On Saturday 01 July 2006 10:22, Dieter wrote: > > > Tivo wants a monthly fee. Tivo spys on you. Are you SURE that > > > Tivo will let you record any show you want, and archive it? And > > > will continue to do so? They are making another attempt to get > > > the broadcast flag into law. > > > > If that happens, you still won't be able to record anything, and=20 > > moreover, this would also affect any device we want to make. Laws > > apply=20 to everyone. Well at least theoretically. And TiVo isn't > > the only way=20 to get a media centre. I was using it as an > > example. > > The X-video-server does not contain a tuner, and thus does not > record. I haven't read the latest proposed broadcast flag law, but I > assume it would not affect the X-video-server.
So, your X-video-server which can not record anything at all is better than a media centre box that may not record some content because it honours a legally enforced broadcast flag? > > Well, yes. So why use a PC with a pizza box attached to it if you > > can=20 just get a media centre that just works? > > What is your definition of "media centre"? Okay, let me try: A media centre is a plastic box which my mother can buy in a shop, unpack, and place in the livingroom. She will then be able to read the manual, connect a cable to the TV, to the power outlet in the wall, and to the cable or DSL modem (unless that's included). She can then turn it on, and watch TV, record TV, watch DVDs, download movies and music, browse the internet, and heck, maybe my cousin can play a game or two when he visits, too." Another way of describing it would be "A media centre is a plastic box that can do anything I can do with my new mobile phone, except that it connects to my TV rather than having its own screen". (As an aside, I don't have a fancy mobile phone nor a media centre. I do own a TV that's slowly breaking down, and it probably won't be replaced when it goes. But I'm not a typical consumer) > And where do you get one that "just works"? Hard to find anything > these days that actually works properly. Agreed, for a definition of "works" of "does exactly what it should do, all the time, anytime". Which is what you and I would use. But I've noticed that many ordinary consumers are willing to (and do!) live with a much more relaxed notion of "works", namely that of "most of the time does something substantially similar to what I expected, without too much effort from my side". As an example, my mother complained to me that some web sites she visited didn't quite work properly in Firefox. When I asked which sites, she said she couldn't remember, and she hadn't written anything down. She was also quite happy with Firefox (and Ubuntu) overall... Lourens
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