Jim's Blog

Why can't I stream digital content throughout my house via 802.11b/g wireless!?

*UPDATE* This update just in from 2Wire! *UPDATE*
Here is the "official response I received from 2Wire support via email regarding DirecTV.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for contacting 2Wire Customer Support. The following is intended to answer your inquiry:

Currently we are not shipping the Media Portal at this time but to answer your question, we can not guarantee it will work with your service provider. We will only be marketing this product for SBC DSL / Dish Networks. There may be a chance that it could be offered on CDW as are our Home Portals but we don't even know of this yet. We are expecting to have this rolled out in Mid-2005 but no official date.

If this response has not answered your question or resolved your issue you may visit our support Website at http://support.2wire.com or reply to this email.

Thank You,
Marc L.
2Wire Customer Support

I have sent a similar request to DirecTV and received this response.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for writing. I have forwarded your message to the appropriate
department for further review. Thanks for your patience while we look
into this further.

Sincerely,

Karen
DIRECTV Customer Service

More as it happens!

Okay, it's 2005 and we as humans have already mapped the human genome. We are well on our way to creating Nanobots that will form machines the size of atoms. IP technology is in YOUR house right now and most of you don't even know what it is. Okay, most of you who read this Blog know (except for my family members). Why can't I easily deploy the technology that I KNOW is out there to do what I WANT to do? Anybody? Teddy put your hand down this is not the part were you talk about remote control oscillating fans!

I'm talking about digital entertainment and the distribution of it in yours and my humble abode. Digital Television content is available almost everywhere in the US, unless your view of the South Eastern sky is obstructed or your local cable provider doesn't offer digital cable. I happen to have DirecTV and have been happy with it for the most part. I happened to purchase a TiVo through DirecTV last fall for $70 (which turned out to be $130 after installation). TiVo is awesome, but don't let me get side tracked. It has taught me that there is actually very little content that I WANT to watch on TV. If i were to choose the content and have the capacity to store it, and view it, where I want and when I want I would watch less crap and actually enjoy it more.

That said. TiVo just announced at CES that they were releasing TiVoToGo software free to subscribers. This software would allow you to download the content stored on your TiVo directly to a PC or Laptop to be burned on DVD or stored. This feature, unfortunately, is not available to people who purchased units through DirecTV!? Crap!

This brings me to my next wish. I wish to not only store this content on a PC / Server, but also serve this content via my wireless network to other TVs in the house. There are many piece part solutions out there that can provide a solution to much of this dilemma. The Mighty Microsoft has it's own Media Center that they have begun hawking. I think that I have found a solution that I like in the 2wire Media Portal. It is not available in my area yet however. Foiled again! If I could only get DSL and DirecTV to work on this box! I could hook up all of the wireless crap after the fact and presto!

I will continue the search for digital entertainment bliss, and keep you all informed if I indeed stumble into Nirvana.

Bandit

Rock Star to release Vice City San Andreas on XBox!

I dropped by the local EB last week (that's gamer speak for Electronic Boutique) and what did I see? Empty game boxes announcing the upcoming release of Vice City: San Andreas on the XBox platform in June! Could it be? After Sony paid an undisclosed amount (but rest assured millions of dollars) for exclusivity to the Playstation 2? Well it is true, or it at least seems to be. EBGames.com is taking pre-orders for the game even as we speak. I can't imagine that they would set themselves up for a refund nightmare if the deal fell through at the last minute. More likely that the deal struck with Sony was for limited exclusivity, giving them time to reap the benefits of "first to market". Since Sony owns roughly 60-70% of the U.S. console market (unconfirmed numbers) they will still make their numbers on the Rockstar franchise. The damage will only come in the reviews that will inevitably follow on the graphically superior XBox.

So until June I will have to keep myself ocupado with a little PC game called LOTRBFME. What? Don’t know what that is either? Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth. Man, will you people ever get hip!

Bandito

PS. Yes, I used the word “hip”! It’s coming back! Really!