Engadget HD Podcast 136 - 05.14.2009
By Trent Wolbe 
posted May 14th 2009 2:00PM
posted May 14th 2009 2:00PM
We're sticking with our format of taking live comments from the Ustream chat at the end of each topic. Big news on the HTPC front this week, as a way to get CableCARDs working with non-OEM supplied systems was unveiled and we even went through the process of getting the job done. If DIY HTPC tech isn't geeky enough for you, you'll probably like our HD 101 explanation of some of the alphabet soup in HDTV. We also talk about some gear that's passed through our hands lately, including the SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone, Samsung's wall-mounted BD-P4600 Blu-ray player, and Logitech's Harmony Adapter for the PlayStation 3. Toss in some discussion about BD-Live's failure to capture our imagination, debate about whether to take in the new Star Trek movie in an IMAX or DLP theater, DISH Turbo HD customers missing out on the latest HD offerings, and chewing over what to do about line conditioners for your theater rig, and we call it a podcast!Get the podcast
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh, Steven Kim
Producer: Trent Wolbe
00:01:38 - Comments from Engadget HD Podcast 135 - 05.06.2009
00:06:40 - How to install a CableCARD tuner in your DIY Media Center
00:24:00 - HD 101: What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
00:36:56 - SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone coming shortly: $29.99, no 3G support
00:42:28 - Hands-on with the Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray player
00:52:05 - Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 -- official, real, and in our hands
00:57:30 - Sony Pictures responds to your poll results, discusses the future of BD-Live
01:04:43 - Best Buy still leads in Blu-ray sales, but Wal-mart is closing in
01:07:22 - Poll: Is Star Trek better at an IMAX or a DLP theater?
01:12:55 - All DISH customers with 5 new national HD channels step forward -- not so fast Turbo HD subs
01:16:45 - Ask Engadget HD: Best power and line conditioners for a big home theater?
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just wanted to comment that itunes movie rentals finally put a rent hd button on the rental
section of itunes for thise of us who have mac minis it's great but rentals are still 5 bucks.
heres a good example of what power conditioners can do. In my appt i used to have basically the entire ht was on 1 circuit including:
1080p PJ
HTPC 4 drives
Sound receiver
powered Sub
lights
small fridge for beverages
plus some other small extras
So the system was great until the small fridge compressor would kick on. The receiver for what ever reason would loose the Dobly Digital over SPDIF signal from the HTPC. For a couple seconds you would see the DD from the OSD disappear along with the audio. I added a power line conditioner on the HT stuff. Then this never happened.
~Mitchell
Another great show guys, and I think the new mics do make a difference.
I'm surprised nobody in the chat was able to fill in your blanks on 8VSB's sister, COFDM. Sounds like you need a guy like me to join in the live chat.
And I gotta disagree on your comparison of DLP vs IMAX to HDDVD vs Blu Ray. Things that are nativly filmed in IMAX kick solid ass compared to a standard DLP movie.
@Ben Drawbaugh.
I think most people who are not into the profanity, sex in movies go complaining to the movie studios demanding them to make PG version of a R rated movie. We just don't watch it or wait till it comes out and TV.
Anyway, God Bless you sir from your BIBLE THUMPING listener (aka Christian).
@Ben Drawbaugh.
I think most people who are not into the profanity and sex in movies go complaining to the movie studios demanding them to make PG version of a R rated movie. We just don't watch it or wait till it comes out and TV.
Anyway, God Bless you sir from your BIBLE THUMPING listener (aka Christian).
once again Jailbroken Iphones come through with the 3G streaming for the slingplayer.
Bens new mic seems very direction sensitive, his volume get a bit to low now and then.
Yeah, before the mic was on a headset so it moved with my head, now when i move my lips away from the mic on my desk the volume gets low. I just need to get used to staying close to it.
the new recording setup sounds great. did i hear someone's iphone text message alert?
What's with the sage tv bashing? I don't know if it was on this podcast or Ian's or Ent2.0 (it's hard to keep up with the "Where is Ben podcasting now?" watch), but you always talk about how you think the killer app for Windows Home Server has to do with integrating Media Center into a service on WHS. Guess what? Sage does that already and if you're OTA like me (and you are), it does everything you need to do. It'll even integrate your BD collection if you want to rip it from the source discs.
But I forgot, it's not VMC.
To keep an apples to apples comparison between CableCard and the HD-PVR:
I believe you need to pay a rental fee for each CableCard, correct? So you either rent a box or a card...it's a draw.
Just how available are these CableCard adapters? E-bay @ $195 is sold out huh...thousands of HD-PVR's are available at 100's of retailers for $219 retail and $149 during frequent specials.
With CableCard, you are eternally tied to...(duh) cable. You can never switch to FIOS or Satellite and use your CC tuners.
Channel Changing: CC wins, but really, I have never had a mis-tune with serial changing and DirecTV.
Quality: Technically CC wins...practically, from 10 ft away on the couch...you'll never see the difference.
DRM: LOL, we know the answer to tis one.
Platform: Windows VMC/7MC for CC .vs Sage, Beyond, Myth, GB-PVR, CtPVR, Medio, etc...
Again, kudos to the guys that got this working...it's awesome. But Cablecard isn't better or easier than the HD-PVR. Keep up thr great work.
CableCard and the HD-PVR are about equal: You have to rent stuff either way (CC or a box). The HD-PVR's can be had cheaper from 100's of retailers, not the E-bay lottery. You can use Cable, Satellite, or FIOS with the HD-PVR, as well as BeyondTV, Sage, Myth, Media Portal, etc... Serial channel changing is reliable if not as neat, and the quality is great from the couch. Heck the HD-PVR is better. Congrats to the guys that figured it out though, seriously.
(2nd post due to my 1st comment not appearing...yet?)
PaulF
Great podcast guys...I enjoy it every week. There's been quite a few mentions on several podcasts on how the PS3 is definitely not the go to source for Blu-Ray material. What I've been missing is why? I'm not necessarily disputing that statement, just curious if you're stating it strictly based on the price, disc load time or actual appearance? What other reasons are there...besides mounting it to a wall? I think I've heard Steven mention that the crossbar interface was poor or confusing...I wouldn't think anyone on this site would have a problem navigating through it if my wife can. I've had my PS3 for about a year, but would not consider myself a gamer, though I do have a couple. Besides BD content (no complaints), I personally get much use out of it for streaming music for family gatherings (easy to do a genre shuffle), viewing pictures (the PS3 game controller makes it so simple to zip through them while rotating them on screen for proper viewing orientation and also zooming in), downloading game demos (the length of the demo is usually the only amount of time I have to invest in a game anyways) and also viewing any movie clips I've taken on my digital camera (not HD, but still fun to share). I upgraded the HDD to 250gb, so I also implement the "rip and return" to the HDD so I'm not popping in discs all the time. I've found it very convenient with the one exception of the disc load times...which apparently isn't too bad in comparison to the many BD players out there. I'd like to know what I'm missing from a standalone BD player? Thanks!
A point to remember when you are talking about film (and film stocks). Just because a movie is edited "digitally" doesn't mean that the movie has been put to a digital form and taken back to film.
In many cases, the negative is telecined to a SD video for editing and then thru a lot of magic and tracking files (key numbers, time code, etc.) the original negative is cut and the movie printed. In fact in printing and color correction many, many "first trial" prints are made silent for the cinematographer and director to approve color corrections and density.
Then the negative is printed to an intermediate from which dupe negatives are made to strike the prints you see in a theatre. In some cases a "digitial intermediate" might be made in which case the selected pieces of negative are rescanned at 4K and then a DI is made from which dupe negatives are printed.
There are some pure digital pictures (like Pixar) but hi-res scanning and DIs are expensive. On the other end, many documentaries which are shot with HDCAM are edited electronically and then a run to a film recorder.
If you want to know more (I doubt you do), I would be happy to fill you in. I have spent my working life making movies and tv shows on both film and tape and was among the first to shoot film, edited "digitially" (we call it non-linear) and go back to film. Some of the tv movies in the early 80s just telecined to 1 inch tape and then conformed that tape and were forever locked into SD.
WTF. ‘NTSC is pretty widespread throughout the whole world’ !!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PAL-NTSC-SECAM.svg
Sorry, not much else to say.