Engadget HD Podcast 092 - 07.09.2008
by Trent Wolbe 
posted Jul 9th 2008 at 11:12AM
This week, we get our grumpy on by attacking some news stories -- the portion of PS3 owners using their console to watch Blu-ray movies, those terribly loud and annoying commercials, the impending shift to 16:9 LCDs for notebooks and analyst predictions of a "tough road ahead" for tru2way. Our summertime crankiness sated, we then head into gear news: reviews of the Pioneer Elite plasma and HP's MediaSmart Media Center Extender. Speaking of Media Center, we spend some time covering impending changes coming this year, hopefully in two rollouts (with the first one as soon as this month). Finishing up, don't be fooled by the last NFL story -- it's really just an excuse to complain about HBO's lack of content.Get the podcast
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh and Steve Kim
Producer: Trent Wolbe
02:34 - Comments from Engadget HD Podcast 091 - 07.02.2008
06:37 - 87% of PlayStation 3 owners watching Blu-ray movies? Survey says yes
09:20 - Loud commercials actually not that loud, just startling
12:49 - Widescreen LCDs going widescreen by 2010
17:56 - Analyst sees tough going for tru2way
22:18 - The HD Guru puts Pioneer's Pro-111FD plasma to the test
24:33 - HP's MediaSmart Connect gets reviewed
26:28 - No DirecTV HD for Vista Media Center until 2010?
31:45 - Are there two Vista Media Center updates due this year?
35:45 - Inside the NFL switching to HD on Showtime
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tam @ Jul 9th 2008 2:02PM
Both the MP3 file and the iTunes feed are cut off at 12:50. AAC and OGG files seem to be fine.
andrewgreene @ Jul 9th 2008 2:53PM
I'm subscribed via iTunes and it appears to be fine for me.
aaron @ Jul 10th 2008 10:35AM
ben i want to second your comments about sagetv just not looking good as a ui. i am a media center user (server/extender model) and i have tried sage a number of times and even with the best themes for sage it just doesnt look as good/smooth as media center.
i really hope they redo the whole ui for the next major sage release because it really needs it. sage did get a number of things right (and do them better than media center.... a good extender, embedded commercial skip, the guide stuff) but i just cant get past that interface. and its even worse for me because of all things sage runs well on a windows home server (when media center does not) and i really want to start building a home server based on a proper server os.
its going to be interesting to see who wins... sage with a decent ui or ms actually having their products work well together and bringing media center to whs.
Mitchell @ Jul 11th 2008 11:43AM
I feel the pain of UI's. I am a current MythTV user. The system was a challenge to configure and setup but now its rock solid. No viruses no need to reboot or restart services etc. Myth is so flexible i learn new things all the time.
But just like Sage Myth lacks a "pretty" interface. Alot of it is due to not everyone having video cards+drivers that can handle the OpenGL. There have been attempts to make it pretty such as Gloss Frontend but it is still very beta.
I have thought about moving to MCE because of the graphics. But every time i learn more about the limitations I get more and more turned off. Other than the graphics the only other benefit of MCE is Cable Card. But i refuse to buy a whole new computer to get CC. (what other benefits are there? am i missing something?)
While MCE has its pluses i love that fact that Myth has commercial skip, Xvid export, DVD import, DVD export, channel renumbering, unlimited tuner restrictions, tuner priorities, server/client model, a Linux OS (Stable), constant new features, timestrech, re-encoding (is there anymore?) all built right in. Where MCE, AFAIK, you have to add all these third party plug ins.
Mitchell
PaulF @ Jul 12th 2008 11:30AM
Ben,
Have you compared the same 1st Gen broadcast with a 2nd Gen HD-PVR recording?...and could you tell the difference?
Ui's are a personal choice, I know. A lot of people on Sage's forum don't like the stock UI either, and use SageMC. I *do* like the stock UI though, as I don't sit and "watch" or "play with" the UI - I play some HD content. Different strokes, and I'm glad there are choices. Great show guys, thanks.
Guy Incognito @ Jul 13th 2008 2:44AM
MEDIA CENTER TALK = RATINGS!!!
Alton Marschall @ Jul 15th 2008 12:49AM
Love the show...
Keep talking about Media Center this is the only podcast I can find that talks about Media Center that does not put me to sleep.