Weekly Podcast Roundup December 10th

Joining this week is old friend of the show Garry Whittaker. Garry has been integrating his Virgin Media cable box with Windows Media Center and he explains how he got it connected using a vararity of tools. The solution Garry talks about is not just for connecting Virgin boxes as its really a way of getting unsupported formats into Media Center and could be used with any cable box or even security systems. I also have the regular email and news roundup

Finally, we look a t report from Ars Technica this week where the FCC in essence admits the CableCard is failing, and something else is going to have to fill its shoes. Why did it fail? What does it mean for the future? What happened to tru2way? Why must cable labs spell things so oddly? We’ll take a look.

The countdown to CES continues, but the big news this week is on the regulatory and industry side, as the FCC tries to figure out where CableCARD is going wrong and what to do about it, and Comcast buys into NBC. We also take on the troubles of going all digital with this week’s Ask Engadget HD question, and also show you what an SSD can and can’t do for a HTPC. Sony’s making the World Cup a part of its 3D showcase, is that enough to get us excited about soccer? Next we go behind the scenes at Sharp, while discussing plasma burn in and Universal’s new flipper combo discs before closing out with the latest attempt at relevancy for BD-Live.

Costco vs. Amazon: Where Should You Buy Your HDTV? DVD vs Blu-ray: Patrick’s scenes that show off the difference. WD TV + Networking = Digital TV Answer? Great Deals On HDTVs and the Blu-ray releases for December 8th, 2009

Typically we are not big fans of Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) systems. Its not because the electronics are not good. In most cases the electronics are decent middle of the road components. The area we feel HTIB systems break are the speakers. When you consider that the manufacturer needs to bundle 7 speakers in a system that goes for $500 how good can the speakers be? With that said, we understand that not everyone has a big budget and that a HTIB system is better than nothing. We recommend four systems that have decent to good electronics and these components will sound even better one day when you upgrade the speakers. All but one of these systems feature electronics that you can keep for years.

Dan talks extensively about his install of Mythbuntu 9.10. He basically re-did his entire setup. Some sweat deals on Black Friday for HTPC related items. Listener Eric calls in and asks some questions prior to his first MythTV install.