender. I believe
XBMC is currently being ported to Linux. If it can support TV tuners it
looks promising.
- Posted by John Lockwood on February 8th, 2008
On 8/2/08 08:31, in article O$xSK0iaIHA.1376@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl, "Mr & Mrs
L" <nospamrodlawrence@live.co.uk> wrote:
XBMC is also being ported to Mac OS X see
http://www.osxbmc.com/
However as far as I am aware XBMC does not support tuners in any of its
incarnations.
- Posted by John Lockwood on February 8th, 2008
On 8/2/08 08:31, in article O$xSK0iaIHA.1376@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl, "Mr & Mrs
L" <nospamrodlawrence@live.co.uk> wrote:
XBMC is also being ported to Mac OS X see
http://www.osxbmc.com/
However as far as I am aware XBMC does not support tuners in any of its
incarnations.
