• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

WindowMCE

ITV – Deep Dive
By Tae Ho Yoon

Window Media Center Edition and OCAP


"Summary and Highlights"

- User's Perspective:

1. Can users just use Media center or need other Software?
2. What's really different from Tivo and other devices?
(No subscription fees, and people just need the PC, which most people will eventually own - TV Tuner problem is now solved...)

- Content Producer's perspective

1. Technology
Pro:

• Possibility for whole user interface design with graphical effects (Popular Trend)
• Possible TV Guide Programming (Tivo-feature, but more open to producers)
• Easy Web Connectivity (ASP .NET and Window Media Player Plug-ins), and Web Conference (Shared Network)
• Easy Connectivity with other software (XBox, Email, and other useful software)
• TV Tuner is now merged into new Vista edition of Media Center (real Internet TV on PC...)

Cons:

• .NET Framework and Active X is very flexible and portable, but not many professionals unless trained...
• Programming required to further add more creative features

2. Content

• Current Content: Reuters Video and other contents (see below)
• Possible Future Contents: Mash-ups, Personal TV Guide Player, More Interactive Content with Dynamic User Interface, Content Possibility to Movie and Music
• Difficulty: Digital Right Management System can prevent some users to use this device...COST $$$

- Marketing/Business Perspectives:

* Partnership with Direct TV and British BSkyB
* 2 foot and 10 foot experiences altogether (MCE and Portable MCE)
* High-Tech Capability due to Intel Viiv chip: Easy Video Content Handling
* HD-DVD: More interactions in watching DVDs as searching while watching And can also include enhanced advertising content on the extra space HD-DVD provides
* MSN Video: http://soapbox.msn.com/
* plans to offer a consumer version of the professional software tools used to create video games for its Xbox 360 console
* Xbox Live hits 4 million users and 70 million pieces of content downloaded...

"What are the needs for Internet TV (ITV)"
When one thinks of ITV, they mainly think of watching TV within the medium of internet. Most people think of internet as a medium for surfing different web pages or download various multimedia elements. Indeed, Personal Computer, although it could be used as a mean for ITV, is often ignored, and instead, various set top boxes like Tivo are adopted to serve the role of ITV to audience.
However, when one tries to differentiate a set top box to a personal computer, there are not that many differences. For example, both are equipped with the latest compression technologies (MPEG-4's H.264/AVC codec; VC-1, etc.), both have access to high bandwidth for digital signal and different streaming sources, and both could be adapted with various other software and hardware to achieve other advanced features.
Then, the two main differences could be roughly enumerated as incompatible standards (different software and/or hardware are required to watch different providers) and the need for TV card adapter (in the case of PC). With these two needs in mind, let’s observe a possible solution to bridge the gap between personal computer and set top box for the medium of Internet TV.
The solution is indeed a Media PC, which is a convergence device that combines the functions of a personal computer and a digital video recorder. It can be purchased preconfigured with the required hardware and software needed to add television programming to the PC, as is commonly done with Windows Media Center Edition (MCE), or can be cobbled together out of discrete components as is commonly done with SageTV.


"What is Window Media Center"

Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of Windows XP Operating System designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The latest version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released on October 12, 2004. Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) is distinguished from other versions of Windows XP by an exclusive preinstalled application, Media Center, which provides the following:

- Large-font ("10-foot")
- Remotely accessible interface for TV viewing on the computer
- Recording and playback
- DVD playback, video playback
- Photo viewing
- Music playback

Because of strict hardware requirements, Microsoft has opted not to sell Media Center as an independent retail version. Consumers generally purchase Media Center preinstalled on a new computer, or from a reseller that sells OEM versions of Microsoft software.

"Required Hardware: PC and TV Tuner Card"
In order to receive and process television signals and other A/V signals, Media Center utilizes a TV tuner card. Media Center 2005 supports up to 4 tuners on a single computer (up to two analog tuners, and up to two HDTV tuners). Other connectivity features of Media Center include various inputs and outputs, for example for RCA type cables (e.g., from cassette players or analog videocassette recorders), microphones, digital video signals and other inputs. Analog to digital conversion within the tuner card enables users to convert older type media to digital media.

With version 2005, Microsoft has added support for Media Center Extenders—dedicated hardware devices that allow users to view the same content that is available on the MCE computer over wired or wireless Ethernet. Media Center has higher hardware requirements than other versions of Windows XP.

MCE 2005 requires the following specification of PC: - At least a 1.6 GHz CPU
- DirectX 9 H/W-Accelerated GPU
- 256 MB of RAM


Media Center is much more restricted in the range of hardware that it supports than most other software DVR solutions. Media Center tuners must have a standardized driver interface, and they must have hardware MPEG-2 encoders, closed caption support, and a number of other features.


"Window Media Center in the context of ITV"
Window MCE can be regarded as an OS adapted for Multimedia purpose within the medium of PC, and Media Center can be identified as the ITV application. On the other hand, as people already know, a set top box is also equipped with an OS, and different software to achieve the roles of ITV. Therefore, Window MCE is simply a platform for ITV, and it leaves user to use other ITV application, in place of Media Center. It’s similar to using Real Player or any 3rd party media player, instead of using Window Media Player. This indeed constitutes one advantage over other Set Top boxes, where the user doesn't really have freedom to install other application. Moreover, one could identify the complication of setting and using the TV-Tuner card in MCE environment, whereas TV-Tuner is built-into other set top box. // // In recent news: // // Microsoft and CableLabs Announce Agreement to Enable High Definition Digital Cable Programming on Windows-based PCs

Future Versions of Media Center PCs to Receive Digital Cable Programming without the need for a Cable Set-Top Box

On November 16, 2005, Microsoft Corp. and Cable Television Laboratories Inc. announced they have reached an agreement that will allow Microsoft and PC manufacturers to bring to market digital-cable-ready Windows Media Center-based PCs in the holiday 2006 time frame.

These Media Center PCs, capable of supporting a CableCARD module, will allow consumers to enjoy one-way cable programming, including premium high-definition cable content, on their personal computer and throughout the home on compliant network-connected devices, such as Xbox 360, while protecting cable operators' investments in high-value content in a digital environment. Microsoft is working closely with CableLabs to document final approval of Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) as a content protection technology for OpenCable products that receive one-way cable content under the terms of this agreement.

"This agreement is an important milestone for our customers who want access to high-definition digital cable content on their PCs and a major step toward enabling a solution for the delivery of that content," said Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of the Windows eHome Division at Microsoft.

"The cable industry is very interested in having the PC serve as another means to allow consumers to enjoy cable programming," said Richard R. Green, president and CEO of CableLabs. "By working with Microsoft and the IT industry, we have come up with a solution to enable consumers to enjoy the wide range of entertainment options they want."

"This agreement carefully balances the need to preserve the flexibility of the personal computer for consumers with the need for cable operators to be confident that the hardware and software shipped with compliant Media Center PCs will function like a CableCARD-enabled digital television," said Glenn Britt, chairman of CableLabs and chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable.

The agreement is the culmination of more than two years of extensive evaluation and technical reviews performed by the two entities under the CableLabs OpenCable process to develop specifications and test suites for the new solution.

The specified OpenCable architecture allows for multiple DRM systems to be used in the device and ensures content providers of protected delivery of content to the PC. Microsoft Windows Media Digital Rights Management is the first major DRM system to complete the due diligence necessary for approval by CableLabs.
The OpenCable project will continue to play an important role as the new agreement moves forward, allowing the cable industry to work closely with the consumer electronics and IT industries to innovate rapidly on the new specifications developed by Microsoft and CableLabs.

Media Center PCs deliver advanced computing and easy-to-use integrated digital entertainment experiences. To date, Microsoft has sold more than 4 million Windows XP Media Center Edition licenses, and more than 130 PC manufacturers are offering Media Center PCs around the world. The cable industry supports more than 370 models of digital televisions manufactured by 22 companies that display one-way cable content via CableCARDs.

The cable and computer industries both have a strong interest in being able to support premium, digital content on the PC. The goal is to allow consumers to attach their coax cable from the wall right into their PC. Many Microsoft Windows Media Center PCs already have a receiver board, but cannot receive "premium" content such as HBO, which is encrypted to prevent unauthorized use. Many new TVs come equipped with a slot for a "CableCARD" provided by the cable operator (supporting the operator's conditional access system) so they can receive premium content without a cable box. The OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) extends this capability to new PCs. OCUR is a new Cablelabs specification for products which will allow Media Center PCs running on the upcoming Windows Vista operating system to receive High Definition premium digital cable TV on the PC via high-speed connections and without a separate set-top box. Any vendor that wants to build an OCUR device must take it through a CableLabs certification process. This verifies that the device transforms content protected by cable's conditional access into content protected by an approved digital rights management system (DRM). CableLabs has approved both
Microsoft's Windows Media Digital Rights Management (WMDRM) platform and RealNetworks's Helix DRM for OCUR. OCUR-enabled Media Center PCs will be equipped with a CableCARD slot so the operator can provide a CableCARD to authorize digital services on the PC.

Then, from the perspective of an ITV user, there’s no different between Window MCE-equipped PC and a set top box. On one hand, from the perspective of an ITV content producer, there could be some differences. In order to realize what it is required to create, publish, and distribute various contents to this platform, or even to produce a different medium (interface) of ITV, it is important to understand what other people have been exploiting this platform in terms of creating new ITV features that could facilitate or enhance the content. This would further help one to realize what type of content is meant to be developed for this specific platform, and how to play around it.
"TV on the PC" can have multiple meanings.


"Main Features"
Unlike competing commercial DVR products, Microsoft does not charge a monthly subscription fee for its Media Center TV guide service.

Windows Media Center edition has traditionally been the leader in the media center software category, but it cannot be purchased separately to upgrade existing PCs; it only comes with new hardware purchases that meet Microsoft's Media Center certification process.

When in windowed mode, Windows Media Center edition resizes the window and all user interface elements proportionally to the full screen, so the user interface is fundamentally still for 10-ft usage.

Windows Media Center edition's reliance on .NET Framework makes it less suitable for plugin development.

Although Window MCE is regarded as a special type of OS to fulfill the needs of an ITV, it can also be described as an ITV application. An application is totally dependent on how it is programmed, thus leaving total freedom in feature selection to the programmer. Therefore, there already exist other various ITV applications, within the Window MCE platform. This could be first identified as the main advantage over other set top boxes, which usually come out with pre-defined set of ITV applications and features.

The following list of features demonstrates the possibility for creating different interactive contents for this particular platform.
- Possibility for Dynamic User Interface
3D accelerated graphics card of PC, and Window’s environment, which allow other UI programming language as Flash, gives users an opportunity to realize a more customized application for ITV.

- Media collection management
Different media format can be easily imported into the environment. This is achieved through looking at the media’s metadata tag. (Windows Media, iTunes, OGG/FLAC, APE, EXIF, and DVR-MS)

- Home networking support
Support for both a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) media server and an UPnP client. When the UPnP server is enabled, media collection can be shared to compatible UPnP devices on the same home network. From users' perspective, all media files on the home network are a single giant collection.

- Online service integration
Users can search and stream online videos from YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, Grouper, and DivX.com. High definition content on DivX.com can also be streamed with a high speed Internet connection. Users can also access pictures on popular photo sharing site Flickr, and stream online radios from Live365.


Then, the next questions can be the following (from content producer’s point of view)

- Who packages the video content?
- Who creates it?
- How is it paid for?
- What device is video content viewed on?
- Where is it viewed?
- When is it viewed?
- What media are controlled or displayed via the TV?
- What equipment does the TV connect to?
- How can the consumer see and select from all the available media choices, in a way that is simple and understandable?
- How is the video coded and technically brought to the user?
- What new or different services or features does that enable?



The following are the examples of content on MCE platform:

- ABC Family for Media Center is an extension of the ABCFamily.com website designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition. "See What's On Tonight" in the program guide, and check out cast bios, show descriptions, and photo galleries of your favorite shows. There is also a "Watch Now" button that instantly tunes the viewer in to ABC Family in a minimized Viewport (similar to a picture-in-picture function) that can toggle between full-screen and back in the click of a button.

- AOL Music On Demand, a new service from AOL for Broadband, provides access to today’s most popular music videos from the PC or TV, at anytime, at no additional charge. Watch the latest videos from top artists, or view original AOL programming including in-studio Sessions@AOL performances, and AOL Music Live concert series performances.

- Virtual Digital Cable (VDC), which has just launched its service, represents a different way of delivering video services on the PC. VDC provides IP-based multi-channel live and on-demand television broadcasting. It is a browser-based system that works with Windows PCs and Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones, using the Windows Media Player embedded in the browser to play the streaming video. Content is obtained from VDC by buying a subscription, which costs $11.95 per month. All support is done by email; there is no phone support. VDC's current channel selection is very limited and some, such as BBC America, Travel, Discovery and TLC, are only available on PDAs and smartphones.

- Dinosaur Highway, The Science Channel
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
With the perennially popular subject of dinosaurs, this project combined television with a multiplayer role-playing game based in an interactive prehistoric setting including video vignettes from the programme, with the weekly show providing information that helps users play the game. Players can modify the characteristics of their dinosaurs and are ranked according to their lifespan.

- Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Bravo
Microsoft XP Windows Media Center
A busy but elegant interface designed in Flash by Schematic provided a vehicle to drive viewers from products placed in the program to further information and ultimately commercial sites, although home improvement techniques rounded off the proposition. Microsoft was heavily involved in the development, which also included integration with Java enabled mobile phones to remotely record the show or register items of interest during the program.

- ESPN Motion videos
ESPN is offering a way for users of Media Center PCs to download directly from the Internet instant, high-quality, full-screen ESPN Motion video and watch it on their television or PC screen. ESPN Motion videos include game highlights, interviews, breaking news, classic moments in sports and more. Microsoft also is working with Kodak's wholly owned subsidiary, Ofoto, to develop a photo-imaging application that will let Ofoto customers access and view their digital images and share those images to their Ofoto account at any time from their television or PC display through the convenience of a remote control.

- Extending content choices for consumers, Microsoft today also announced 16 new films in Windows Media® High-Definition Video (WMVHD) from Artisan Entertainment, IMAX Corp., National Geographic Society and others, bringing users of Media Center Edition a home-theaterlike experience with 5.1 channel surround sound and video - up to six times the resolution of a standard DVD.

- Dora the Explorer, Nickelodeon
OpenTV
This project was built using Ensequence tools and targeted at an OpenTV box on the Echostar satellite platform, intended to be actually deployable in the current market. Aimed at 2-6 year olds, the emphasis was on keeping things very simple. A matching game involved selecting objects on screen that are the same as those chosen by Dora. At the end of the show there is a karaoke-style sing-along.

- American Experience, WGBH/PBS
OCAP
Created using the emuse ModelStream authoring tool, the object of this project was to involve viewers in the history of the American Experience, featuring Castro’s Cuba in this example. A simple menu and bookmark scheme, combined with SMS messaging of codes via mobile phone offers access to more content on the web or via an interactive voice menu system.

- TV411, Adult Literacy Alliance/PBS
OCAP DVR
The simple proposition of this project was a reading and maths educational programme for adults, featuring a five section menu system that allows viewers to explore items in more depth. An example from the prototype showed how to measure the perimeter of baseball diamond and then allowed the viewer to see this presented in a different way, engage in quizzes, games and related math lessons. A collaboration between NDS, Sun, and NPTV from Paris using their iTV Factory authoring suite, this project involved tweaking a French Thomson satellite set-top box to run NTSC.

- The L Word, Showtime
OCAP DVR
This project aimed to enhance the drama series, get viewers more involved with the characters and find out a little about themselves. Viewers were able to answer personal questions related to the dramatic points in the show, in some cases with extra video of the characters playing off the local storage. The pay-off involved being matched to one of the main characters in the show to receive a personally delivered message. Vidiom Systems provided technical support for the project which ran on their VISION Workbench OCAP simulator, in this case addressing a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD digital video recorder.

- Living for the Weekend, Scripps Networks
MSN Video Service for broadband
In essence this project provided a broadband console comprising short-form presenter-led video clips from the lifestyle show, with a second window and various other panes highlighting featured products, synchronised to the main programme. The project uses Microsoft Windows Media on a broadband internet protocol network and used the Zetools content creation interface, with the underlying XML schemas allowing it to be rapidly re-purposed for similar platforms.

- HiJack, MTV Networks
NDS MediaHighway/PowerTV
The concept of this project was predicated on ‘hi-jacking’ the channel with a suite of innovative retro-style games overlayed over back to back music videos. It combined a refreshing irreverence and an anarchic approach that complements the MTV brand. Produced for two technical platforms, the NDS technical team created deliberately crude interstitial graphics to link the games to build a compelling experience with obvious attraction to the target market.

- The Media Center Show Extra is a video accompaniment to the Media Center Show.

- FlickrMCE is a Flickr applications for Media Center and Big Screen Weather is a Weather application written in MCML for Vista. More details on this week show

In Media Center 2005, there is a mechanism called 'Media Discovery' which enables you to add folders of music/videos/photos to your Media Center libraries. It has several access points and different speeds of indexing. Read on if you want to hear more about what is going on with Media Discovery.

"Avivo Video Converter Extension for Windows Media Center Edition - Catalyst 6.6 introduces a Windows Media Center Edition Video Conversion utility. This utility will allow users to convert video content that is either recorded or available to Media Center Edition to a variety of different formats. The video content can be converted to MPEG-2, MPEG-4 SP, MPEG-4/AVC and Windows Media. iPod video and Sony PSP’s are also supported with an optimized profile for these devices."


"User Experiences"
Arguably, most consumers are going to spend most of their Media Center time using the TV functionality, as my own family has done. The My TV module includes options for accessing the Programming Guide, your Recorded TV shows and configuration, very basic search functionality, and the TV configuration settings. As with most Media Center modules, a picture-in-picture preview appears as well; in this module, live TV is loaded regardless of what you were viewing previously.

To watch TV in full screen mode, simply hit the TV/Jump button and you're in. From here, TV is similar to the experience you might have had previously with cable or satellite TV. For example, you can pause live TV. This is handy in a number of situations, such as when the phone rings, someone comes to the door, or as is so often the case in my house, our young daughter wakes up crying and needs attention. Media Center, like other DVR products, caches the incoming TV signal on the hard drive for about an hour, letting you come back later and continue watching. If you think you'll be gone longer than that, just start recording (more on that below). You can also fast forward and rewind through live or cached TV, mute the sound, and raise and lower the volume, all of which trigger attractive on-screen displays. Overall, the live TV functionality of Media Center is on par with other DVRs.

The Media Center Guide is wonderful and, unlike the other TV functionality supplied by the OS, quite a speedy performer. The Guide is loaded periodically from the Internet and stored locally, which might account for the performance gains. However, the channel numbers are laid out backwards, so that the higher numbers are at the bottom of the screen. This leads the illogical act of pressing the Up key on the remote to move down in the channel list. The Guide also includes a small picture-in-picture display, so you can continue to watch live TV as you browse around, and a handful of small ads, similar to what you might see on a Web page. However, unlike programming subscription info from TiVo or Replay, the Microsoft Guide is completely free, a huge improvement over rival products. Thus, this feature beats out any of the consumer electronics competition, though of course the underlying hardware purchase price is considerably higher.

The Recorded TV section of the My TV module lets you manage your recorded television shows. Recordings can be manual--simply hit the remote's Record button once while watching live TV, and the current show will be recorded--or more intelligent. For example, you can navigate through the Program Guide, select a show you'd like to record, and hit the Record button once. This will display a single red circle on the show in the Guide, indicating that the show will be recorded. Hit the Record button twice, and you can record a series; this displays a series of red circles in the Guide. By default, Media Center considers a series to be first run and reruns on that channel only, but you can change this through the Recorded TV interface. For example, you might want to record the Simpsons on every single channel, at any time, and keep the episodes until you decided to delete them. This feature is very well implemented, and on par with other DVRs. It's also a Godsend--my entire family has come to rely on the Media Center's DVR capabilities, and we all have shows scheduled now, which we can watch at any time.

It's also worth mentioning that recordings you make with Media Center can be backed up to recordable DVD, or copied over a network, and used on other XP SP1-based PCs with Windows Media 9 Series. Originally, Microsoft had planned to disallow this functionality, due to piracy concerns, but its customers complained enough that the feature was restored. Recordings are stored as regular files in the Recorded TV folder under Shared Documents.


"More: With Respect to OCAP"
\\OpenCable Application Platform, or OCAP, is a technical software standard created by CableLabs for the cable networks of North America. OCAP is the Java-based software/middleware portion of the OpenCable initiative. OCAP is based on the Globally Executable MHP (GEM)-standard, and was defined by CableLabs. Because OCAP is based on GEM, it has a lot in common with the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP)-standard defined by the DVB-project.

What's Needed For CableCARD with Media Center?

CableLabs and Microsoft recently announced that the CableCARD will soon be a part of future Media Center PCs. This is considered an important move for Microsoft and those hoping to position the PC as the center of the home entertainment experience. The CableCARD slips into some newer televisions and enables the TV to pick up digital cable service without the use of a set top box (STB). The current CableCARD standard only supports "one-way" services, so "two-way" services such as Video on Demand (VOD) and interactive program guides (IPG) are not supported. The industry remains months away from settling on two-way protocols. Because of the Microsoft/CableLabs agreement, CableCARDs can now be used with appropriately equipped PC systems to enable consumers to view digital cable TV services on their home PC.

The reason that it has taken so long for Microsoft and CableLabs to come to agreement is that the cable industry simply did not believe that Media Center PC's were trustworthy when it came to protecting video content. The PC is a relatively open system, one which is easily "accessorized" by new peripherals and software. Once DVD's Content Scrambling System was cracked, the entire cable industry became very nervous about opening up their content to manipulation by PCs.

Microsoft was told to come up with a software and hardware solution that would sufficiently protect video content against piracy and unauthorized duplication. But Microsoft was concerned that such a solution would make the consumer video viewing experience rather cumbersome and unfriendly, thus being antithetical to its larger goal of pushing consumers to view video on their PCs.

'''There is a "thorn" in two-way cable that may be giving Microsoft reason for concern. CableLabs has settled on something called the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) for supporting Java applets that can be downloaded into the host device. OCAP is based on a European specification called Multimedia Home Platform (MHP), and it was not developed by Microsoft. As well, Microsoft is very busy working on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), with the first major U.S. deployment by SBC scheduled for around January 2006. Microsoft's IPTV vision runs somewhat in competition to CableLabs' OCAP. Therefore, it remains to be seen how completely Microsoft will support OCAP in a two-way CableCARD-capable Media Center PC.'''