Best Practices For Implementing TV On Windows Vista

1. Best Practices For Implementing TV On Windows Vista Bernhard KotzenbergChris MatichukWindows eHome DivisionMicrosoft Corporation

2. Session Overview • Media Center Growth • Windows Vista TV features • Developing high quality TV tuner solutions • TV tuner testing and logo programs • TV tuner driver distribution • Premium TV – U.S. Digital Cable • Exhaustive scanning • Call to action

3. Media Center Edition Growth Projected WW MCE PC Shipments • ~10 million MCE PCs sold • Approximately 1 million/month • Analysts are bullish on the future: • ~25M units in 2009 • ~50% of consumer PC sales WW in 2009* • Analysts revising up 25M 20M 15M 10M 5M 0M 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009* • MCE accounted for 60% of U.S. Retail PC sales in Feb 06 • When MCE sales increase, sub-$500 PCs drop • What’s driving growth? • OEM Support and increased investment • Broad appeal of MCE features Sources: IDC Consumer PC Sales Forecast Report, WW, * Endpoint Technologies Associates, 9/05

4. MCE In Windows Vista • Not a separate SKU! • Huge win for us all – well done! • MCE is in these Windows Vista SKUs • Windows Vista Home Premium • Windows Vista Ultimate • Tuner attach rate is still an issue • Need to work together to increase attach rates

5. Windows Vista TV Features • Worldwide TV Support • Exhaustive TV Channel Autoscanning • Premium content through U.S. OpenCable TV Platform Guide • Optimized for widescreen • Channel Browser • Guide Filter for Favorite Channels • Postal Code validation • Updates to TV setting defaults from WMIS • Preview Channel Lineups First Run and Setup DVR • Recorded TV Gallery View with thumbnails • “Overlaps” Conflict Management • Recorded TV folder management Whole Home Distribution • Millions of Xbox 360s • MCX v2 TVs and DVD players • High fidelity user experiences Media Center • Multi-SKU Availability in 190+ countries • Stunning 10’ Look and Feel • Improved quality and reliability

7. New Guide UI

8. Channel Browser

9. Recorded TV Gallery View

10. Windows Vista And MCE Have Great New Features How can we work together to create a better TV experience?

11. IRS Reliability Quality Lower Cost TV just works! (24/7) Drivers on WU/Inbox No crashes, no hangs • Target CE-level quality • Compete with other media on PC • Consumers CAN tell the difference Drive attach rate Integrate components WW-ready solutions Improved TV Best user experience Satisfied customers Increased sales Improving TV On Windows Vista

12. The Quest For Quality

13. Quality loss is permanent Maintain quality throughout pipeline Carefully select components Develop high quality & reliable drivers Consider The Whole Pipeline Demod / Decoder Tuner Encoder Driver

14. Tuner Recommended Functionality For Analog Tuners • Separate Inputs for • Antenna (Terrestrial and FM reception) • Cable • Clustered S-Video, composite video, audio • Support automatic input selection • Support selectable stereo and secondary/tertiary audio • 32 KHz audio is OK but 48 KHz is strongly recommended • Audio and video capture must be on the same device • Hardwired audio connection to sound cards is not supported • Support automatic format detection for PAL/SECAM • Provide unsliced 4.5x and 5x oversampled data for VBI Lines • Make sure data run-in is correct and data is not truncated • Provide data for lines 6-23 even and odd fields • USB tuners should support USB 2.0 • Clearly label tuner inputs

15. Encoder Designing High Quality Encoders • PC TV quality must be equivalent to, or better than consumer electronics • Use hardware based encoders to insure scalability to multi-tuner and slower CPU PCs • Provide at least 9 MBs VBR encoding • Limit max VBR burst rate to 9.5 MBs over any 500 mSec period • Allow bit rate to be changed without stopping streaming • Limit Audio/Video interleave jitter to 30 mSec • Use a common accurate clock to timestamp audio and video • Make sure there are no gaps or overlaps in the PTS timeline • Multiplexers must support Mpeg2 Program Stream (single program)

16. Driver Building High Quality Analog Drivers • Filters should complete transition to and from running state within 10 mSec • Deliver samples at source frame rate or every 15 mSec if source frame rate isn’t known • Samples that are too large will result in longer channel change times and glitches due to decoder starvation • Samples that are too small consume too much CPU • Keep VBI and Audio/Video sample timestamps in sync • Support all channel change events and discontinuity indicators • Do not expose unneeded or unused pins • Provide a unique pin medium for each hardware connection • Graphs build faster when output pin mediums match only one filter • Make pin mediums static and register them at driver install time • Ensure that the capture filter dictates picture resolution to the encoder filter

17. Driver Potential Issues Caused By Poor Analog Drivers • TV startup is too slow • Channel changes are too slow or glitch • Lip sync is bad • Closed captions do not appear • Closed captions out of sync with the audio and video • Picture loses detail • TV just stops after long periods of viewing • Seeking and trick mode playback do not work well • PC does not wake up and record shows

18. Recommendations For Digital Tuners • Capture chips must support full transport stream bitrates for the desired medium (HD up to 19 MBs) • Automatically fine-tune digital signal if signal is within +/- 100 KHz • Detect and report signal presence and strength even if signal is not yet locked • Allows for quicker signal scanning • Do not wait for signal lock before returning a result from a request to tune • Network provider will query signal strength to determine whether and when signal is locked • Capture samples should be delivered at least every 15 mSec • Timestamps should represent a continuous timeline • Indicate discontinuities if data is not received or if data errors cannot be corrected

19. Supporting Multiple Tuners • Each tuner should be a different device instance • A separate graph will be built for each tuner instance • Each instance should maintain its state independently from other instances • Each instance must function fully and independently from other instances • There should be separate DirectShow filter entries for each instance (Tuner, Crossbar, Capture, etc.) • Each instance must have its own unique hardware pin mediums • Instances that share physical connectors must be able to independently select their input via the crossbar filter

20. Tuner Testing And Logo Programs

21. TV Tuner Testing • Test your tuner in with the latest build of Windows Vista • Set up your tuners in First Run • Test with multiple tuners installed • Test sharing with a third party application • Test channel change • Look for loss of lip sync • Look for video or audio glitches • Test video compression • Run with high motion content • Test long duration use • Test automatic recording after suspend • Compare performance and quality with that of a good TV • You can test all of this on Windows XP Media Center Edition too! • Self-host Windows Vista with your tuners at home • Look for future release of MCE Partner Test Kit with tuner tests from Microsoft

22. Windows Logo Programs For TV Tuners • Media Center will no longer have an independent hardware requirements document • Media Center in Windows Vista's hardware requirements and the “Designed for Media Center Edition” requirements will now be part of the new Windows Vista Windows Logo Program (WLP) • Windows Vista Media Center requirements roughly align with the Premium level logo • Hardware meet WLP + updated Media Center requirements • Windows Vista Media Center Hardware Summary chart available in the FAQ on Microsoft Connect • All Windows Vista WLP hardware requirements are verified using their corresponding tests found in the Microsoft Windows Development Kit (WDK)

23. Vista Test Tools In WDK • Each hardware requirement for Media Center in Windows Vista will have a corresponding test in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) to verify compliance with the WLP • No separate “test kit” specifically for Windows Vista Media Center • Diagnostic tests in the WDK will log info from the Windows Vista computer running Media Center and verifies the hardware meets the logo requirements • WDK beta available with Windows Vista Beta 2 • Final tests available soon!

24. Improved User Experience Inbox DriverPreinstalled Reliable Driver Windows UpdateAutomated Driver Updates Advantages IHV/OEM posts driver updates to WU Latest drivers dynamically available Automatic update notification for users Advantages Device works out of the box Replaces XP driver on upgrade to Windows Vista Driver quality held to the same standard as Windows Vista Driver Distribution IHV/OEM WebsiteManual Search for Updates Challenges Manual process Multiple drivers in multiple locations Customer confusion as to which driver to install

25. New TV Features In Windows Vista

26. U.S. Digital Cable Ready • OpenCable™ Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) • Approved by cable operators • CableLabs® specification OpenCable OC-SP-OCUR-I02-060210 • Support for CableCARD™ • Provides premium content to the PC (HBO HD and more!) • Nationwide coverage • Supports non-CableCARD™ content • Includes local HD channels • Hybrid tuner • Also provides legacy support for NTSC and ATSC

27. OCUR – User Benefits • Great digital TV experience • High definition video (cable and terrestrial) • Dolby Digital Surround Sound • Simplified configuration experience • Easier configuration with direct CableCARD instead of connecting settop box to PC • Increased reliability (no IR blaster) • Easy connectivity and Setup (First Run) • Built-in support for CableCARD pairing and diagnostics • Scanning for free to air HD broadcasts

28. DRI I/F(WMDRM protected) CableCARD I/F(DFAST protected) Digital Cable Support Cable Network I/F(CA protected) MCX OpenCableUni-Directional Receiver(OCUR) MCE CableNetwork

29. OCUR Reference Design • Single tuner design • Limited by single stream capability of CableCARD • Two modes of operation for SD and HD content • Cable: Analog or Digital (NTSC or QAM64/256) • Terrestrial: Analog or ATSC (NTSC or 8VSB) • MCE Interface • IP over USB • Content Protection: Windows Media DRM • Windows Support • Inbox Class driver, all features accessible through Media Center • Certification • Pre-certified by CableLabs

30. Exhaustive Scanning • Automated mechanism to do a complete scanning of broadcast frequencies • Ensures discovery of all channels • Brings parity with CE devices • Works on current hardware, 60% coverage • Worldwide solution • Initial release targeted at European analog TV

31. Legacy Scanning Exhaustive Scanning Scanning time 13min Total found 43 Valid channels 43 Noise 0 Duplicates 0 Scanning time 21min Total found 120 Valid channels 43 Noise 47 Duplicates 30 Exhaustive Scanning • Tested in Europe • U.K., France, Germany, Finland and Netherlands • Great partner support • Hardware and drivers Scanning in Netherlands (results) versus

32. Call To Action • Follow analog tuner design guidelines • Design and use high quality encoders • Develop high quality drivers • Use BDA for digital tuner support • Make sure your drivers support multiple hardware instances • Use ISF to certify video quality • Use the tuner test tools in the WDK • Use Windows Update for driver distribution • Support exhaustive channel scanning • Review the analog tuner whitepaper

33. Additional Resources • Web Resources • Analog tuner whitepaper http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/mediacenter/MCPCvidcap.mspx • Microsoft TV technologies on MSDN • http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/directshow/htm/introductiontodirectshow.asp • Related sessions • MED076 – Preparing to TV Beyond Windows Vista • MED114 – Windows Media DRM Device Ecosystem for Windows Vista • MED035 – Hardware Implementations of Media Center Upgrade Scenarios

34. © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries. The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.