Comments on: Whatever happened: DirecTV-Microsoft

In the first of an occasional series, News.com's Ina Fried looks at past announcements and what became of that big deal. First up: a partnership between Redmond and DirecTV announced in January 2006.

[rucknrun]

Not sure

DirectTV now has a media sharing feature built into it's HR20 receivers. Interestingly, Windows Media Player is the worst option to use as a sharing server. I think this is a prime example of the fact that nothing is happening between these companies.

[larryflowers]

You didn't do much research for this article

Currently in testing, DirecTV model HDPC-20, designed for VIsta Media Center PC's, provides DirecTV dual tuner capability to the PC thru a USB Cable.

[paulsecic]

Ms Directv

are evil.

[-fjtorres-]

What happened is this...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/directvs-pc-tuner-is-real/

Don't need anybody from MS to tell us that a USB-connected, dual-HD-tuner DirecTV receiver for PCs (and maybe XBOX) is coming sometime this year.

Now, somebody from MS, *might* know more about *when* this year it is coming and somebody from DirecTV might know what it will cost, but from the looks of it, the ffort is quietly on track to deliver exactly what it promised; DirecTV access via Media Center on PCs. Which, when combined with the XBOX 360 and/or Media Center Extender STBs or TVs means a clean integrated Home Media network option that isn't at the mercy of the cablecos and their foot-dragging Cablelabs...

Sounds like a win for consumers, no?

[eldernorm]

Actually -----

Actually, it sounds like DirectTV is trying to build something that Microsoft can use.

Microsoft is doing..... nothing. As usual. And I agree that the Media Center system will suck at this. Especially if you add Vista in there as its so full of DRM that anything in your system is likely to kill the system from working.

I think it will get a lot of competition from Apple, with its AppleTV, auto linking, pulling from ANY computer that runs iTunes, direct downloading from iTunes, YouTube, etc. that it will be another Zune. Lots of noise, a few units sold, then .......... silence.

More wasted money down the drain.

And if Microsoft manages to buy Yahoo, there goes 20 billion cash down the drain and a real lack of focus on anything except sales of adverts.

Just a thought.

en

[Talisker 10]

Tivo - Comcast

Tivo announced a deal with Comcast years ago - some sort of plan to offer the Tivo software on Comcast set-top hardware. I think something has been demo'd once or twice since then, but I believe they've missed the initial date by a few years, and reset the date several times since - now are just ignoring it.

[hughvh]

Comcast/Tivo

I think there is a trail of Comcast/Tivo in Houston now...

[hughvh]

Netlfix and TiVo

One or two years ago Netflix and Tivo came out with a press release announcing that they would be working together. What happened?

[Nfuego]

Tivo/Netflix/Amazon

TiVo and Netflix dropped their deal and TiVo partnered with Amazon instead. The Amazon downloads are good...it all works pretty well.

[ebonovic]

DirecTV "Kinda" Revealed it's piece at CES2008

When we were at CES2008, DirecTV offered us the informational sheet for the HDPC-20.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=115136&highlight=HDPC-20

In this thread, there is discussion from those that where at CES that got the sheet and talked to the reps. As well as some people close to Microsoft, that have provided some information on what is going on with that side of the equation.

http://www.dbstalk.com for the latest on DirecTV's side of the equation.

http://thegreenbutton.com for the latest on Microsoft's side of the equation.

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/46/183552/ShowThread.aspx

[spookycoolcat]

Actually no true

All the new DirecTv recievers are also now MediaCenter extenders. You can look at your pictures and listen to you music collection on them, plus they are now Viiv compatiable.

[ebonovic]

Only the DVR's

They are not FULL Microsoft Media Extenders.

The current HR20/21 series receivers are only compatible with Media Player/Server, for Audio Files and Picture files.... If you have been updated to the very latest software for the HR20/21, then you will also have access to some video file formats (not all).

None of the SD-DVR, or non-dvr products have these features yet.

[JimSlik]

Other Ideas

If you want to explore a recent issue, some say that Microsoft abandoned Toshiba at the alter regarding HD DVD.

If you want to explore old issues, how about some of the Apple collaborations?
PowerPC - First, there was IBM & Motorola. This became IBM only when Motorola could not deliver (why?). Then IBM was abandoned for Intel when IBM did not deliver for Apple but did deliver for game makers (including Xbox?). Again, why?

Taligent - This was a software collaboration between Apple and IBM. Was there a third party? What happened to this?

[nmcphers]

wrong direction

The idea is to explore broad partnership that nothing came from. Or where the end result was no where as exciting and hyped as the announced partnership. What you are suggesting is the exploration of working partnership that died. Two very different concept. The AIM (Apple, IBM, and Motorola) partnership existed for years and produced products. As you stated Motorola could not deliver, so it was IBM only after that. IBM could deliver, but they did not want to invest the resources for continued development for a small market such as Apple. They placed priority on gaming console because there is volume there.

[njeske]

DirecTV has Media Share

You didn't get your facts right for this article. The newer DirecTV boxes have a feature called Media Share that allows you to access photos, videos, and music located on a PC with WMP11 installed and setup for media sharing. They announced an upcoming feature where those same PCs will be able to access DVR content stored on those same DirecTV recievers. I use the Media Share feature almost every day and it works great!

[ebonovic]

Not specifically tied to WMP11

The MediaShare feature in the current HR20/21 products, is not "locked" to WMP11

WMP11 is just one of many different media server products you can use to get the functionallity you descirbed.

There are at least three others out there:
Intel ViiV (if your PC is ViiV)
Tversity
Twonky

There are few others, and some options for Apple users as well.

You can also use Microsoft's latest product, the Windows Home Server as a host media server for the HR2* products.