SageTV has been adding all sorts of media center features to its product line, including clear QAM support and HD media extenders. They are completely out-innovating Microsoft. With all the features they are delivering, there is one lingering problem: SageTV does not support digital cable tuners and CableCards (i.e. cannot watch.record premium HD cable content).
Currently, Vista Media Center is the only viable option for digital cable tuners (DCTs). Why is that you might ask? DRM, also known as digital rights management. CableLabs has made life very frustrating for the HTPC enthusiast by requiring all HTPCs with DCTs to be certified.
In order to buy/use a digital cable tuner, I have to purchase a pre-built system from an OEM vendor like HP, Sony, or Velocity Micro PC. Definitely a pain in the butt, not to mention expensive. This layer of DRM essentially has locked you into the Vista Media Center ecosystem.
No OEM is going to sell you a Sage product or BeyondTV product that can use DCTs. It currently does not exist and I will be very surprised if it ever does. HTPCs are definitely a niche market for nerds only. There is no market incentive for HP to offer SageTV on their machines when Vista Media Center is readily available. In order for SageTV to offer suport for DCTs, they have to be approved by CableLabs AND then convince an OEM to include them on their systems.
So what does this mean for Microsoft? Basically, they have a monoply of the digital cable tuner market (not including Tivo since it is not a PC-based solution). How many companies have the ability to deliver DVR software and convince vendors to supply their software? No matter what Microsoft does or how far they lag behind the market, you have to use Vista to watch cable premium content on your computer in HD. No competitor can match them on that important feature. All thanks to DRM. Not innovation or feature-sets, but content protection.
I wonder how much Microsoft has actually fought with CableLabs about its DRM-scheme. Publicly, they appear to be butting heads but privately, Microsoft has a lot to gain by being the only option on the block. Could Microsoft be using the iTunes/iPod model of vendor lock-in?
November 29th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Kevin,
I think MS might have even negotiated the monopoly with cablelabs to justify their investment in it. MS has no intention of being the “enthusiasts” HTPC software maker. They just want to sell to the masses and unfortunately their corner on the digital cable content makes that very possible.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:04 am
I think that you are right about Microsoft’s monopoly on the HTPC, but I think that the cable companies had more to do with it then Microsoft. The cablecard is too expensive for the small companies to support it. The certification process alone, makes it something that the only the big guns can go after. Microsoft has wasted too much money trying to promote media center PCs, for me to believe that they tried to lock out innovators. Even if Sage takes away from Media Center, it still makes Windows more attractive.
I think that you bring up a good point about their monopoly though, but think that it has more to do with the high costs of creating a compelling HDTV DVR experience.
The cable companies have fought cablecard from day 1 and have certainly used DRM to stop innovation. It’s a shame to see them stomp on creativity, but I’m not surprised that they sunk to these levels. While I wish that there were more cablecard solutions, I do appreciate the fact that Microsoft is at least willing to at least offer some competition in such a fringe market. If no one creates cable card products, then the cable companies will have succeeded in blocking outside technology.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Interesting points. I’ve blogged your posting here
http://www.managingrights.com/2007/11/microsofts-hd-c.html
November 30th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Note that there is an option for protected HD content using SageTV- the R5000.
The R5000 allows most (but not all) cable & Dish users to record all of their subscribed channels without DRM restrictions. at $450-$600 + the tuner box, it’s pretty pricey, but it doesn’t require a new cable-labs approved system either.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:52 am
Halstead,
That sounds kind of sketchy. I have never heard of it. Have you ever used one?
November 30th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Brent,
I am no sure DCTs are for the masses right now. In the future, but not right now. I think the whole DCT experiment is still in “beta.”
November 30th, 2007 at 3:04 am
I used a Comcast DCT2000 modded by them for a while, and it worked great- I could record The Sopranos in HD and keep it for a s long as I wanted. I got rid of it when I got rid of most of my premium stations. I just use a HDHomeRun and get ClearQAM now. It gets about 30 channels, including all of the locals in HD here in Portland.
Not sure what the rules are here for posting URLs, but the company is called Nextcom. If you want others’ impressions, do a search on R5000 at AVS Forum. Note that success really does depend on where you are for cable- Dish/DirectTV folks seem to have a much higher rate of success.
- Halstead