Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Will CableCard 2.0 arrive in 2008?

ElectronicHouse.com has an excellent article on CableCards. CabeleCards allow you to replace your cable box with another device, like a Series 3 Tivo or a Vista media center computer. The main drawback of the current generation of CableCards is that they do not allow two-way communication, meaning you cannot access the video and movies on-demand […]

Continue reading...

EZTakes: DRM-free movie download service

Distributing video content to consumers via a web site is a simple idea that has yet to be perfected. Many of the major online movie stores, including Movelink and Cinemanow, have onerous digital rights management (DRM) and software requirements that greatly limit what you can do with the movies you have bought. EZTakes is a […]

Continue reading...

S1Digital to Ship CableCard Tuners in May

In my inbox this morning I found a press release from S1Digital announcing they will be shipping Digital Cable Tuners this May. More and more companies are offering these new tuners that allow you to view high definition cable through a media center pc. Hopefully all of this competition will drive the price down for […]

Continue reading...

OQO and Slingbox stream content anywhere

In February, I talked about the OQO Model 2, a micro-PC capable of supporting Microsoft’s Vista Ultimate. The OQO model 02 is loaded with features like a USB 2.0 port and a HDMI-out. These features got me excited about the potential of the Model 2 as a HD Tivo since Window’s Media Center is built […]

Continue reading...

List of who’s selling Digital Cable Tuners

The main new feature of Windows Vista Media Center is the implementation of Digital Cable Tuners, which allows you to view high definition cable television through a computer. The downside though is that Digital Cable Tuners have to be purchased with new computers and through only certain vendors that have been approve by CableLabs. Below […]

Continue reading...

Blu-ray to increase DRM following AACS breaches

Blu-ray discs are going to become more difficult to crack in the upcoming months. According to PCPro: The Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that following breaches of the security of the high-definition format’s AACS security technology, it has brought forward the planned release date of the BD-Plus (BD+), a more advanced anti-copying system. BD+ would […]

Continue reading...

Auzentech to release sound card based on Creative X-Fi

Auzentech, a soundcard manufacturer well-known by home theater computer users for making sound cards based on C-Media’s new Oxygen HD audio chip (which includes the ability to encode Dolby Digital Live and DTS), has announced the impending release of the Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 near the end of May. This new sound card will be […]

Continue reading...

CBS and ABC offer full screen streaming video of prime time shows

ABC.com and CBS.com now offer full screen streaming of their prime time shows. All four major U.S. networks offer some type of free streaming for their marquee shows, but ABC and CBS are unique in that they offer a full screen version. I watched the latest episode of Lost (that Juliet sure is sneaky) on […]

Continue reading...

CableCARD Not Yet Ready for Primetime

Sometimes I feels as if this blog has become a CableCARD blog. It is the most interesting topic regarding home theater computers though. Continuing with that trend, here is more info on CableCARDS: Anandtech has an extensive article about installing and using a Dell XPS 410 with a Digital Cable Tuner. It is a worthwhile […]

Continue reading...

Hands-on with a Niveus CableCARD Vista Media Center

The folks over a Gizmodo attended a CableCARD media center demonstration at the Niveus Headquarters last week.  From the article: We got a chance to visit the Niveus headquarters last week, and the founders gave us a nice hands-on with their upcoming CableCARD-capable systems. If you’re not familiar with these media centers, they’re essentially Windows […]

Continue reading...