@Jeff Kibuule: Agreed. PS3 makes for an excellent, upgradable BD player. The problem with any normal one is that since vendors drop support for standalones all the time (yearly, I expect) you'll eventually lose the ability to use any new features when they come out. Since the PS3 will continue to be upgraded (since it's more than just a BD-player, and has gaming in mind) I'll never recommend a cheaper device with limited life... and that's why I, too, have a PS3.

It's not a lie, techincally.

The problem is that they are asking for SOC today, only for new content. Fine. However, what's to say they don't lock it down later on? Basically, it's the first step towards more control... just because they say they won't do it TODAY doesn't mean they won't do it forever.

A perfect example is QAM digital cable. Now that the cable industry has their waiver for little crappy DTA boxes, those of us in far-away areas who had watched OTA signals come over the cable line as ClearQAM are now being screwed out of that. Even though the Telecom act supposedly says they cannot degrade or encrypt the local channels, the waiver grants them this ability, and most carriers are doing it immediately. Sure, they give you a free DTA box (for now) but it spits out an RF-modulated analog signal that is certainly "degrading" the qualty from ClearQAM. And why are they doing this? "Theft"... how can you steal a local-channel's HD feed is beyond me, but that's what they are claiming.

Now, I have no problem with them locking down their paid channels, but the FCC and the cable industry have screwed this up nicely to have QAM die a horrible death. Fact is QAM could have been a great way to ensure consumers get good digital signal, while allowing the cablecos to remove analog... but no one thought of that, did they?

So, "today" it might be a "lie" but history has shown that this is just the start of the grab... if we don't stop it now, we won't be able to stop it later.

Besides which, the claim is that the analog outputs promote piracy. Who is pirating movies via analog these days? Most of the pirated content are digital rips from theaters or screener copies... so how does SOC solve that? It doesn't... so who's lying now?

Persistent logins... ahhh... so nice.

I'm not quite as big of a fan of the larger pictures everywhere, but I'll just get used to it, I suppose :)

Great work!

Not quite... the point is that the programmer can use the SD for extra data - the user doesn't have to do this work of segregating the data, if the programmer does his/her job. Hackers can certainly do more with the App2SD software, but it's not required.

That being said, from what I'm reading, apps on Android are tiny... one user says his average is 500-800k, which means you could easily install over 300 apps... hardly limiting: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1584434 (see posts 4 and 7)

This is a non-issue... FUD

Brad is correct. After a long line of questioning to the FCC, apparently the waiver allows the cable cos to encrypt ALL channels, as long as they provide (a few?) boxes to decrypt the signal. In an email I just got back from the FCC:

"Thank you for your additional concerns.

Since your cable company plans to transition to a digital-only service, (which includes the basic service tier plus additional digital cable channels), cable providers may often insist that a set top box from the cable company is required to watch any digital cable channels including unencrypted channels.

Currently, basic tier subscribers, and some other subscribers who have additional television sets without set top boxes, can rely on the digital cable tuner in their television to receive basic tier programming without the need to obtain a box. However, if the basic tier is encrypted, these subscribers would need to obtain additional equipment (either a set-top box or a CableCARD).

You have noted that the cable company plans to provide free transport adapters (low-end cable boxes, as per the FCC waiver http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-1854A1.pdf, which will allow you to unencrypt the basic service tier.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Brenda Althoff
Consumer Advocate and Mediation Specialist
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau"

Nice. So although the cableco can provide a crappy RF box for these channels, you have the distinct "advantage" of losing the QAM signal completely, and hence get a low-res, SD, RF modulated signal. Great job, FCC.

Ben: True, but Tivo "just works". MCE still hiccups here and there, as does any HTPC in theory. Heck, WINDOWS hiccups enough for me to not trust it for 24x7 operation... whereas my Mythbox runs flawlessly for many months with no issues.

I wish Myth was Cable-card supported... damn cable industry. Your content is ALREADY being torrented, you morons... locking down the cablecard isn't going to fix that, as ALREADY seen. So stop pissing off customers like me.

Frankly, at this point, I'm considering dumping cable, going OTA digital, and then using Hulu for everything else... Comcast sucks. Cable industry sucks.

Damn right - next stop, Hulu. If I could get this, then I'd happily dump my cable company!

*wishes for native-Hulu on PS3*

I know you can get this with Playon (Sale on it right now, BTW... check retailmenot.com ) but it's finicky and can't fast forward nicely... native FTW. Please please please? :)

@Lazy Genius: You mean for Halo... that's pretty much the only game I ever see as an exclusive on 360 that's worth anything. IMO Halo sucks... plenty of other far-better FPS games out there, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm so tired of the "360 has better/more games" argument... it's BS. There isn't any exclusive game on the 360 that isn't equivalent (or, in some a few cases, surpassed) by a title on the PS3.

Exactly what I was thinking. People always complain about Myth/Linux being so hard to configure, and then I see things like this. This is "easy"?

Granted, Myth does it by default... but even the config screens in there aren't this cryptic.

I'll admit, though, the promise of Cablecards on MCE7 is alluring... of course, I'd have to buy new (faster) hardware to run it... which is why I probably won't bother. I can get a TivoHD for cheaper than an MCE7 setup, and with FAR less hassle.

Agreed... hopefully they manage this properly. Of course, history has shown this is rarely the case.

If they can provide a real client for my PS3 or MythTV box that streams HD, then I would be more than happy to pay for that privilege. Fact is, if they can pull that off, I'd be more than excstatic to flip off Comcast and go Hulu-only... which means Hulu could charge me more and I would still save money. But, again, only if they give me something more than what I have now.

Here's to hoping... but I'm not holding my breath.