Category: Media

Audio/Video, Streaming, and More

Has Boxee Sold Out?

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Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

We’re big fans of Boxee here. We don’t use it on a daily basis(partly because of the issues with using it under Fedora Linux). We’ve been at every Boxee New York City event, we’ve annoyed their CEO.

Boxee is a media center application with a 10-foot interface designed for full sized televisions. As it began, there was an emphasis on socialization. Boxee has a lot of advantages. It has wonderful codec support for playback. But as Boxee moved toward a commercial model, playing local content was moved to the side, along withsocialization. People seem to speak less of those aspects nowadays.

Boxee turned to focus on streaming content, becoming popular for individuals looking for a new Hulu interface. Boxee played a game of cat and mouse with Hulu. Until the D-Link Boxee Box came along, and they announced that they would be putting Hulu Plus on. This logically means that the game is up. Even though Hulu offers content for free, Boxee, like many boxes, will likely support only the paid version.

Vudu and Netflix, showstoppers, are delayed and will hopefully arrive on the Boxee Box soon enough. That hasn’t stopped Boxee from expanding. At CES this week, Iomega announced a Boxee device that includes a hard drive. Viewsonic announced a TV set including Boxee.

CBS Interactive announced it will make full episodes available for purchase through Boxee. It is certainly a big move for Boxee. But they have gone from challenging the status quo to working with them. Working with CBS is certainly better in the long run. Working with content providers to get them to willingly put their content on TV is a better long term solution than creating apps that may stop working at the whim of said providers.

On the other hand, they may lose some of their devoted fanbase in the process. If every service costs money, then the value of purchasing a a dedicated device for several hundred dollars is lessened. One thing though…it’s still cheaper than cable.

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Downstreaming: The Roku Box

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Netflix Roku Box - III
Image by vscarpenter via Flickr

Last week, Roku announced they served their one billionth stream of content after announcing they’d sold one million units. We first started talking about the Roku box two years ago when it was for Netflix only. Since then, Roku has unveiled countless channels…some good, some useless…well, to us at least.

Also, the base price for a Roku box has gone down to $59.99, and now offers Hulu Plus, Amazon Video on Demand, Pandora, MLB.Tv, NFL Gamecenter, NBA Gametime, Radiotime, etc.

Roku’s current offering is three boxes: The Roku HD, XD, and XDS. The latter two offer the options of 1080p and Wireless-N. The XDS offers a USB port and component video and optical outputs(which were built in on the original Roku). We did read of multiple complaints with Roku customer service, but never had a problem with the device worth calling about, nor has anyone else we know personally, so we cannot confirm this. We read through a lot of reviews about overseas technical support and TV connection quality, but have been unable to reproduce it.

It has a thriving community of enthusiasts and many private extra channels beyond what Roku provides…and they grow their list regularly. Even without paying for some of the subscription channels, there are hours of content to entertain, organized in a simple interface The issue with the internet is that content is everywhere…organizing it is the hard thing.

The truth is this…a HTPC will do a lot more. But it is an HTPC. The Roku is a tiny box that is basically plug and play. Even if you have an HTPC, you may not have it in every room. For us, using Linux for our DVR, services like Netflix are unavailable to us. This fills in those gaps. It also lacks a large amount of HD content, but this is more a provider issue. Full HD content online is in its infancy.

Basically, if you want a simple device that puts a lot of content in on place with very little setup required, that is not much larger than two decks of playing cards, this is the device for you. If you want something more complex…we’ll get to that in future editions.

Update: Roku has refreshed its offerings . We’ve updated the below links accordingly.

[asa_collection]Roku Collection[/asa_collection]

 

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Downstreaming: Amazon Video on Demand

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Amazon VOD on Roku
Image by programwitch via Flickr

For the first installment of Downstreaming, we’re going to explore Amazon Video On Demand as an option for acquiring content.

Amazon Video on Demand, formerly known as Amazon Unbox, is Amazon’s video streaming service. It is not subscription based. It is an ala-carte video service that offers both rental and purchase. You can also purchase passes to TV shows and receive a discount.

Amazon VOD support is built into the Roku Box, Google TV, Tivo, and select televisions and blu-ray players. You can also stream it using Adobe Flash on a computer. It offers both SD and HD rentals. We’re just waiting for an HTML5 version, and iOS and Android apps for the mobile platforms.

We decided to give it a shot, taking advantage of an offer for the popular movie Inception for 99 cents for a 48 hour rental. It included a $4 credit if we choose to buy the movie afterward. Video acceleration on the Linux version of  Adobe Flash can sometimes lag a bit, so we used a Roku Box to test the service. The movie playback was great, and there is a good selection of daily/weekly/monthly deals and some free content.

One of the nicest value added additions Amazon VOD offers is Disc+ On Demand. This is an Amazon program for those who purchase physical media. On select discs, you will automatically get a digital version of your purchased movie in your Amazon Video on Demand library. The problem is, so far, in movies we’ve bought, this is a limited time rental. We think many people would pay extra for a movie, or a premium to get disc plus digital copy provided by Amazon VOD.

Many movies are now being bundled with a digital copy that is time limited. An Amazon VOD redemption option with each movie seems like a better idea for studios, even if it is only a discount on getting the streaming copy. Teleread, for example, recently commented on how the code to use the digital copy included with the latest Star Trek movie expired…before they had purchased the movie. Yet the discs are still being bundled. The issue with buying content…excuse us…licensing content that is stored in the cloud is if the service provider ceases to provide the service. Then…what do you own?

Amazon VOD, in their terms of service, states, “Purchased Digital Content will generally continue to be available to you for download or streaming from the Service, as applicable, but may become unavailable due to potential content provider licensing restrictions and for other reasons, and Amazon will not be liable to you if purchased Digital Content becomes unavailable for further download or streaming.” We would feel more comfortable if, like their Kindle scandal a while back, Amazon was forced to ensure that even if they can no longer sell an item, that anyone who purchased it is still entitled to enjoy it in perpetuity, as the term “Buy” implies. But, for rentals, the service is a good alternative.

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Downstreaming: Cutting out Cable

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Motorola DCT 6412 Phase 2 digital/analogue cab...
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Tomorrow, January 1st, 2010, the nice people at our cable company have opted to give us a holiday present….a rate hike. Everything is going up. When they are done, the monthly rental on an extra cable box will be $14.50. That includes 50 cents for a remote. We tried a few years ago to return the remote, use our own $10 one, and save 50 cents. Apparently, even though they keep giving us extra remote controls we don’t need, they can’t be returned for money.

Can a cable box purchased possibly cost more than what it is costing us to rent it? It is one thing to charge more for cable service, but for the box? That said, let’s move on to cable service itself. At least cable companies can claim that they are passing on the increased costs content providers are charging them. But in the end, the price is getting ridiculous.

We don’t want 90% of the channels we are paying for, but due to bundling, we are getting and paying for them. That is why, despite cord cutting is a hassle, and many have said they cannot live with it and come back, it keeps seeming like an option. There is so much free content out there, and so much reasonably priced paid content out there, is it any surprise that cable subscriptions are down.

But we’re not planning to go cold turkey. That is how most cord cutters fail. We want to gradually wean ourselves off of these services, and explore alternatives. It may mean we have to wait for content. Is the latest episode of a popular show so timely it can’t be watched a day or a week later, which is when some online services receive it?

That said, cable is not likely to leave our households any time soon. But bringing down the cable bill is a serious concern. This includes looking at fewer cable boxes, lower levels of service, and more MythTV frontends, streaming boxes, etc. There are pitfalls. It means investment of time and money in experimentation. But that is better than thousands spent on cable television each year.

We needed a name for this multi-part series about experiments in cord cutting. Downstreaming seemed good as any. Stay tuned….

XBMC Version 10 Now Available

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XBMC Screen
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Version 10 of XBMC Media Center, the popular cross-platform media software, was released.

The focus of this new release is add-ons. The new add-ons system allows you to install add-ons such as themes and plugins directly from within the program. In addition, the release offers improved hardware acceleration and more.

If you are interested in giving it a try, why not download the Live CD, which will let you try it without installing.

Download it today.

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HDHomeRun to Start Preorder in December

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SiliconDust HD HomeRun (HDHR) network dual-tun...
Image via Wikipedia

The Digital Media Zone reports that the SiliconDust HDHomerun Prime will be released to production in two weeks, shortly after which pre-order and release dates will be announced. The HDHomerun Prime is a three-tuner cablecard ready networked tuner. The price will be $249.

This, coupled with the fact that Copy Freely material may now be used by Linux devices, and that SiliconDust has long worked with MythTv developers, makes us potentially excited.

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MythTV .24 Release Candidate 1 Available

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Myth tv logo
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The MythTV Development team has announced that the first release candidate for MythTV version .24 is now available for download. This means that the full version is not far behind. The Dev team has adopted a much more aggressive development cycle of late, possibly due to the long period between .21 and .22. New features of note(at least to us) include:

  • A new themeable on screen display
  • Audio – Support for 24 bit audio and HD audio formats, output up to 7.1, autopopulation of soundcard devices in settings
  • Beginnings of Blu-Ray support
  • Experimental support for CrystalHD hardware accelerated video decoding
  • Rework and Stabilization of DVD Playback
  • Support for ISOs over storage groups, which was missing from 0.23
  • Add a custom rule example for re-recording SD shows when/if it re-airs in HD
  • Enabling backend as a source of internet content sources, scripts, and grabber search requests
  • Allow the scheduler to attempt to rerecord a failed recording
  • MythNetvision now has grabbers for BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Revision3, The WB, PBS, Comedy Central, TedTalks, etc.
  • MythWeather now supports wunderground as a source

Hauppauge and Silicondust Announce Alliance for HTPC CableCard Tuners

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Silicondust USA Inc., maker of the popular HDHomerun networked digital TV tuner, and Hauppauge Computer Works, known for a variety of hardware tuners, have announced an alliance to introduce a USB-connected digital cablecard tuner.

Silicondust will concurrently be introducing its HDHomerun Prime, a cablecard version of their networked digital tuner. “Silicondust’s experience with digital cable access systems combined with Hauppauge’s strong computer TV tuner sales will produce a successful launch of this innovative product.” said Ken Plotkin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hauppauge Computer Works.

The products should be available for sale by the end of the year. The competition, the PCI-Express based Ceton InfiniTV4 Cablecard Tuner, has suffered from parts shortages.

As previously mentioned, a recent change by Cable Labs has permitted these devices to be used in a limited fashion under Linux. As revealed by Jeremy Hammer, Vice President of Systems Integration for Ceton Corporation, during a recent podcast interview, developers are already working, with support from the hardware manufacturers, to integrate the necessary functionality into popular Linux DVR software MythTV. You can hear that interview on the HTPCentric Podcast, Episode 7(htpcentric.thedigitalmediazone.com).

The editor of this blog appeared in Episode 3 of the same podcast, discussing his MythTV setup. An update on that will be coming soon.

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Some CableCard Content Will Be Available to Linux

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CableLabs, the independent consortium of cable operators which creates specifications for cable television compatible products has approved two measures that will permit Home Theater PCs running Linux to take advantage of some U.S. cable television content.

Cable providers can set copy control information for their content to specify how the content can be duplicated, setting it to Copy Once, Copy Never, or Copy Freely. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, specified that all broadcast television channels must be set as Copy Freely. Non-premium subscription programming has to be set to at least Copy Once, but of course can be set to Copy Freely. This is where cable providers vary, as some tend to set all programs as Copy Once and others tend to set all programs as Copy Freely.

CableLabs has approved the passing of content coded as Copy Free without Digital Rights Management, or DRM. DRM allows a content provider to restrict what you can do with content once downloaded or recorded. No current Linux based software has licensed or been approved to carry content with DRM, and the decision by CableLabs means that users of MythTV, will be able to decrypt and record some content. CableLabs is charged with approving all CableCard compatible devices.

A CableCard is a PCMCIA card which a carrier is legally obligated to offer on request, which can be added to a tuner to decrypt content. However, until recently, PC CableCard peripherals were extremely limited. Two manufacturers have worked hard to open up the PC market to this hardware and have advocated for Linux support. Ceton, just recently launched its InfiniTV4 PCI-Express card, and Silicondust, creators of the popular and Linux compatible HDHomerun networked digital tuner are set to release a cablecard enabled version later this year.  Jeremy Hammer, VP of Systems integration for Ceton, and a Fedora user, advised that the Ceton product will fully support Linux and MythTV to the extent they are able.

Unfortunately for us, our service provider, Time Warner Cable, sets nearly everything to Copy Once, this rendering the device pretty much useless unless they change their ways. Comcast, however, apparently is much more open(surprising, isn’t it?), setting most of its non-premium content to Copy Freely. Being as you need to rent the cable card from the cable company anyway, we do not see the point of restricted content they know you’ve paid for.

However, we’ve never quite gotten the point of DRM in general. It more often restricts legitimate usage over actually stopping piracy. And as we’ve been reminded recently, fair use for recorded content is not to keep it on your hard drive forever. If you really like something enough to keep, you probably should buy it. You’ll get a better quality version…and if you’re lucky…extras.

MythTV Rig Update: Back to the Home Theater Frontend

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Since we last spoke of our Home Theater Frontend, it has gone through some changes. You can click here to see the pictures from the previous iteration.

After writing that, we started thinking about our lack of HDMI support, and started preparing for our glorious HDMI filed future. HDMI is the standard which is, and will be used going forward for digital video content, and carries both audio and video in a single cable. So, we wired up an HDMI cable with two DVI adapters to replace our existing DVI cable.

But that wasn’t enough, so we hopped on a Newegg deal for a video card that output to HDMI…one adapter down. Then, even though we hadn’t planned on it so soon, we upgraded the computer monitor we were using to a 32″ Westinghouse HDTV. It had an SPDIF line out, so the audio signal can return to the older receiver. It is amazing how one little decision…to prepare for a future upgrade can induce you to invest earlier.

Why 32″ and not 42-47″ or beyond? Well, size considerations for the room. Here’s a picture from when we emptied the area to work on it. You can see the preparations mounting the new TV waiting there. High above is the room wi-fi antenna.

Here is the new mount and HDTV. It can extend a foot and a half from the wall, and tilt to a variety of different angles. And the mount is rated for roughly four times the weight of the television. HDTVs have been getting lighter. Either way, that mount is bolted into two studs, something we wanted. If it comes down, which it isn’t, it’s taking the wall with it.