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Semiofficial thoughts on MCE for Vista

Semiofficial thoughts on MCE for Vista

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman
Microsoft Media Center team member Matt Goyer has a popular blog about all the latest MCE comings and goings, and he's just posted a FAQ about Media Center on Windows Vista.

Most of the interesting questions are about Open Cable Uni-directional Receivers, better known as OCUR, which in layman's terms is a CableCard reader, which will allow high-quality digital cable (including HD content) on PCs, replacing the current crop of TV tuner cards. From the blog post:

Q: Will I be able to buy a CableCard reader off the shelf, a video card off the shelf, and be able to play back [OCUR] content?
A: No.

Q: Can I stream that protected [OCUR] content to an Extender?
A: Yes

Q: When are you going to provide more information about OCUR?
A: Soon. I'm sorry that we can't provide a firm date. None of this is really new news, but it reemphasizes that you (at least initially) won't be able to upgrade your current rig to take CableCard, but instead have to buy a CableLabs-certified system with the technology built in.

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