Intel Viiv - bullsh1t baffles brains?

[Bob Crabtree]

Over at CNET.com.au, Asher Moses sets out to show why the forthcoming update to Intel's Viiv will see the media centre PC move from the living room back into the home office - an argument sadly undermined by his own apparent ignorance.

We wholeheartedly agree with Moses that few people really want to edit Word documents or spreadsheets while curled up on the settee 10ft away from the screen. Similarly, we also reckon that, for most people, the MC PC is best kept out of the living room.

Trouble is, Moses appears to think that the introduction of an updated version of Viiv will bring with it a new type of networking hardware - the digital media adapter. Yes - he means network media players. And yes, these have been around for a few years!

What concerns us isn't so much that one journo has written an opinion piece based on a false premise but that this seems to show, once again, that despite the huge wodges of cash that Intel is throwing at Viiv to try to make it stick - or perhaps because of them - Viiv itself remains poorly understood, and not just by the public but by some of the media, too.

Check out this HEXUS.headline and then let us know if you share our concerns or reckon we're just being miserable scrotes.

[Nick]

Hmmm... I've got me a network media player... it's called an XBox 360... and it's got bugger all to do with Viiv...

[Funkstar]

ok....so what on earth is viiv then?

Is it just a guidline hardware platform? much like PC97 back in the day

very very confusing if you ask me....

[DR]

Viiv to DMAs allows protected (DRM) content to be streamed at high quality which can't currently be done


Effectively it is like PC97 it is a certifed platform to work together with the software interface which runs on the DMA/other devices and the local host PC to ensure a user experience which just works. It is going to be when fully developed (Viiv 1.5/6 will be the first) will enable PC's to communicate quickly without the current clunky method of Wireless network configurations etc.

[Funkstar]

Cool. thanks for that David, now i understand

[dabblet]

Now I'm obviously hopelessly wrong and/or need to re-read the article again but wasn't the blurb / hype from Intel about Viiv all to do with small neat quiet machines to shove in your living room under the telly? Wasn't AMD's take on it all to have a central / office based machine serving digital content to receivers?

Have Intel merged with AMD?

Best dust off my record player and VCR - those I can understand and "stream" from one room to another

[Nick]

dabblet, aye, that's roughly it.

The difference, if you hear it from AMD, is that Viiv is a new set of standards that you need to make sure all you kit adheres to, whereas AMD Live is a solution that works with your existing hardware by encoding the stream into a format the destination device is able to handle... So MP3 to MP3 players, MPEG4 to Freeview boxes etc etc. (Or whatever the standard is for a Freeview box..)

[fredered]

I think thats a good point that the article is making over the poor information being spread by those who should know better, perhaps its something to do with trying to suck up to intel?

One thing I was concerned about though was , and I do not mean to be rude in any way its just my opinion, that the article is written in a way that seems almost agressively critical to this guy. My assumption was that the main page was for news and the style that the article was written in was much more suited to an opinion peice, and possibly one that hexus could say this is not our opinion but that of one of the author only as I geuss this guy could get shirty with hexus because of it.

Sorry that got so waffly and as I said I don't mean to be rude just offering my opinion.

[Lee H]

I love how they are touting the viiv as an "instant on/off" system, yet all this feature really is, is a glorified "mute" function which mutes sounds & blanks the display

[dabblet]

My system already has an instant off facility - pulling the power lead out the back when oblivion locks it up....again....& again - So I must be Viiv compliant already as it's always back on by the time I get back from a calming nicotine & JD break.

[DavidM]

Same here *

*Except mine is AMD powered, which doesn't appear to be part of the "VIIV" specs...

[Bob Crabtree]

I think thats a good point that the article is making over the poor information being spread by those who should know better, perhaps its something to do with trying to suck up to intel?

One thing I was concerned about though was , and I do not mean to be rude in any way its just my opinion, that the article is written in a way that seems almost agressively critical to this guy. My assumption was that the main page was for news and the style that the article was written in was much more suited to an opinion peice, and possibly one that hexus could say this is not our opinion but that of one of the author only as I geuss this guy could get shirty with hexus because of it.

Sorry that got so waffly and as I said I don't mean to be rude just offering my opinion.

First off, I don't think that the article about which I commented was an attempt to suck up to Intel - I think that the author doesn't have a strong background in digital home. If that's not correct, then someone at CNET must have edited his words and, in so doing, created that impression.

I'd agree with the point you make about what I wrote being more a commentary piece than a news headline but the reason why I put it in that category was because I knew it was more likely to be read there than it would be were it put in a commentary slot - and I was keen to have it read cos the CNET article offended my sensibilities.

As for the author of the CNET piece getting shirty, you can be assured that the thought of that happening doesn't worry anyone at HEXUS and so shouldn't be allowed to worry you.

We all ALWAYS tell it like it is and are happy to live with the consequences - and I am no exception. Check out some of the stuff I've written recently about Intel, Pinnacle, Ulead...

In this case, though, I feel quite certain there will be no consequences - though it would be nice to delude ourselves into thinking that CNET might revise the original article to be a bit more accurate.

[fredered]

Thanks for the reply Bob.

[Bob Crabtree]

My pleasure!