• First, from the horse’s mouth: Apple’s official iPad page
• Some fairly mainstream press from CNN
• And a technical critique

In my own opinion, I think this is a disappointing release. I think it does everything that an iPhone or another smart phone does, but now it’s not big enough to put in your pocket. Also, the iPad might have been a great video chat device, but a camera was left out.

To carry it around, you’d need a bag for it, anyway So why not spend hundreds of dollars less, carry a couple of pounds more, and just use netbook or laptop? It’s definitely got the cool factor, but it just doesn’t seem usable enough to me to be of interest to anyone beyond the usual Apple enthusiasts.

For my money, I’d rather just use a smart phone. With today’s bright beautiful touchscreens, even reading for long periods is a pleasure on a smaller, more practical device.

Sensing the tone of this write-up, Mike’s wife found an interesting slideshow of prior Apple mis-steps.

• A computer across the room that uses WHDI to stream Hulu or YouTube to your TV
• A smaller, portable television for your kitchen that simply receives its signal from the wired cablebox
• A home media server stored in a closet used to archive movies and recorded television without taking up precious space on your TV cabinet or living room.

Upon first release, WHDI devices will likely be fairly expensive, but over time will come down in price.  The move to WHDI will likely have a similar effect on homes that WiFi has had, making it easier for people to create complex media ecosystems without complex wiring schemes.

I have been wanting to build a Home Theater PC for a while, but was waiting for the launch of Windows 7 to do so.  When Windows 7 was released on October 22, I started researching what I would need to assemble my own Home Theater PC, and began ordering parts.  Last week, the parts arrived for building my home theater PC using Windows 7 Media Center.  I spent a good deal of Friday night and Saturday putting it together and getting it ready for use.  By Saturday afternoon, I had the PC up and running and connected to my television.

Windows 7 Media Center has a lot to offer as a Home Theater PC (or really, a Home Entertainment PC), including Recording and Playback of TV (DVR-functionality), Movies and Netflix, Hulu and Internet TV, Music and Photo Libraries, and more, all controlled via a remote control and optional wireless keyboard.  Media Center also supports hardware (called Media Center Extenders) that allow you to stream your Media Center content to other TVs throughout your home.  What sets Media Center apart from just a traditional DVR or TiVo is the extensibility.  Third party developers, enthusiasts, and hobbiest programmers can create programs that extend the functionality of Windows 7 Media Center, much like people write apps for smart phones such as the iPhone and Google Android.   Best of all, it comes included in all editions of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Media Center Main Menu

While more of an afterthought in Windows Vista (and a separate version in Windows XP), Media Center in Windows 7 has matured and become a real usable product.  With the new availability of hardware to support CableCards (a small card provided by your Cable provider to decrypt your channels), it is now possible to hook up your media PC to watch and record your digital cable television.  A media PC can do away with the need for a set-top box, and give you more flexibility than a TiVo or traditional DVR, such as copying recorded shows to your laptop or portable media device to take with you on a trip.

Over the next several weeks in a series of posts, I will be providing details on Windows 7 Media Center’s functionality, and how it can be used as the media hub for your home.  I will also provide a more advanced post of the parts and process I used to put my media PC together.  In reality, you can purchase any modern PC, add a tuner or two, and have a viable media center.

Windows 7 Media Center is an example of software done right.  While there are always things that could be better (that’s what upgrades are for), I’m finding it to be intuitive, well-performing, and very flexible, making for a winning product.

He Said

Full disclosure: I’m a Beatles fanatic. I didn’t really realize this, though, until I started to talk to friends in college about music. I found that some of them hadn’t actually heard all of Sgt. Pepper’s, and some didn’t hold Revolver as the pinnacle of pop music. I had trouble understanding this. I had thought those were settled questions.

I’m a Beatles fanatic because I was weaned on them. My father’s extended family, of about 50 people or so, are all Beatles fanatics. At family weddings, there is always at least some period when Rocky Raccoon must be played, and all the assembled sing every single word, including all the “doot-da-doos”. I’ve been told that’s it’s a little unnerving from an outsider’s perspective.

So yeah, big Beatles fan here.

That all being said, before a few weeks ago, I had never seriously played any of the guitar/band rhythm games (Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band). The few times I had tried, I was discouraged pretty quickly, and I usually found the track selections to be a bit cheesy.

But then The Beatles: Rock Band was announced. As stated above, I adore the music, so I was very intrigued. Then the price hit me. $250 USD for the whole bundle with drums, mic, mic stand, and guitar. Fortunately, lately both the Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour bundles (both with guitar, mic and drums and fully compatible) are easily found for $100 lately. Then The Beatles is just $60 for the game by itself. Still a substantial chunk, but also substantially less than $250. And there’s the bonus of getting a whole other game as well.

My wife had no objection (“You’re spending your own money..”), so, on the advice of a coworker that the games are fun even solo, I took the plunge. My wife promised to give it a try with me, but she expected not to be too impressed by it. She likes the Beatles fine, but is not a fanatic by any means.

A couple of hours of Rock Band 2 later, and we had our in-game band rolling. We were both much looking forward to The Beatles: Rock Band.

She said

I made it very clear when Brian was admiring the Rock Band 2 kit that he’d be a solo performer. I distinctly remember saying “You’re on your own there.”  The pop culture references surrounding the instruments that aren’t quite instruments was enough to make me, an actual musician, head for the hills. “Why don’t you just learn to play a real guitar?”   Well, it’s been three weeks since the guitar and plastic drum set have set up residence in our home, and I’ll openly admit that I’m a changed lady.

What I initially was afraid of was the novelty factor of RB2 wearing off– as it did for us with DDR and its successors. I didn’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars for something that would be fun once or twice only to end up collecting dust and taking up space in our family room. What I’ve found with RB2, much to my surprise, is that the simple plot is compelling, comfortably challenging in nature, and a great pick-up game when you have a few minutes or an hour to spare.  I was impressed with the variety of songs available to play and the option to purchase individual songs. Our first duet was Modest Mouse’s “Float On”– by the end of the song, I realized my foot was keeping rhythm, and I really felt like I was playing an instrument.  Granted, as a non-guitar player, I know it’s not the same experience, but the actual gameplay really did feel musical. I attempted the drums on a few songs as well, and while the rhythms were fun, I found the noise of the plastic drum heads a little less enjoyable for me than the guitar. That worked out, of course, as Brian seemed much more comfortable with the drumsticks while I strummed away with lead guitar. We both attempted the vocals to a few songs, which was surprisingly challenging given the need to match pitch and lyrics while providing an occasional tambourine or cowbell backup by thwacking the microphone.

I’ll leave the technical details to my husband on this one, but as far as aesthetics go, I was thoroughly impressed, from the RB2 guitar, to the options for personalization within the game. I can compare RB2 with Guitar Hero after playing one of their models last week while on vacation; though I’ll admit that an arcade-style version of Guitar Hero isn’t a completely fair comparison, I could definitely tell the difference between the guitars.  While I found the brightly colored tabs on GH much easier to use, the more subtle color bands on RB2′s guitar made the instrument seem less childish and more like a guitar. The visuals of the game were quite fun. Brian and I each created a character for use in the story mode; by adjusting everything from the amount and color of facial hair to my general performance attitude (myself, punk, and Brian a rocker), the game felt really personalized. In addition, by successfully playing songs, you earn money that can be spent on upgraded guitars, clothing, and transportation during gameplay. The final element in the storyline mode which makes it truly a fun and personalized experience is that your newly created band picks its hometown from a select list. We chose to be based out of Chicago (our real home town), which made playing in various venues (that really exist!) a fun and realistic experience.  In addition, there are “local artists” set lists of songs for lesser-known bands in your selected hometown.

Beatles Rock Band, a recent release, appeared to me to be a streamlined and more focused version of what I enjoyed in RB2.  Though I wouldn’t consider myself a huge Beatles fan like my husband, I definitely enjoyed the musical gameplay presented in chronological order.  Instead of earning money for embellishing your character, you unlock various group photos of the band and Beatles history memorabilia, and of course, more songs to play. I’d say this aspect of the game is strictly tailored to Beatles fans, as I didn’t find it nearly as exciting as my husband did. Similarly, since you’re actually playing as the Beatles, there isn’t that option for tailoring your character. In fact, you’re really experiencing a fairly linear plot with little personalization. I’d say this is a drawback when comparing it to RB2, but I think the point of the game is more about a tribute to the Beatles than anything individualistic.  However, I think my opinion of the Easter eggs and prizes would be very different if the game was Billy Joel: Rock Band.  Still, for a game that offers so much variety in how you play, the plot seems strikingly too limited. I could see myself playing through once, then shelving BRB until friends and family came over to join in. RB2, however, I think has much more potential for replaying through with a different hometown, characters, and challenges.

My overall opinion? Rock Band is well worth the money for musicians and non-musicians alike. I could definitely see myself playing this solo, though I think I’ll always have a willing drummer nearby.  Beatles Rock Band, on the other hand, would be great for parties and a game for the Beatles fanatic. If I were to purchase one, it would definitely be RB2. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gig to play at the Palace Hotel Ballroom.

He said some more

Rock Band 2 comes with over 80 songs, and on whatever platform, you can download more songs, whether they’re whole albums (for instance, Pearl Jam just released their latest album for download on Rock Band), or individual tracks. All the music in the game tends to lean in the direction of hard rock, but there is a bit more variety in the downloadable tracks, which include classic rock as well as country.

The Beatles: Rock Band on the other hand, only has 40 or so songs, and only Beatles songs, as opposed to Guitar Hero: Metallica, for instance, which includes several songs from artists that inspired the band. The upshot to the paucity of tracks in BRB is that several complete Beatles albums will be released for download soon. Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul will be released in October, November and December, respectively.

As far as downloabable tracks, the PS3 and Xbox 360 both handle this much better than the Wii. With Rock Band 2, both the PS3 and 360 can import the tracks from previous games in the series, or from track pack discs purchased at retail. There is no such option with the Wii, even if you have a large SD card. Overall, both the PS3 and 360 versions of seem to be the premier platforms, but which each iteration, the Wii comes closer to feature parity.

As for graphical presentation, this is definitely a game that works much better on a wide screen TV, and the bigger the better. Each player must watch a relatively tight region of the screen, and a wide screen display gives everyone a lot more breathing room. Also, having a large display lets every see the screen fine at a reasonable distance from the television.

As you would expect, the PS3 and 360 versions of these games look much better than the Wii version, but that’s not to say the Wii games looks bad. On the contrary, we’ve been playing on the Wii, and have no complaints whatsoever with the visuals. The Beatles: Rock Band, in particular, might be one of the best looking Wii games ever. In the original Rock Band, the Wii version only displayed a video for your band playing rather than your actual avatars like the other two did, but that shortcoming has been remedied in Rock Band 2.

A Few Notes on Hardware Compatibility

If you’ve got any of these games already (any Guitar Hero or Rock Band installment), or think you might want to pick up more, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with which instruments are compatible with which games. Generally, the more recent instruments work with all the more recent games, but the farther back you go with either side of the equation, the sketchier compatibility becomes. There are quite a few games and instrument combinations to wrap your mind around. Thankfully, there are a few guides online for this question:

Harmonix (developers of Rock Band) compatibility list: Rock Band Instrument Compatibility

It’s tougher to find one place where Neversoft (current developers of the Guitar Hero series) maintains a list of peripheral compatibility. I was able to find this matrix from Joystiq, though.

It turns out that Microsoft Windows Vista included just such functionality through the Windows Media Center, a free Windows extender that allows you to run your media (whether audio, video, or pictures) by use of a remote control, and includes an Electronic Program Guide and ability to DVR, as long as you have a tuner card to which you can connect your incoming TV signal.  However, because of restrictions imposed by the Cable industry, digital cable signals are often scrambled, and require a cable box to be able to change channels.  Most digital cable cards have no ability to descramble these channels, making them useless for any digital cable setup.

CableCard

The only exception has been a device created by ATI, the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, which takes a device known as a CableCard, which can be obtained from your local cable company (FCC regulations require cable companies to provide a free CableCard to cable subscribers upon request).  This card is the same card that would be used with a TiVO, and can also be used in the ATI cable tuner.  However, because of agreements between ATI and the cable industry, the ATI tuner was only sold directly to approved manufacturers for inclusion in new systems, making anyone who wanted to build their own DVR out of luck unless they want to buy a whole new computer.  Additionally, the shows recorded from the ATI tuner were encrypted so that they could only be watched on the machine that they were recorded on, making it impractical to share among multiple devices in your home, as well as causing serious problems if you were forced to rebuild your system.

Yesterday, Microsoft and ATI announced that as part of the release of Windows 7, the ATI card would now be sold retail, so that it could be added to any existing system that met it’s hardware requirements.  Additionally, the encryption restrictions would be removed, so that most shows (with the exception of premium content such as HBO and Pay-Per-View) can now be moved to other devices as needed.  This opens up a whole new avenue in the home media PC, and makes the DVR capabilities of the home theater PC actually a worthwhile enhancement to what can be achieved through a cable-company rented DVR.  I plan on ordering the card and assembling my own media PC following the release of Windows 7, and will chronicle the details here.  Needless to say, this announcement by Microsoft opens up a whole new avenue in creating a family media PC for all of your multi-media needs.

So, sounds like I got a good deal, right? Monoprice.com has the same type of cable (as of this writing) for $3.36. Even with shipping, that’s a pretty huge savings. So how do some vendors charge $50 or even $16 for the same thing? The only things I can figure are laziness or ignorance.

An audio/video cable is basically just a length of insulated copper, so any claims of high-fidelity super-quality-iousness are generally bogus, except perhaps in the case of very long cables (as in, way more than the six feet needed in most home setups).

My Wii cable anecdote may have limited applicability, but as bad or worse is happening in the sales of HDMI cables. In general, you’re better off ordering audio/video cables online rather than being gouged at a brick-and-mortar retailer.

Podcasting helped to expand the possibilities of online radio to go by allowing users to download mp3 copies of an internet radio broadcast onto their iPods or other portable music player.  While this added some portability, in the last year, there has been an explosion of options for listening to Internet radio.

With the introduction of app-based smartphones, people have been able to stream live Internet Radio directly to their phones.  Some of the bigger players in Internet Radio (such as AccuRadio, RealRadio, and Shoutcast) either offer or have in development apps to stream their audio via the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, or Blackberry.  These sites offer hundreds of “stations” of live audio content, and some offer the ability for an individual person to set up their own radio station with a computer and a microphone.

One of my favorite internet audio sites is Pandora.  Pandora is a site that asks you to input artists and songs that you like, and it “creates” a radio station based on your preferences and music that has similar characteristics based on the Music Genome Project.  You can further refine your station by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to a particular song, or by adding other artists and songs.  What you end up with is a personalized radio station based on your tastes.  Pandora is also available as an app on the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile phones, giving you the ability to stream your radio stations to your car, while out for a jog, or while on the train.

Other devices are also being developed specifically for Internet Radio.  Logitech has developed two new devices, one that looks like a self-contained radio, and a sleeker touch-screen radio that connects to an existing stereo.  With all of these options, Internet Radio offers a wide variety of choices for entertainment and information, and only stands to gain in popularity and market share in the coming years.

• We recently got a new TV, and it has the standard HD audio/video plug, HDMI. Because of this, I made sure to get a PC with built-in HDMI.
• My particular PC/TV combination seemed to have trouble with a lot of desktop resolutions, until I put it at 1080p (1920×1080), which is the native resolution of the TV. Before I set that, it would seem to run okay for a little while, but the moment I asked it to do anything intensive (start a video, play a game), the picture and sound would often cut in and out. Once it was 1080p, I didn’t see that issue anymore.
• At 1080p, it can be hard to make out the text and icons of the Windows interface, even on a pretty large TV. Vista (and the upcoming Windows 7) has a nice DPI adjustment feature. Just search for ‘DPI’ on the Start Menu. This scales up the whole interface, giving you a usable interface, even from 10 or 15 feet away.
• I initially set my TV display ratio to 16:9, so the display would take up the entire wide screen. Oddly, though, this cut off the edges of the picture a little. After some Googling, I tried a suggestion to set it to Auto instead. Bam! The whole picture, edges and all, showed up.
• I suggest getting a wireless keyboard with an integrated pointer (mouse). Many have trackpads or other laptop-like pointers built into the housing of the keyboard. That way, you don’t need to string a wire or wires across the living room to wherever the PC is.
• The particular PC has both on-board audio, and the audio that’s part of HDMI. Sometimes, on boot up, it would want to use the on-board audio instead of the HDMI, so there would be no sound from the TV. I ended up disabling the on-board audio from the BIOS.

A home theater PC is great way to watch the increasing amount of video on the web. Not only are there movie trailers and Youtube, but Hulu is great for watching TV episodes and movies. If you’re a subscriber, Netflix is also great on a TV. All of these assume you have relatively fast internet connection (probably at least 500 KB/s consistenly).

A home theater PC is great way to bring the web into your living room, so everyone in the house can enjoy it.