The 'right now' problem for MSFT is that you still need a network, and that is beyond the tech ability or desire of the average person
the network setup was a complete no-brainer. however, most people aren't going to want to run Cat-5 themselves, so WiFi would be easier. i can't speak for the WiFi quality one way or the other. the comments i've seen (and, indeed, the recommendations on the Linksys box) suggest that 802.11a provides good quality, but 802.11g is not as good. and that is just for standard-def. i don't know whether even 802.11a would provide good quality in high-def.
this is a moot issue for me, since my only use of the Extender is to watch the Tennis Channel, which is SD. i haven't even bothered getting an HD-capable tuner card for my PC, even though MCE 05 supports them, as this seems a little too bleeding edge for me. i will wait a couple years and get one for fifty bucks in a new Dell running Longhorn SP2.
Assuming it holds up, MCE may be in violation of a half dozen TiVo patents.
i have no idea about any IP issues. however, MSFT seems to have fared OK on that front in the past. they survived the "look and feel" attack from Apple a decade ago, and more recently they paid off some company for 20 million or so for a waiver related to IP for vibrating game controllers. Sony chose to duke it out, and recently lost that case with a huge judgment and is now appealing, i think. so, MSFT legal team does not appear to be idiots. i don't know whether they are infringing on any alleged Tivo IP, or not. but, i believe they would have considered IP issues before proceeding, whether that means duking it out in court, paying a license, or a non-issue.
or if another technology comes along and trumps both TIVO and MSFT.
i think the next step will be true Internet Protocol-based television, though whether this will happen in a way which is supported by content providers is open to question, imo. one thing that could accelerate this trend is faster net access--my cableco ISP has really ramped up the b/w so that we now get 5Mbps downstream.
check out this description of Bittorrent client Azureus. the person who first told me about it described it as being "like Tivo over the Internet", through the use of RSS feeds:
Azureus is a Java BitTorrent client, with support for I2P and Tor anonymous communication protocols. It currently supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Unix. Azureus is also the Latin word for azure, a sky-blue colour.
Azureus (the BitTorrent Client) allows the user to download multiple files in a single graphical user interface (GUI). The program also allows detailed options, information and configuration. While downloading a torrent, you can see:
* which files you've downloaded
* what percentage of each file and piece you still need, the piece number and availability
* who you are downloading from, their download and upload speeds, their IP, their port, their client and more options if you are Super-Seeding
* download and upload speed, time remaining, file and tracker information.
Azureus allows users to specify maximum upload and download speeds and is configurable like many other clients. Azureus also allows users to open some files that have been completed before the entire torrent from within the program. Additionally, Azureus can serve as its own tracker (the server which watches over the Bittorrent swarm), allowing users to share their own files with others without uploading it to any site. Azureus functionality can be expanded via various plugins, one of the more popular being Country Locator.
The Blue Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates azureus) is shown on the Azureus webpage, as well as within the program's start-up splash screen, no doubt lending its name to the project.
The latest versions of Azureus introduce the Distributed Database function, which is an expansion of the BitTorrent protocol, making it more independent from trackers. This allows for a torrent where the original tracker is down or very slow to get peer data (and eventually download the files) from other peers that are using Azureus. The downside to this is private trackers where membership is required that don't want non-users downloading their torrents. Some critics also say that this is simply 'reinventing the wheel,' refering to earlier peer-to-peer protocols and programs which Bittorrent was praised for filling in the weaknesses of.
en.wikipedia.org |
