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Vista Media center is killing me

Chadk — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:46:38 GMT

Hey guys.

So 2 weeks ago all my sweet hardware arrived for my media center. Included was a Hauppauge WINTV-Hvr-4000, which was supposed to be a really good TV tuner.

I install Vista Home premium, slap in all the drivers and then boot up Media center. It took some fighting to set up(I think I had to install a codec, but I don't recall), but eventually I found my terrestial channels.

Then I also got a firedtv box for picking up my subscription channels. I never got that to work.

One evening, it just broke. Out the blue, I couldn't receive any TV.

I reinstalled windows from scratch, same story. I found no channels at all.

I installed 3-4 different media center packages like media portal, the one that came with my tv-tuner and some other random ones.

Only 1 picked up the signal. Rest reported 0 channels. But the quality of the one that did pick up was very very very poor.

So I reinstalled again thinking I probably shouldn't install so many drivers at once. So I installed network, graphics, audio and tv-tuner card, and that's in. I rescan, nope. No channels at all!

At this point I'm getting desperate. The major difference I can see between the first time and now, when I do the scan, is that the scan runs much much faster. I have no idea if this means anything though.

Anybody got a clue what I can do? I'm thinking I should get my tv-tuner replaced. But I'd rather not have to deal with it.

Ballmer talks to PC Magazine

Ray7 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:34:40 GMT

It was a good interview on the whole, but again I'm left with the notion that Ballmer is still caught up in the 'We are invincible' mindset, which I find very worrying.

And then there is occasional gem like this:

Steve Ballmer said:

You know, there are so many—you know, can you find Macs in—I'm very sensitive to exactly what mouse I have on my laptop. Can you find a range of choices? Of course you can't find a range of choices. You know, anyway—can you find the applications you want on the Mac? Well, you don't really get full Microsoft Office.

Whoa, hold on there Steve! You don't really get full Microsoft Office? Whose fault is that? You don't really get full Microsoft Office because Microsoft refuses to build one. I'm not saying that they should, but let's not pretend that this anything but a strategic decision made by your team. I've often berated Apple for the poor quality of their Windows software, but could they be applying an old trick they've learned from you?

But that's not as worrying as the mouse comment. Didn't Apple kill the ADB port about a decade ago? And Steve still thinks that you can only use Apple's own mouse with their kit? I'm wondering if Microsoft's complacency over the Apple threat is down to the management's outdated view of the platform. I hope someone lends him a copy of MacUser before Tuesday.

Looking for an honest review of Office 2008 for the Mac

Ray7 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:49:22 GMT

... and it turned out to be a little harder than I thought.

The problem was that almost all the reviews (Amazon, CNet etc ...) had been infested by the rabid underbelly of the Anti-MS brigade. I won't say they were Apple users, because for all I know, these morons don't even own Macs.

'This is crap! Just use OpenOffice.'
'Another lock-in product from M$'
'I installed the software and it immediately shot my cat and sold my kids into slavery. Don't buy it!'

In the end, I went to the Paul Thurrott site. The guy takes a lot of stick, but at least he's willing to call it how he sees it and that's all I was asking for.

In the end, based on his review, I decided that Office 2008 wasn't worth the upgrade and so I'm staying put. But it isn't it a pity that some folk feel the need to stifle honest information?

Sorry about the rant ... tired and crabby.

Can't get to page 2

Sven Groot — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:18:44 GMT

On the comments for http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Bill-Hill-The-Future-of-Reading-on-the-Web-Part-1/ I can't get to page two. No matter how often I click on the right arrow, it keeps reloading page 1.

This only happens in IE8. Firefox 3 works fine. I haven't tested IE7.

M Language

JoshRoss — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:38:25 GMT

On the front page of slashdot, there is a link to a blog post that mentions a new language from Microsoft. Is there an official M page?

Utopia not impossible Console Nextgen

Dovella — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:33:50 GMT

I created this post in Italian, please excuse my English translation on line, I hope it is understandable why interested to read your views
Thank's

My assumption from a interview with Shuhei Yoshida president of Sony WAS

where states

Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has said that he wants Microsoft's Xbox 360 to succeed in Japan in order to help push the concepts of high-definition gaming to local consumers. Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has said that he wants Microsoft's Xbox 360 to succeed in Japan in order to help push the concepts of high-definition gaming to local consumers.
With Nintendo's Wii the most popular console in the Japanese market, Yoshida would like both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to sell well in order to convince punters of a more sophisticated take on next-generation gaming. With Nintendo's Wii the most popular console in the Japanese market, Yoshida would like both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to sell well in order to convince punters of a more sophisticated take on next-generation gaming.
"I like to see people here in Japan showing interest in high-definition gaming and more sophisticated gaming experiences," offered Yoshida "I like to see people here in Japan showing interest in high-definition gaming and more sophisticated gaming experiences," offered Yoshida

is incredible, feel a bit like the chairman of Pepsi declare I am glad that you're saying CocaCola in Indonesia.

At this point, you should analyze what could hide behind these allegations.

The two companies: the first Microsoft second Sony.

Micorosoft and Sony are apparently enemies on the gaming front but if we look at the PC world can see the full cooperation between the two companies, Microsoft Windows in Sony Vaio Notebook and Desktop.

Microsoft invests a great deal of its technological development and because of this video can say that the Direct X libraries are much loved by developers and there are already several powerful graphics engines which use these libraries for videogame development. The return of Microsoft in this investment takes place through the X360 and Windows PCs.

Sony also invest in setting up their own console must also take into account the development kit and update it to developers offering better opportunities and more flexibility in the implementation of the titles.

The software house that produces many important titles ever complain loudly of failing to make port in an optimal and often between a platform and another there are several months of delay (if not years) and all this leads a considerable investment in perhaps equal to a film title.

By analyzing these prospects could venture into a hypothesis that perhaps may now seem absurd ..

A single console created in collaboration between Microsoft and Sony

What could happen in this case?

Throwing them so

Microsoft will make its Direct X, its line-up and software development kit edge, Live and experience the Cloud.

Sony could get her the Hardware Engineering and their titles (like God of War, Little Big Planet etc.) And perhaps even distribution and security.

At least for now I come to mind only advantages for all (except perhaps the price and monopoly)

1) The modern gamers in most cases are equipped with Multi X360 PS3 console Wii (portable)

and in the future could have a single console next to the TV and less space

2) Easy choice, (and thanks) I see often in gaming forums such questions take this title for the x360 or PS3?

3) Very high quality titles, developers have a single task would be to create a unique title, could focus precisely on having such a savings in the creation and distribution (also for the benefit of quality)

4) Porting cast to the PC world, of course, Windows is the father of Direct X and hardware mostrsuoso, from 2 years here in a banal PC will be 3 times more powerful than a PS3 and X360 combined

5) If you want to dream I like to think of a backward x360 and Ps3 in a single hardware expanding the park videogame madness.

What could push the two giants in this great alliance?

The reasons may be different, and I do not want to even consider Nintendo now collects all its good seed, but I think the seed could end soon.

If we look at the Nintendo Wii console as a threat to its characteristics, I would say that we can sleep easy at night, of course, what makes it great every Nintendo console is the Killer Application as Mario, Zelda, and all the sagas that for years we have held company, but once finished the generational effect Nintendo is not to wait another 7 - 10 years.

It may sound absurd? Look historically things as they are.

Nintendo Nes great success,

Super Nintendo Nes. great success but sees where the Sega Megadrive

Nintendo 64 - leaving Sony Playstation and Nintendo begins to crumble

Nintendo Game Cube, leaving Sony and Nintendo PS2 collapses again

Generational change (the kids grew up with Nintendo are adults, other children come into play from the first involving pokemon on some portable Nintendo)

Nintendo Wii, nothing but a Game Cube with a Hall of innovation that did not so much,

Boom success!

Yet if we look at the panorama titles can say that very few are really appealing, or rather a part of MIX securities are unsold or little success or as production from Game Cube past a Wii

others (the real) securities remain attractive only those of Nintendo Brand for years that there are company

Mario Galaxy (worthy successor to Mario 64 and Sunshine without counting the 2d) Mario Kart, SSB, Zelda, Wario some revival of Punch Out, Duck Hunt etc. Marketing where the goal is hitting the nostalgia they are not (we) just

And then? Nintendo what? Nextgen a Nintendo console can not help but offer the same and identical titles that already offers almost 20 years by increasing levels graphical style and the substance (though good) that remains.

This is not to say that Nintendo should stop doing gaming (and we miss) but his voice can say that Nintendo with the next generation of consoles will fail to have the same luck of sales that took the Wii, and the second my opinion we could find the new Nintendo 64 in the period where only thanks to the magic Game Boy this company has passed the difficult periods.

All this makes even more interesting union of the two giants for a single purpose.

----
your views ?

A missing product : Mobile "real" thin client.

turrican — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:31:46 GMT

Maybe I missed this but is there ANY real mobile thin client out there? By "real" I mean fanless which is also able to connect to a bigger "real" monitor and keyboard|mouse, fits in your pocket.... and idéally, it also is a cellphone. The only thing comming close to this is so far "DELL MINI 9" which is 100% fanless, however it is still a liiiiitlle too big. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely going to buy one of those but I was thinking if anyone else here know of a product which fits the description.

Download the Dutch version of "Upgrade your life" for free

TommyCarlier — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:46:49 GMT

Here's a tip for the Dutch lifehackers: A.W. Bruna Uitgevers has released the Dutch version of Gina Trapani's book "Upgrade your life", which you can buy now, or you can download the PDF for free, by registering for the Lifehacker.nl newsletter.

I'm currently reading the original English version I purchased a few months ago and it does contain a lot of useful tips to be more productive, not just on the PC or Mac, but also in-real-life.

Are there other active lifehackers in the C9 community?

Successful Discussion?.

jonathansampson — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:21:43 GMT

What is the formula for a successful discussion? I mean, all of us are getting a little frustrated talking to eachother because we have different political/religious views. Come from different worlds practically, and have vastly different backgrounds. How are we suppose to successfully communicate with each other?

For example, there was a lot of controversy over whether or not a watermelon was "racist." One or two Niners suggested it was, and a couple niners (including myself) suggested that it couldn't be. I asked for an explanation as to why a watermelon is "racist" (meaning, it promotes one race as superior to another), but no explanation was given because in the mind of the affirming Niner, it was clearly racist and didn't merit explanation.

So in conversations like that, we find ourself in an endless loop of, "It's not racist. Yes it is, and you're racist for defending it. How am I racist!? Because you defend racist remarks. But why is it racist? Because it is!"

We're all engineers here, and think pretty well about operation flow and how things should be done to ensure successful results, so why is it we have such a difficult time communicating with other technical thinkers?

Oh, and I'm serious, anybody got a suggestion for a successful discussion formula? The world could really use it ;)

My opinion is this. We should all strive to adhere to logic, since it's demonstrated pretty conclusively over the years its own success when properly used. Secondly, we shouldn't slack in explaining our positions as thoroughly as needed when it's possible to do so. Third, pride and arrogance have got to take back-stage in conversations. Any thoughts?

Image gets refreshed in Windows Media Player

venkatzeus — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:43:41 GMT

Hi,
I am using C# and ASP.NET 2.0.

In my webpage, I am showing an image in Windows Media Player. If the Windows Media Player is idle for a few seconds, the Image is getting refreshed automatically.

The image should not get refreshed automatically. How to do this?

Thank you

Internship is over

littleguru — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:01:50 GMT

Sad but true... :( my internship at Microsoft is over. It was a great time. I loved every minute I spend in the offices and interacting with people.

But it seems that the team liked what I did and therefore in short: *switching to Arnold Schwarzenegger voice* I'll be back!

For people who are interested in applying for an internship - and I would encourage everyone to do so - check out: http://www.microsoft.com/college/ip_overview.mspx

Rats with tin foil hats: Special Election Edition

jamie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:49:44 GMT

*will not appeal to everyone.... couple of bipartisan laughs tho...

Questions you want answered at Blizzcon?

Dan — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:00:40 GMT

Sampy and I are down at Blizzcon and you can follow the action at Channel 10. More importantly, we have an interview with Frank Pearce from Blizzcon tomorrow, what questions would you want answered about Wow, Diablo, or Starcraft?

NY Times: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Tolerate Vista

brian.shapiro — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:04:49 GMT

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Tolerate Vista

By STEPHEN WILLIAMS
Published: October 8, 2008

AFTER nearly two years, I’m really tired of reading about other people’s problems with Microsoft’s Vista operating system.

I mean, I’ve got my own problems. Teenagers living in my house and eating my food, a wife training to be an oral surgeon routinely working 36-hour shifts, a van that devours gas.

Oh, and then there’s Vista.

Consumers have had issues with Vista since its release in January 2007, although the latest figures indicate that most holdouts have accepted, if not embraced, the system. Despite Apple’s snarky ad campaigns promoting its Macs, more than 140 million copies of Vista have been sold; Windows remains a money magnet for Microsoft, accounting for more than a quarter of the company’s $60.4 billion in annual revenue.

Taming Vista on my Intel chip-equipped Sony Vaio laptop became, after a while, a measure of maintaining patience, never mind sanity. Sure, there was a day recently when I could’ve thrown the thing out of the window and into the backyard, and then made tracks to the Mac Pro desktop in the basement.

Instead, I turned on a football game. And there was Jerry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates try on shoes in an ad for Vista — I think.

Whatever that was about, the truth is, Vista doesn’t have to be as bad as the competing Apple ads say it is. Here are some ways to make your Vista experience more livable, and perhaps even more lovable.

Say Farewell to the U.A.C.

...

Add Memory

...

Give Vista a Boost

...

Use Only What You Need

...

Lose Even More

...

Make Vista Uglier

...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/technology/personaltech/09basics.html

WPF - Databind to current Time?

jh71283 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:27:07 GMT

If there any way that I can databind to the current system time?

I have a label that I want to show the current system time, and otherwise I'll have to run a timer to update the time.

if you get me....

Laws to be abused

cheong — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:39:37 GMT

The news I'm talking about is this one.

I'd think it's understandable for them to want to freeze the assets of Iceland companies (whether it's right or not set aside), but with anti-terrorism legistration? WTF?

Just another example of people will use whatever most convienent to do what they want.

The next time whenever your government want to pass any law that is abusable, had better beware.

P.S.: I seldom post things related to politics, but I just found this disturbing...

WPF : How to animate a GridColumn?

turrican — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:13:16 GMT

I managed to animate an entire grid with DoubleAnimation and Expander but how do I animate a grid row? I need the top section of it animate and "collapse" while the second rowbeneath it comes up with it.

I tried this with a StackPanel, however the problem is that I can't have two row"100,*" if you know what I mean.

Thanks!

Edit : Sorry, I meant ROW not column.

Live sign in

Typhoon87 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:43:41 GMT

Any chance the site might switch over and start to use the Live-Sign in assistant?

This is great for people that activily have multiple users with live id's. They use it in hotmail and live maps would also make it more consistant between apps.

Obama Theme Song

raymond — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:52:03 GMT

Lies

The Website is Down...

jonathansampson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:35:19 GMT

There's a lot of political back-and-forth going on lately, so I thought I would post something that could remove us all from the arguing for just a moment and bring us together for laughter. For those who've not seen it, I present "The Website is Down".

Curiosity : Build of S.O.

Dovella — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:14:02 GMT

On this site I have seen the Build of Longhorn (I think it is true Longhorn Build)

Longhorn Build

Longhorn 3663
Longhorn 3670
Longhorn 3683
Longhorn 3706
Longhorn 3708
Longhorn 3718
Longhorn 4002
Longhorn 4006
Longhorn 4008
Longhorn 4011
Longhorn 4015
Longhorn 4018
Longhorn 4028
Longhorn 4029
Longhorn 4030
Longhorn 4033
Longhorn 4039
Longhorn 4040
Longhorn 4042
Longhorn 4044
Longhorn 4050
Longhorn 4051
Longhorn 4053
Longhorn 4066
Longhorn 4067
Longhorn 4074
Longhorn 4083
Longhorn 4084
Longhorn 4088
Longhorn 4093
Longhorn 3790 (Rebuilt on Win2k3 Kernel)
Longhorn 5001
Longhorn 5048
Longhorn 5054
Longhorn 5058
Longhorn 5059
Longhorn 5060
Longhorn 5077
Longhorn 5085
Longhorn 5086
Longhorn 5087
Longhorn 5098
Longhorn 5112
Longhorn 5203
Longhorn 5212
Longhorn 5219
Longhorn 5221
Longhorn 5231
Longhorn 5246
Longhorn 5259
Longhorn 5268
Longhorn 5270
Longhorn 5271
Longhorn 5297
Longhorn 5308
Longhorn 5342 Longhorn 5342.vbl
Longhorn 5355
Longhorn 5356
Longhorn 5361
Longhorn 5364
Longhorn 5365
Longhorn 5372
Longhorn 5381
Longhorn 5384
Longhorn 5421
Longhorn 5483
Longhorn 5754

Generally , In what occasion you change the number of a Build?

What's the best TSQL code to normalize addresses?

qwert231 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:55:59 GMT

We'd like to move the addresses into a common address table. We have employees and customers.

So, Let's say we have our normal address table.

Our employee table has fields like this:
Address1
Address2
City
State
Zip

We add a column to the employee table called AddressID

Can I do something like this:
UPDATE employee SET AddressID =
(INSERT INTO Adresses (Address1,...) VALUES (employee.Address1,...)
RETURN @@IDENTITY)

Would that work? Or would it be better to create a function that takes the address params and returns the Identity and do something like this:
UPDATE employee SET AddressID = udf_InsertAddress(employee.Address1,...)

ISV - our struggle with database selection

ferguslogic — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:13:39 GMT

We have a VB6 app that has been out for about 6 years now in productoin and is currently ran by a few thousand users across the United States. This app is downloaded from our website, installed by the user, evaluated and purchased.

I have struggled with database selection for years. On intial release of the application we released the application with an MS Access 2000 backend. We selected this because of xcopy deployment, extremely small footprint and small download size for our setup.   As our application has grown in features and users however more and more larger business want to run it and people often request it on 10-20 systems today.

MS Access just doesn't cut it for 10-20 systems..it corrupts.   Sql express is way, way, way too big and requires all kinds of configuration on the client for MSDTC and networking capabilities and even after all of this some other application can still come along and screw up the sql express install.   I am not a huge fan because of all of this work.

VISTADB is a nice database but even according to their own forums it is 50% slower than MS Access and we need performance.

MYSQL is okay but its not free like people think. Its only free for personal use and we got quoted like $50,000 if we needed a license for each of our customers that already have the system.

Because ISV's like us don't seem to have any great commercial options available for a database that is small and can be installed easily (you would think someone would build something like this but nobody seems to have done so)   am beginning to look hard at open source databases including firebird and postGreSQL.

What do you guys think about firebird or PostGreSQL for use with VB6 and C#.net applications win form based applications. Do these databases seem worse off or better off to you guys than sql server express?

Generic questions...just looking for some feedback and info from people who may have experienced these same Database woes.

Choosing a new website

vesuvius — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:57:04 GMT

If you had the choice to create a new website, would you use the MVC framework and pure HTML approach, or would you choose Silverlight?

Assume that there are no financial constraints, but the project must be completed within 6 months, with a working shell ready in at least 12 weeks.

Wow! Canadians are tough..Eh?

wisemx — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:25:47 GMT

B.C. man comes out swinging in bear attack
A Cariboo, B.C., man who was attacked by a bear says he used a stick to put up the fight of his life after he realized he was likely in a fight to the death....
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/10/08/bc-bear-attack-survivor.html?ref=rss