11.22.2006 — We have a nice story through Media Center Pro about the pros and cons of using an Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender vs. using a full-fledged PC as an even more full-featured "extender."

In most cases, the extra MCEs better fit the bill. Not so when CableCard rolls around in Vista.

During the Media Center Boot Camp at the Electronic House Expo, some of the Microsoft folks, who were quietly occupying the last row of seats, answered one of the few MCE subjects that Boot Camp chair Mike Seamons didn't know: You can't stream CableCard content across the network to another computer.

Actually, Mike confessed that he'd heard about this limitation, but was simply hoping it wasn't so.

If you want to stream the cable content to another location, you can only do it via Media Center Extenders, which, right now, means the Xbox 360.

CableCard is a new feature for Vista-enabled computers. In the past, Media Center Edition could accommodate analog cable, or could communicate with digital cable boxes via a complicated maze of IR contraptions. But it didn't have direct access to digital/high-def content either via cable or satellite.

CableCard is the answer. Vista MCEs can accommodate up to two CableCards per machine. They can stream to a total of five devices. Indeed, at EHX, Niveus demonstrated its high-end Media Center PC streaming HD CableCard content to four TVs via Xbox 360s.

While it doesn't hurt that Vista MCEs support CableCard, the solution has been derided for many reasons, not the least of which is its one-way-only capability.

Add this latest revelation to the list of CableCard's shortcomings. Those meanie cable operators want to ensure that their precious digital content doesn't leave a closed network, so you can't stream from PC to PC.

So here's the question: Next year we're going to start seeing third-party devices like DVD players and keypads embedded with Media Center Extender technology, thanks to platform-independent software from Microsoft code-named Pika.

So I guess now the cable guys will dictate which class of products can enjoy Pika technology. Can you put it in a DVD recorder, for example?

UPDATE 11/23
Two questions have come up: Can you use Xbox 360s to initiate CableCard recordings on the host MCE? Absolutely.

Can you stream protected CableCard content from the MCE to the Xbox? Yes.

Tim Cutting from Niveus tells us, just like ATSC, the shows will bear the HDTV or DTV logo if they are being broadcast in HD. They will also contain metadata that alerts you that the program may be protected content. This is helpful so you understand you do not have the same freedom of movement with the file as you do with non-protected broadcasts via NTSC.