Higher Definition Issues

Okay, I’ve been running a Windows Media Center PC in my living room for over a year and a half now. I honestly love it. I started out with a spare box and a single tuner, and went to a much better machine for the job after I got started, and now have dual tuners. The real question is, how do I get decent High Definition, digital content through the thing?

Well, the real answer is, for now.. I can’t. Sure, I can get some HDTV tuner cards, most of which don’t work in the Media Center interface, and record over the air HD. That’s about it… there is no real option for digital content, paid or not for media center at this time. Cable-Card was supposed to resolve this, but where is it? DirectTV has finally made some indications that it will support Vista’s Media Center, but that is at some undetermined point in the future.

I really don’t want to have to mess with another DVR interface, as I like my MCE box. It works well, and the picture is absolutely beautiful on the new 56″ Samsung DLP I purchased a couple weeks ago. All I really need now is content to make it shine. Standard cable TV doesn’t cut it, as you can see every flaw on a 1080p display. Why is it, in a country where we pay higher subscription rates for premium services than pretty much the rest of the world, we have more restrictions on being able to use it?

Media Center already has (albeit, poor) DRM. I don’t intend on recording stuff, and sharing it online with a few thousand close personal friends… But, at this rate, what are my choices, living in a moderately rural area than downloading HD television episodes via bit torrent sites? I want HD, I’m willing to pay for it.. but I want it through my computer, on my happy big 1920×1080 display…

Okay, this is more of a rant than informational. It really just irks me every way. Maybe someone in the media industry can get their head out of their anus and do something about this.

[tags]Windows Media Center, MCE, HDTV, DLP, DRM[/tags]