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Stream HBO Over Internet with FiOS, Windows 7
That comes courtesy of Microsoft's new support of Copy Freely (CF) a designation assigned by content providers.
Before WMC's support of Copy Freely, you could only stream CableCard content to Media Center Extenders, not to other PCs. With Media Center, everything looked like it was copy protected, so you couldn't even stream local news from the Media Center in the living room to the Media Center in the bedroom.
Now, any TV show or channel with the CF tag can be streamed, whether live or recorded, to other PCs.
As our Windows Media Center (WMC) guru Derek Flickinger reported yesterday, FiOS seems to be very generous with its content tagging. He has yet to find any channels within the FiOS lineup that are protected.
Even HBO, Showtime and Starz are designated Copy Freely by FiOS (until someone reads this article). That's according to Flickinger's analysis via the MCIA DCT Diagnostics Tool (below).
HBO over the Internet
Flickinger has yet to record a premium station for streaming, but Paul Heitlinger of S1Digital has successfully streamed FiOS HBO – not just over the home network, but over the Internet with Win 7.
To do that, you need to properly configure Windows Media Player at both the home and remote PCs to allow Internet access. Your Windows Live account associates the machines with each other.
"Then everything that is on one PC can be viewed on another, anywhere in the world," Heitlinger says. "It's like Slingbox built into Windows 7. You can also stream music, photos and videos."
You won't get HD at the receiving end because the signal is transcoded to a lower bit rate and quality.
Even so, says Heitlinger, "The picture quality was definitely watchable. If I were traveling, it would be a perfect solution for watching recorded TV in my hotel room (or at work when I need to goof off)."
Yesterday, we reported on rumors that some of the cable systems might be copy-protecting virtually all programming.
In Silicon Valley, Gordon Van Zuiden of Cybermanor says everything looks good with Comcast.
"Everything besides premium channels is Copy Freely, including movies on the regular channels," he says. "You don't get the movie channels, but I'm not worried – eventually those will go away."
Paul Heitlinger is the boss, so he can watch TV while at work at S1Digital. Here he's streaming premium content from FiOS over the Internet from his Win 7 PC at home.
6:16 pm - Update from Derek:
I spent a little time recording a bunch of shows. I focused on the HD channels and mostly on channels that are known problems (HBO) or are not part of a regular service package. So far everything is great. They all have copied and played locally. They also stream across the network from the machine that recorded them or from a Windows Home Server share. They look and sound great. Life is good.
Now I am sure someone will get it into their head to start turning on the built-in protection scheme or limit this somehow by using some sort of broadcast flag mechanism, but until FiOS starts honoring the source material’s CCI bits, this is great. Of course, with FiOS, the picture quality is great, too. Time to go buy another large drive or two for the server. Now that S1Digital is going to be offering their solution for live TV for any client I want to use, it is time to get rid of the whole Extender architecture.
Digital Content is one of 6 pillars of EHX Spring 2010, Orlando, Fla.
Microsoft Windows 7
 | 5 Reasons Windows 7 is Good for Installers Windows 7 will lead to more competition, more integration with A/V components, more automation functionality, more system design options and more revenue. Windows 7 Launch Party: CE Pros Gone Wild With all that hootin' and hollerin' over Windows 7, we wonder how these guys can call themselves pros! 10 Useful Add-Ons for Windows 7 Add Hulu to Windows Media Center, tweak hard-to-find settings and more." Stream HBO Over Internet with FiOS, Windows 7 Windows 7 support for Copy Freely, coupled with Verizon FiOS's generous content protection scheme, enables Windows Media Center to stream premium content over the home network or the Internet. Hands On: Windows 7 With 'Copy Freely' Support In the past, you could not share CableCard content -- even non-protected content -- from a Windows Media Center PC; now you can (and skip commercials, too!). Microsoft: Add Own CableCard, Switched Digital Video, Copy Freely Microsoft at CEDIA Expo 2009: Easy to add digital cable tuners (DCTs) to any Win 7 machine, fixes for switched digital video, and the ability to copy freely for tagged content. | |
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10 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
So we will be able to do what S1digital is doing after all, with the streaming of live TV to other Media Centers. This is huge!
No, Xuden. Copy Freely on Win 7 only allows for sharing of RECORDED content, not live. The S1 product lets you stream LIVE(whether copy-protected or not)—so it’s just like being there. So between the two, you’ve got your bases covered.
The way I understand the S1Digital solution, LiveTV is still only available to the one Media Center the tuner is paired to, but now its done over the network instead of direct USB or PCI connection, which is still pretty cool for integrators (no kludgy ATI USB tuners in the room). TO work around this, could someone just hit record on a LiveTV broadcast and then immediately access and play it as a recorded program in progress? Will Win7 and Copy Freely let you immediately start watching a recording even if its only 15 seconds behind live?
Xuden, the S1 solution’s difference is that you can play back (stream isn’t the right word really) of live TV content over the network, from a WHS based system. If you don’t have the space to physically put the tuners in a single location, use something like this: http://www.usb-over-network.com/ (note that the big box you use can’t be WHS - CC tuners don’t have drivers in WHS)
If space isn’t an issue, and you don’t need the tuners in a single location… then there’s nothing that the S1 offers you can’t do on your own really.
Definitely check out arandazz’s post & his work here: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/77846/385210.aspx#385210
What we all really need is softsled. The way that this article is presented is just confusing; these new features, while definitely cool, doesn’t really solve the problems that everyone from day 1 has been talking about with planning/syncing/doing recordings from a single point. You still have a bunch of systems w. disparate upcoming recordings.
Casey: As you probably know, streaming of LiveTV over the network is only possible via Media Center Extenders or Xbox360 (which acts as an extender.
What S1 is doing, is basically putting all of the cable card tuners in one place and let the other media centers on the network discover them as a local tuner.
In reality, each tuner is assigned to a specific client pc and this pc can only use the assigned tuner. This is different from the extenders methodology where each extender can access any of the tuners installed on the Media Center.
It is actually pretty neat workaround and provide a great (although a bit costly) solution to use mini pc as a client rather than extender which is limited in other ways.
With the lifting of the OEM restrictions for CC, the need for USB or other analog/digital tuners is becoming less desired because ClearQAM, (which is the free digital channels you can get with these tuners) is becoming more and more hard to get from cable providers.
So to conclude, S1’s solution fills an important gap and allows you to stream your entire digital content, including protected LiveTV, over the network.
Eyal Kattan
MEDIA NEXUS INC
S1 plus Win 7 copy freely covers the sharing of live and recorded TV with other PCs (since we can kiss extenders goodbye). In the case of S1, you can also stream unprotected content. Win 7 just does Copy Freely.
I understand it’s a little confusing, but LIVE TV and RECORDED TV are different things. Windows 7 (with the new Ceton Tuner and upcoming ATI firmward upgrade) covers the sharing of (copy freely) recorded TV between PCs.
The benefit of the S1Digital solution is that you can centralize all your TV Tuners in a rack and share them, over the network, to any PC in the house. The cool thing is that this means that any wireless laptop, UMPC, touchscreen (e.g. HP Touchsmart), small Media Center can watch and record LIVE cable HDTV without needing a physical tuner attached (plus of course watch/listen to movies, music, photos, etc). This is huge for customers that want to watch TV in the kitchen, office, outside, etc without having to run RG6 to each location and having the big bulky tuners conencted and the associated spaghetti of cables.
The tuners DO attach to our Entertainment Server, which is based on WHS, this is something that we developed. The clients can associate with any tuner that is shown on the network.
Hope that clears up some confusion.
Paul
Thanks for the clarification Paul but I still have a few questions. I totally recognize the value of locating the tuners centrally. We sell the Niveus ZONE, nearly identical to your S1Digital Mini, such a sleek and comapct form factor in the bedrooms it’s a shame to attach the bulky and ugly ATI USB Digital Cable tuner to it, your solution makes it much tidier.
From what I understand, the tuners are stil a one to one pairing with one tuner being exclusive to one Media Center for LiveTV, or does your solution provide a method for multiple Media Centers to access the same tuner for liveTV at the same time?
Also, what happens with recorded TV? Assume all CF can be shared with any other PC, right?
But protected content just for PC associated with specific tuner?
Very good coverage Julie. With the new features of W7 and the lifted restrictions as well as the anticipated support from dish Network (if it ever sees the daylight) Windows Media Center is finally getting closer to the throne that it deserve.
Hopfully more users will realize how powerful yet easy-to-use this platform is, specially when integrated with cutting edge home control and energy management solutions.
Eyal Kattan
MEDIA NEXUS INC