Media Center TV Pack – Vendors Jockey for Position Pre-CEDIA

The big announcement on TV Pack (aka "Fiji") will come at CEDIA, but Fluid, S1Digital and Cannon hope to take the early lead.

Image courtesy of Fiji Suva Mission

Aug
15

By Julie Jacobson
Filed in: News, Product News, Media Center, CEDIA
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08.15.2008 — The day after we published news from Fluid Digital about incorporating Microsoft's TV Pack into the next generation of Media Center, we got a reminder from S1Digital that they were first, and a press release from Cannon PC announcing its implementation of TV Pack.

Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008, formerly known as "Fiji," enables advanced TV functionality for Windows Media Center, most notably the integration of ClearQAM (unencrypted digital cable) content within the Media Center ecosystem.

The official word on TV Pack will come at CEDIA Expo 2008, but PC vendors are already jockeying for position.

S1Digital's Paul Heitlinger says, "We just started shipping systems with TV Pack this week."

Cannon PC says it will begin shipping systems with TV Pack beginning in early September.

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Still, none of them is allowed by Microsoft to divulge much about the new platform. Fluid's Chris Morley sort of speaks for them all when he says, "I can't speak for what other OEMs are doing. I can just tell you that these are the features of our PCs."

Like the others, Cannon says its PCs have native support for four digital cable tuners, ClearQAM tuners, and PlayReady (more details in our original TV Pack story).

One big reason that PC makers want to get into the game early is because TV Pack is not available as an upgrade to existing Vista PCs. It can only be found in new computers.

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Julie Jacobson, Editor-at-large, CE Pro

As a co-founder of EH Publishing in 1994, Julie has edited and contributed to all of the company's publications at one time or another. An authority on home automation, networking, integration, digital convergence and the CE pro channel, Julie speaks often about these subjects at industry events. She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan, and received an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Julie is a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player.