@ matt & strick, thanks for the feedback. sounds like you are using it mainly for ripped physical video media. i guess my htpc is still my best option, although the roku box is on my radar too .....

Before I start, let me say: I am not trying to denigrate this product. I am truly trying to understand it. I think I'm missing something.

So, when I see these types of things, they always look really cool and then I think "What would I do with it if I had it?" I have lots of mp3s. I have a Win 7 box hooked up to a 42" 720p tv. I use it to watch clear qam cable, mlb.tv, and hulu occasionally, and I listen to xm through it also. I don't have a lot of DVDs but when I want one I just pick it up from the local rental store. So, my question is, where does the content for this WD gadget or the Popcorn Hour come from? Are most of you buying and ripping DVDs & Blu Rays? Why is it better to use this device then just playing them through the drive? Seems like its more work just for the coolness factor. Or can you use Netlfix online or a similar service? Or is there some major stash of online HD content (aside from the legally questionable P2P stuff) that I'm just missing? Or is it just that one of these boxes does most of what an HTPC would do but at a fraction of the cost? Any help appreciated. Thanks. And like I said, I'm *not* backhandedly smacking this product. Just trying to understand if it has a place in my living room.

I promise I won't leave it out in the yard....

save the economy? why? we'll just screw it up again.

Actually, mlb.tv expects to get rid of blackouts soon.

http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2009/05/mlbtv-expects-to-do-away-with-blackout-restrictions-sooner-than-you-think.html

As a mets fan in NC, the blackout was only a minimal problem anyway, so we dumped cable as soon as hockey season ended. I'm pretty excited about the boxee announcement. Unfortunately, unless the NHL can push a decent feed online, I'll have to crawl back to TWC this winter. :(

Fix the economy? Let em eat cake... oh, wait, that didn't work so well the first time around...

The problem with this is that it has nothing to do with preserving their bandwidth. Its a Cable TV company manipulating pricing to favor their content over web content. More and more people are dumping $70/month cable packages in favor of $45/month internet packages and getting all of their video from the web. That's what this is about.

Does anyone know what the asterisk next to Fox Sports Carolinas HD means? I got the email from TWC and of course there is no explanation at all of what the asterisk means.

Yeah, I live in Raleigh-Durham too. This looks like the same navigator I've had for probably over a year now. Can't wait to get rid of it actually. Not sure if its the hardware or the software but I can't stand it. U-verse, please help!

HP Shift ... hmmm ... cross marketing opportunities with Nissan maybe?