Media Center PCs with CableCard Slots

Big news for Windows Media Center PCs--they're going to get CableCard compatibility, which should make them much better candidates for putting in your living room. Microsoft announced this morning that an agreement it has reached with CableLabs will allow PC manufacturers to bring digital-cable-ready Windows Media Center PCs in time for the 2006 holiday season.

[Correction: Originally I said CableCard MPCs would arrive by this year's holiday season. They won't arrive until next year's holidays.]

Microsoft released a big update to Windows XP Media Center Edition last month, but it lacked CableCard support. Sure, you can connect use a Media Center PC with an external cable set top box, but then you have to mess with infrared blasters, cables, etc., and you can't record encrypted content. So, no HBO, no Showtime, no cable HD content. You can't stream that content to a Media Center Extender connected to a television in another part of the house, either.

By adding a CableCard--a PC Card-like device that decrypts digital television broadcasts--to a slot inside your PC, you should be able to do all of these things, as long as your cable television provider puts instructions on the CableCard to allow such things. It doesn't eliminate the issue of whether or not you want a virus-susceptible, constantly patching, occasionally crashing computer in your living room, but theoretically, it might allow you to replace your cable set-top box, your DVR, and your DVD player with one box--a PC.