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Matt Goyer: No Off-The-Shelf Availability of OCUR CableCARD Readers for MCE Users

By Alexander Grundner | July 31st, 2006 Interest Level: SMOKING HOT


ati ocur reference designIn a follow up to his “Thoughts on MCE beta feedback” post, Matt Goyer (remember he’s a project manager in the eHome division at Microsoft) answered some of the more nagging questions MCE users have been inquiring about. But the following Q&A really peaked my interest: “Q: Will I be able to buy a cablecard reader off the shelf, a video card off the shelf and be able to playback [OCUR] content? A: No.” Ouch.

I guess this confirms what people have been fearing for some time. If you currently own an MCE PC, you’ll have no way of upgrading your box to support CableCARD when Windows Vista launches. Additionally, if you purchase a “CableLabs Certified” Windows Vista MCE system in the future, you will not be able to buy OCUR readers to support multiple CableCARD tuners after you take the box home (so configure wisely). My question now is: What are people going to do when their OCUR reader (and possibly their bundled video card) fails? Are the owners of these PCs going to have to ship their boxes to an OEM for repairs from now on, instead of being able to fix it themselves? Or will people be forced to send their PCs to “authorized” Mircosoft/CableLabs repair locations?

It’s starting to sound like buying your next PC with an extended service plan is the way to go if you really have to have CableCARD support. If anything fails, bring it back to the electronics store you bought it from and swap it for a whole new box. It will be interesting to see how retailers handle this situation.

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Alexander Grundner is the Editor & Publisher of eHomeUpgrade. He has been following "Digital Home" developments since 2003. He's also a fan of cross-platform, open development software and industry standards related to media, networking, and the web. You can catch his daily tech musings on Twitter: @agrundner.
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  • Yes, I know this. I added it for people who still aren't aware of this fact. Let just say it's a reminder for those who aren't "in the know" who currently own or are thinking of buying an MCE 2005 PC.
  • Actually, it's been known for sometime that you would not be able to build your own. In the Engadget thread, a directly qutoe from Joe "Yes, it will be only new PCs.". :)
  • The part that is *new* is the off-the-shelf availability of the OCUR reader, which we just found out will be non-existent. Some people were hoping that this component was going to be available so that they could upgrade their CableLabs certified systems -- i.e. from one CableCARD tuner to two or to swap out a damaged OCUR reader.




    * FYI, I just added the CableCARD tuner expansion part to the original post for clarity.
  • Licious
  • Matt says you can add up to 4 tuners. He gives the example:




    Q: Why don’t you offer support for more than 2 HDTV cards?



    A: It would sound like it’s due to the added development and test complexity. To be clear we do support up to four tuners. For instance, one configuration in the US could be two OCUR devices with two ATSC tuners.





    I'm guessing you'll only be able to order the PC that way and not do it yourself once you get it home. The idea is that CableLabs is certifying the PC before it ships to the customer -- hence the reason it's a "closed box" that can't be modified.
  • /cry




    The possibility of buying an OCUR device was my one driving force for actually wanting to check out (and build a system around) Vista MCE. Well looks like that plan just got nixed. There's no way I'd pay for an entire media center computer just to get it.





    And what if a user wanted to add a 2nd OCUR device to a system they bought that only had 1? Would that even be allowed? Sheesh.
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