Comments on: Satellite TV snubbing Microsoft

Software giant's high-definition video technology is being passed over by DirecTV and its biggest rivals. But other markets remain.

[Thomas, David]

... in the sky, with diamonds

I pray to god, that we will remain with open standards like
MPEG-4

[Scott W]

i agree

hopefully microsoft will never ave their way wih the one thing we have left untainted. TV!

[jbelkin]

Unless Microsoft is Paying Like Sirius ...

Only small ventures that basically get it for free or have other infrastructures paid for by MS would choose an MS "standard." First, few of MS's technologies are very scalable - they are designed for revenue stream profit for MS and not for the conusmer or even the customer.

When MS pays - people wil consider it - otherwise, like everything else MS has done since 1995 - it's a non starter (MSN, WebTV, etc ...)

[David Arbogast]

Not Really....

Microsoft might not have their codec adopted for high definition Satellite broadcast, but as I recall, the format has be adopted for HiDef DVDs, and is being used by Sirius. The Microsoft video format, and its corresponding DRM was not invented solely for Microsoft... I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of it in the future.

Has anyone looked at what Ardtully is doing?

Take a look at http://www.ardtully.com/ and tell me this isn't a better approach. There are just too many formats and Ardtully is a fantastic approach!

[David Arbogast]

I checked it out...

Looks like an interesting solution... However, with only 2 or 3 real options for broadcast media, I'm not certain that the demand is as high as it could be. Weren't 3 different formats approved for next-gen DVDs? And device manufacturers will be building support for all three... and I'm not sure they've complained about it much.... Do they have a list of potential clients available?

[technewsjunkie]

Article favors MS, and is misleading!

This article is seriously biased towards MS.
Let's see, why don't these companies like Microsoft's offering,
even though it "submitted WM9 to SMPTE"?

Because of TWO reasons:
Contrary to the slant of the article, MPEG-4/AVC is indeed
"Future" technology, and it compares very well with MS's
offerings. And despite MS "offering it to a standards body" it will
still be managed by Microsoft! Does the author think Microsoft
did that because they are altruistic?!

So, 1) MPEG-4/AVC is an EXCELLENT set of technologies.
and 2) They don't trust Microsoft! Why should they with it's
history????

[Dr Dude]

If MS wins, I'll give up TV!!!

The last thing I want is this tyranical monopoly to dictate how I
consume TV/movies. I spent the last several years ridding my
life of everything Windows and I don't plan to have Gates & Co.
own the technology I use to enjoy TV. Like everything else they
do, it will be built just good enough for them to make a profit
but not good enough to truly enjoy.

I'll sell my TVs and spend that time on my Mac (yes, I'm one of
those freaks).

[Paulxx11]

Ardtully is still new but they seem to be very interesting.
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