[opendtv] Re: Sony Vaio home theater PC

It may or may not have been on this list but yesterday I read some
article about what the convergence of TV and computer increasingly looks
like.  The answer was it basically looks like a computer.

They have all the problems you mention but more and more people are
getting used to them.  Many on this list probably know I have used
nothing else for about 8-9 years now.  Add a wireless keyboard and, in
my case, a track ball sitting next to my chair and it pretty much takes
over all media entertainment functions while also allowing big screen
web browsing and email from a recliner.  Most of the time I don't even
touch the keyboard.

Though the use of a computer for entertainment media is hindered by the
fact it can be used to get around most copy protection functions by the
determined.  While that is a feature for the users it is a nightmare for
media distributors.  But it is happening anyway.

- Tom

Kilroy Hughes wrote:
> That's pretty sweet.  I'm surprised more companies don't package HTPC systems 
> like this with low noise, remote control, tuners, disc player, and home 
> theater A/V connectors ready to go. Maybe they will now there are so many 
> digital entertainment sources to manage.
> 
> I've been enjoying a similar system I put together about a year ago (except 
> only ATSC tuners, not CableCard).  I'd recommend upgrading to a couple 1TB 
> drives in a RAID 0 array instead of 500GB, mostly because it's cheap; not 
> because I have a problem storing tens of thousands of digital photos and 
> music albums, a few dozen HD TV shows, and millions of tiny e-mails like this 
> one.
> 
> My biggest problem was getting a reliable ATSC signal because I'm near city 
> center on a flat lake with line of sight to the transmitters (:-) go figure.  
> I went through several tuners and antennas until I found a combination that 
> could handle the multipath for most of the stations with a single antenna 
> position and gain ("5th gen" tuner cards beat out the built in DTV tuners I 
> tried).  I still record dropouts and blocking every couple minutes when the 
> rain gets bad ... about 160 days a year in Seattle.  I never watch live 
> broadcast, so I'm not around to beat and swear at the antenna when it's 
> happening and just have to delete shows when they are too messed up.  
> 
> However, "reception" is quite reliable on Hulu, Fancast, etc. over my modest 
> 1.5 Mbps DSL phone line; and there's always You Tube links in emails and 
> video downloads to watch.  Call me a Luddite, but I refuse to tweet.
> 
> The graphics card is important, and it looks like Sony's is good enough.  I 
> use a 55" 120Hz flat panel for primary display, and usually connect with 
> 1920x1080P60 HDMI for general purpose video and desktop use.  I also use a 
> separate dedicated HD disc player in another input that connects at 
> 1920x1080P24 so the display can "refresh" at 120Hz without 3:2 pulldown 
> judder or luma requantization.  Sometimes I'll downshift the PC to 24P or 30i 
> so the display will use or extract 24 frames buried in a broadcast signal or 
> DVD image file for 42ms/frame display duration (sometimes I turn on frame 
> interpolation for 120Hz, mostly not), but I usually don't bother because I 
> use the 24P disc player for serious DVD and HD disc viewing. 
> 
> Most ATSC broadcast content is so ugly with MPEG-2 compression artifacts and 
> other defects at this level of "magnification" that it is worse than adaptive 
> internet streams and DVD with lower MTF.  DVD usually looks better than ATSC, 
> and HD DVD/BD dramatically better when each is fully optimized.  Staged HD 
> shows like local news and Leno, and 60P sports look very good on ATSC, better 
> than DVD; but the majority of airtime is bothersome bad on this kind of 
> system.  It's hard to watch a great show like "Planet Earth" falling apart 
> because it's bit starved or badly encoded; as opposed to the transparent and 
> immersive disc experience.  Web pages, Flash animations, text, PowerPoints, 
> magazines, digital photos, etc. look perfect from across the room, and 
> broadcast suffers by comparison.  I don't have cable or satellite to compare 
> to now, but they used to look worse than ATSC, except for my 8VSB reception 
> problems.
> 
> I use a single Harmony remote control for entertainment, and keyboard or 
> mouse for surfing or working. (The remote sets all the inputs, turns on/off 
> the appropriate boxes, etc.  I just say "make it so" with buttons for "Watch 
> recorded TV", "listen to radio", "play music", "surf the net", "watch DVD", 
> etc.; and the buttons on the remote setup the system (not trivial) and take 
> on the appropriate functions/codes.)
> 
> These systems CAN be very consumer friendly by consolidating TV, streaming 
> video like Hulu and NetFlix, Web, radio, "CD audio" (ripped), music services 
> like iTunes, DVD and BD disc, video games, photos, VOIP phone, IM, email, 
> news, RSS feeds, video editing, disc burning, EPG/PVR, etc. into a single 
> user interface and remote control(s).  But, they can be impossible for the 
> average consumer if not well integrated by someone like Sony, and spared 
> amateur modifications like P2P programs, Trojans, random antivirus and 
> indexing programs, etc. that will bring the system to its knees, crashing 
> along the way.  
> 
> Kilroy Hughes
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
> Behalf Of Manfredi, Albert E
> Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 16:26
> To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [opendtv] Sony Vaio home theater PC
> 
> Just had a chance to play with this little, round, home theater PC STB
> device. It is just the sort of PC I had in mind, to bring the Internet
> to the (H)DTV and audio system.
> 
> RF remote keyboard with standard mouse pad. Built in BluRay
> player/recorder. Built in PVR functionality, using its hard drive.
> Regular old Internet access. Windows Vista installed. Also a normal
> looking remote control, for the non-Internet related functions.
> 
> http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalo
> gId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665296592
> 
> This was in a store, and Saturday afternoon, which had a way of giving
> me a realistic demo. Which is to say, there may not have been any RF
> reception issues per se, since this setup wasn't even using WiFi (it has
> 802.11b/g built in), but that didn't mean "good reception" anyway. With
> all the kids in the store playing with laptops and stuff, the poor guy
> couldn't even manage to stream 400 Kb/s. Not even close. Never managed
> more than a couple of seconds of streaming video.
> 
> Obviously, the congestion problem here was between the store's internal
> network and its Internet link. However, seems to me the problem would
> also occur in most ISP nets in the near term, if the majority of users
> start watching TV over the Internet. 
> 
> Still, I did manage to see what the low rate IP media streams look like
> on a ~50" LCD HDTV. Not bad. And of course, there are sites that allow
> download of much higher quality stuff. They want about $1700. It's also
> very quiet. This is the sort of STB that will probably become the norm,
> in short order.
> 
> Bert
>  
>  
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