Barb’s Connected World

Posts Tagged ‘OCUR’

Microsoft has published my column on Vista computers and devices that all work together transparently on my home network.

I’ve been waiting for a consumer priced OCUR/DCT for Vista MCE CableCards to point people at who want the High Definition experience from US Cable Companies at a low price. This isn’t a multi purpose screaming gaming machine/video production machine like the much higher end Velocity Micro machine I use here, but it appears to offer all the pieces necessary for the High Def experience. I don’t see any option to order dual DCTs, which is the one drawback.

I priced a machine today, to see if the $$ were more reasonable than the Dell $1700+ for a friend. I was pleased to see that the price is now under $1300. No monitor included. You can beef this up when you customize. No option for no installed crapware though (unlike Dell who doesn’t force you to take Norton, etc.)

I’m still very happy with My Velocity Micro Home Theater dual OCUR machine. And I still recommend this one to anyone who asks about Media Center High Def support.

Alienware is apparently entering the market on the super high end side with a dual OCUR machine. Cost unknown. Here’s a quote from Cedia News:

“Shortly, Alienware will be delivering a higher-end Media Center product with CableCard capabilities and other premium features that are best sold through specialists.

The product has yet to be named but we know it will come standard with four swappable hard drive bays for up to 4 TB off storage. A Blu-ray option will be available, as well as an option for distributing audio to four separate zones.

“You could put it in a party mode where all rooms get the same audio,” says Kaminski.

The high-end Media Center will accommodate two CableCards via internal receivers.”

This looks to be an enhancement to the Hangar 18 HD computer, based on the AMD Live platform.

More info is here. 

Some of you may remember that back in December 2006, Microsoft and AMD shipped me a Velocity Micro Cinemagix Pro Cinema Entertainment System.

This AMD Athlon X2 system with an ATI x1950 dual DVI card, 2 gigs RAM and huge hard drive was a wonder. Microsoft installed Windows Vista x64 Ultimate and Office 2007 and I was in, well, computer heaven. It was exactly the box I’d spec out myself. Perfect in every way. And certainly the fastest computer I’d ever had in my home.

It was perfect then, but today it is more than perfect. It returned last week after visiting the Velocity Micro factory where it received a BIOS upgrade and a tune up. Why send it back for a BIOS upgrade? The only thing missing was Digital Cable Tuner compatibility (to use CableCARD technology to view and record high definition TV). That feature was not available at the time I received this computer, but IT IS NOW.

To use CableCARD technology with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, you need five pieces:

1. A machine with a certified (by CableLABS) DCT BIOS
2. A video card with HDCP compliance
3. A monitor or TV that is HDCP compliant
4. A Digital Cable Tuner (formerly called OCUR device)/DCT (or two if you want to watch and record at the same time)
5. A CableCARD from your local cable company.

Velocity Micro is offering this amazing machine with either an internal or external DCT. (You can add a second tuner as well).

I’ve got two external DCT’s attached to this machine and I’m in, well, high definition TV heaven.

If you’ve been waiting for the ability to watch and record high def TV on a kick-ass machine, run, don’t walk to Velocity Micro and customize one of these. Even if you aren’t into high def, this is one great computer.