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Microsoft's IPTV platform to challenge AppleTV

last100.com — Now called Mediaroom, the company has added a number of new features to its IPTV platform including PC to TV media sharing (photos and music), third party development support, and over-the-air DTT functionality.

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  • lordtyros, on 10/11/2007, -5/+53Last time I checked, it was the Apple TV that was barely presenting a challenge to the Xbox 360. This is just vinegar on a bleeding rectum.
    • theonlyvlad, on 10/11/2007, -1/+29As.. colorful as the analogy is, it's close to truth.


      "By adding media extender capabilities (PC to TV), the platform begins to encroach on consumer devices like the AppleTV. It’s also likely that set-top-boxes based on Mediaroom will be perceived as being “free” to customers as they’ll come bundled as part of an IPTV subscription service."

      1st, media extender capabilities have already existed for a while. This, as far as I can tell, is specifically a television IPTV move. Apple TV entered into a market already saturated with ms media extenders, not the other way around.

      2nd, Apple TV only offers playback of downloads, again, to my knowledge. This system is again for IPTV, a different way to deliver your cable.

    • 4degrees, on 10/11/2007, -8/+12Which ever one has more pron will ultimately win out.

      :-P
    • m4ttbrian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10I thought that IPTV was coming to Xbox 360 anyways?

      http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=36790
    • Murdats, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4"Which ever one has more pron will ultimately win out."

      why is this getting buried?
      its how vhs vs betamax was decided
      and look at how popular distribution via the internet is getting
      the porn industry has only been using the net for over 10 years.
    • krikoko, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I better choose free http://www.lordoftv.com
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Telcos been using Microsoft IPTV software for about 2 years now HOW IS THIS NEWS all this new mediaroom is it renamed with a couple added features
    • EntropyFan, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1What is 'news' about this is that MS is finally going to do something smart and remain an 'ingredient' in the mix, not attempt to dominate it.
      When the AppleTV came out, I was worried MS would have MSTV (or some other nonsense) announced in a week. Instead, they are going to let those who know TV and media do that part, and just keep writing the software they need to get it done.
      If MS can remember they are indeed a software company, they can collect royalties from their partners for a long time
  • DiggyBank, on 10/11/2007, -12/+10"Microsoft's IPTV platform to pwn AppleTV"
    • DiggyBank, on 10/11/2007, -11/+5Yeah, digg me down you fanboys. But that's the truth.
    • YuriSakazaki, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7truth
    • MacParrot, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Maybe you got dugg down for contributing absolutely nothing besides regurgitating the title?

      I was not impressed with Microsoft's IPTV. Unfortunately AppleTV isn't any better. The winner will be the one who brings the best interface (easiest to use) and the most hi-def content. There are still some standards to be developed before this becomes simple enough for everyday use
    • airquotes, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2Yeah it's so cool when Microsoft copies apple, and we all know that the products the copy off them are so much slicker than the original.
      /sarcasm
  • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -15/+4new features to its IPTV platform including PC to TV media

    Honestly i love Xbox market place and all ...but i have the MCE500 hauppauge tuner card and a HD card already hooked to my 42 inch plasma via HDMI and linked to my FRAGBOX 2 Vista Ultimate/MythTV Box Media Machine...all hooked to a Free to Air HD Satellite DVR Receiver :)

    PC to TV isn't new my a long shot..added to the fact i stream media all through the house by using 2 wireless routers and my wireless adapter on my network over to my Xbox 360 and also my PSP when i'm catching podcats and streaming the game or wrestling on Saturdays while soaking some rays and having a few beers enjoying the fresh air

    HONESTLY ?what will IPTV ( dubbed Media-Room ) offer me, i'm not already getting now ? PLEASE EXPLAIN ?
    • m4ttbrian, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8I'm in your podcat, streaming your mews...
    • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -11/+3@m4ttbrian

      hhhhahhaha good one :P ...didn't catch the typo ..whats even .funnier i do download podcasts on Animal Knowledge

      Animals Podcast Animal Talk, Naturally! RSS feed, podcast - www.idiotvox.com/Animals/PodCast_

      Hound TV - A video podcast for dogs and their owners


    • nreynolds, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6@ fallenome

      you sound really cool. can i meet you IRL? I'm sure you'd leet the hell out of me.
    • AZRoboto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7IPTV will offer you pretty much instant channel-changing, streaming previews of other stations when going through stations in the guide interface, overall quicker speeds, cleaner/sexier interface, and the standard stuff you come to expect.

      So, it'll be quicker and have a prettier interface and the standard stuff.

    • B1663r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I am not sure... But I think this is a product targeted at Cable providers who MUST want something different than the motorolla set top boxes. If you will, this looks like a Media Center for cable companies, then the cable customers use a MCE like device to access the content.

      I hope it works out, because I am really tired of my flaky comcast-to-motorolla set top box for the OnDemand content.
  • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4FYI i'm not holding my breath anyway as WE CANADIANS !! Don't get XBOX Live MARKET place movies......so i'm willing to beat we won't be seeing IPTV anytime soon either @@
    • kinseyincanada, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3i know its pathetic, why the hell cant we download movies and tv shows.
    • BrightLoudNoise, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Bell has been running tests with the ms iptv solution for a while now actually, i'm not sure how far they have progressessed though.
    • operand, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5This has NOTHING to do with Microsoft - rather Distribution laws with the movie studios.
    • steevo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5@fallenomen

      Bell Canada has partnered with Microsoft and is deploying IPTV in Canada, so you wont have to wait long. I think it is supposed to be out in some markets by the end of this year
  • XStatic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Even TiVo's PC based TiVo Desktop for storing TiVo recording on your PC for playback/later retrieval as well as mpg recordings combined with TiVoCasts and Amazon Unbox access, etc. is competitive with Apple TV...

    Unfortunately MS is the only one really performing in the IPTV space....
  • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1Keep digging me down assholes ....back on subject


    @azroboto
    instant channel-changing, streaming previews of other stations when going through stations in the guide interface, overall quicker speeds, cleaner/sexier interface, and the standard stuff you come to expect.So, it'll be quicker and have a prettier interface and the standard stuff.

    Ok even though you repeated that same thing twice. I still don;t get it. I have picture in picture on my plasma.......which i always have on ...............
    ( sue me i'm a sports nut ) my interface is fast( TV tuner card and HD tuner card) plus D-link duel 300mhz wireless router is very fast , i'm constantly
    streaming.............i record HD content with my PC tuners, stream to my Xbox 360 via my Vista Ultimate Media Center ...while watching on another channle
    via my Free To Air Reciever satellite ( with 2 dishes on the roof) broadcasting Dishnet and Bell Express Vu .....................

    And i don't pay for any of it !! IPTV will be an added cost to something i'm getting now ....my Vista Media Center gives me Info , Movie posters etc
    everything is stream beautifully to my Xbox 360 .....basically i don't see a purpose adding IPTV ( an added cost ) to something i get now Free of COST
    with a 350 gig HD in my PC and a 250 gig in my FTA receiver...the sky's the limit when downloading HD content and or digital content ( vai Cable )

    sound to me people are in denial IPTV is not a necessity, it's not even a device that will eliminate all other devices in the home ...all it is is a cumber some add on that won't catch on like windows Media Center 2005 !!....Not everyone is like me with a Small form factor in my living room networking and streaming HD content all over his house..some are but i doubt very much IPTV will catch on in the everyday normal home atmosphere . It's a back to the drawing board idea cometated to making the Xbox 360 more of a home media unit in the home ...............period...i just don't see it working
    • MackPrime, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7so you don't miss anything while working at Safeway or feeding your pet snake and/or spider ?
    • m4ttbrian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7No offense mate, sounds like you spent quite a bit on all that gadgetry, IPTV will be easy for the neighbours, not geeks like you.
    • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1@m4ttbrian

      1) I'm not a geek or you MATE

      2) besides the cost of the 360 and 200 dollar FTA receiver and 600 dollar PC

      Which is a very good cost ratio considering i have owned this gear since i got it over 5 yrs ago and the only thing new is the Xbox 360 and Vista OS i burned off my kid sister and had M$ give me a legit Ultimate key code ( as i said the package didn't come with one ) ...:P

      IPTV will still consist of a family having to buy a Xbox 360 and own a mid to high end PC and high speed internet and a Digital provider and a wireless router and theres a few on that lst most family's still to this day don't have now !! ...so please give me a break on your analogy's and no sense conversation piece !

      So please with all you great knowledge and wisdom please explain the logic to your comments -"IPTV will be easy for the neighbours "
    • steevo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5IPTV doesn't require a high end pc or a 360 for IPTV you will get a set top box like you do with digital cable or satellite. It will have the ability to stream content off of or to any PC's or 360's that you may have
  • pebcake, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3So everyone can have their 360s die even faster?
    • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2Thats what i was thinking ..people complain about 360 over heating now haha imagine leaving them on or turning them on 24/7 just to watch and stream TV not to mention used for gaming /Media Device .ala Media Room support etc

      the thing will burn your house down in HD no less :P
    • wageslaven, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8The Hardware failure rate for Xbox 360 is industry norm 3-5%. There are no heating issues.
  • tacklebox, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13AppleTV is pretty lame, but it comes with an inflated sense of uniqueness.
    • FallenOmen, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3@tacklebox

      inflated sense of uniqueness.


      Sounds to me like digger ass hats in here ..............

      Sorry i'm not buying an inflated sense of anything Apple or Microsoft
  • xatx2, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11challenge appletv? there's no challenge. appletv is nothing
  • popothebright, on 10/11/2007, -15/+3LOL. Once again Microsoft proves themselves to be hilariously incapable of "branding".

    Let's review some of their choice brand names:

    ...."Windows XP Media Center Edition" (LOL! WTF is that?!) ----------> Retarded

    ...."Windows Media Center" (Is that like iTunes? How many people actually use the word "Media"? LOL) ------------> Retarded.

    ....."Windows Live Search" (Uh... that sure is a lot of words for your search engine. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue) ------------> Retarded.

    ...."Windows Live Messenger" (What clown up at Microsoft decided that the word "Live" was descriptive of *anything*? Please tell me they're not seeking the trademark for it... oh... of course they are....) -----------> Retarded


    .....And now... (drum roll please) We have the new brand name from Planet Earth's most brand-challenged company: "Microsoft IPTV"!

    But don't applaud yet, because you won't actually be able to buy a product with that name. Instead you'll be purchasing something like "Microsoft IPTV Professional for Vista Media Center Edition". And then the geniuses up in Redmond will scratch their heads and wonder why "AppleTV" has better consumer traction.

    -------> R E T A R D E D

  • wasyz, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Wow, challenging the market leader? I'm sure MS is honored.
  • vunzzz, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Apart from the closed platforms (walled gardens) there are also more open alternatives to such platforms. The ToxTox project (http://toxtox.tv/) is implementing a completely free and open alternative to the platforms mentioned above. It uses open standards and is fully extendable (just like Firefox) to add more and more features every day. In stead of letting the platform and content providers decide what's available for you to watch ToxTox provides complete power to the end users. Just install it on and old PC or laptop and your TV is free!
    • Topher06, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Yes, closed = bad, open = good. The problem is that closed = reality, open = a dream. Digg is your soapbox. Yawn.
  • snotrokit, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1hmm, another live .net media center professional premium students and teachers edition release from MS.

    Like polishing a turd. Neither for me thank you very much.
    • Darcy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7"hmm, another live .net media center professional premium students and teachers edition release from MS."

      Do you really think 'Media-room' sounds anything like "live .net media center professional premium students and teachers edition"?


      "Like polishing a turd. Neither for me thank you very much. "

      bla bla bla, 'polishing a turd', 'lipstick on a pig', bla bla bla. I'm sure Microsoft are going to really upset that they don't have your support.

  • mistahroth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I've seen the Microsoft IPTV in action, the company I work for (I don't know if its confidential or not so I won't mention the name) is partnering with Microsoft for it, I got to see it working on my first day here. It's pretty nice looking, the design is really good and it has some interesting features, like 0 delay when changing the channels.
    • roXet, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Who do you work for? Just kidding. I think I know already, there's only one company big and stupid enough to pick MS for their IP TV plantform. =)

      Since you have seen the MSIPTV, can you answer a question for me. Is it true that the set top box boots off a unicast stream from the server? That is the rumor I am hearing from vendors and they also say that the boxes take around 10 minutes to boot and you can only boot up one at a time.

      Good luck when the power flashes. =)
    • XStatic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4AT&T, Verizon, Swisscom, British Telecom,Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom, someone else?
  • Topher06, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Lets not forget that Microsoft had envisioned IPTV long before Apple's knee jerk reaction with the AppleTV. AppleTV is a network media box, nothing more. IPTV is a potential challenge to cable and satellite content distribution. AppleTV is not even in the same category. More Apple fanboys trying to find relevance in their beloved company.
    • B1663r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Topher,

      Apple TV isn't even that (unless I misunderstand what it is...) the Apple TV is just a iPod hooked permanently to your TV. So with Apple TV when you want to watch a movie, you have to go to your computer, mess with the flaky iTunes interface to pay $10! to download a movie, then transfer it to your Apple TV device. Now you "own" the video and can watch it any time you want.

      Problem is, people generally don't re-watch movies after they watched them once, which is why apple is now panicking and trying to get the studios to sign onto their rental system, lest the near total failure of iTunes Movies starts to weigh down the iPod halo.

      On the other hand, XBox live rules! OMG I have become such a XBox fanboy. OMG I need to take teh break and play some more Geometry wars.
  • ehelm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Everyone... this isn't even the same as AppleTV. These two products don't even compete directly for the same market.

    Microsoft's IPTV product is a middleware platform for service providers who are delivering a broadcast cable tv type solution to their subscribers. AT&T's U-Verse service is an example, which uses the Microsoft IPTV middleware for the EPG, VOD, DVR, etc. The new release just adds the ability to watch the cable programming on your PC, or DVR recordings on your PC, along with the rest of the newly mentioned features. Some competitors to MS in this space are Kasenna, Myrio, Minerva, Espial, etc.

    The AppleTV product is nothing more than an appliance to download videos from the 'net, iTunes preferred, and interface it easily to the TV.
  • mkrygeri, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4what really pisses me off about this is that there is STILL no way to build a DIY media extender box. I don't want to pay for an f'n xbox 360!!!!
    • mephitix, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yeah I agree. The only thing I can do is rely on network-level integration rather than application-level -- build two PCs, one in the living room, one in the office, and network the two. I wish it were as easy as the MCE app level functionality
    • B1663r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3You can buy a MCE for about $150-200, and they are about 5"x5". Why would you want to build your own?
  • toxicityj, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5"Yeah it's so cool when Microsoft copies apple, and we all know that the products the copy off them are so much slicker than the original."

    Oh yeah! you're right! MS is copying off of Apple TV, which does the same thing X360/Media Center has been doing for 2+ years.
  • battletrax, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1If apples barely selling apple tv, then why make competition to them?

    Wheres my zune phone at :)
  • HairyPoter, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1here comes MeTooCrosoft M$TV. The guys are pathetic.
    they ares desperate in Redmond trying to defeat Google and Apple and forgetting to invest in new ideas and concepts, instead of buying companies or ideas from other companies (like M$ Surface developed by Jeff Han). Zune is a failure, Vista is a failure, Office is losing terrain, Live is a failure, MSN Search is a failure, Play4Sure was a failure... M$ is spinning down in free-fall.
    • B1663r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3And the delusional poster of the day award goes to...
  • BLACKEAGLE, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1apple fan boys have small dicks, i saw that on a rumor site
  • chrismccorkle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Microsoft- the Curly of the computer world.
    Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck.

    Also, while being a Mac user, I would never purchase AppleTV. Remember the U2 iPod?
  • iplayyouandme, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Just another project for MS that will bleed money.

    X360? Its a game machine. Apple TV is not a game machine so why compare them. Besides, the X360 is bleeding money. So much for success. Why not cut the wound open a little wider by dumping more money into it with IPTV.

    The only profitable business MS has is Windows and Office, everything else is bleeding money. MS is a two trick pony surviving on a monopoly of inferior technology. RIAA, MPAA, CELL PHONE CARRIERS, and MS, what's the difference?
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