Some interesting information has come to light through a PowerPoint presentation that was posted on the Microsoft download site called ‘Preparing For TV Beyond Windows Vista’. It was presented at WinHEC 2006 (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) by Bernhard Kotzenberg who is a Lead Program Manager in the Windows eHome Division.

Features highlighted as a possibility for the future included

DVB-T and DVB-S/S2 free-to-air and DVB-CI
Hybrid tuners
Merged program guide (PAL/DVB-T/DVB-S)
DVB-T subtitling and DVB Teletext
In-band EPG for DVB services
Interactive TV with MHEG5
Improved service scanning
FM radio station naming and analog TV channel renaming

And a number of similar features for the Japanese ISDB-T and ISDB-S standards (see slides for further details).

As a note DVB-CI is the ‘Common Interface’ standard for Premium TV smartcards rather than support for DVB-C (Digital Cable). In the presentation this was listed in the ‘Europe’ section, although I think the consequences have further reaches than Europe because the DVB standards is what a vast majority of the world has either implemented, is currently trialing or recommended. DVB-T alone is used in over 100 countries worldwide. The following images show this point rather well.

DVB-T Map
DVB-S Map

It is good to see these points being raised, when Media Center 2004 was released I never felt that the DVB-T implementation was complete. Sure it may have been at a technical document level, but compared to what the public might expect after using Freeview it missed a few features (particularly subtitles and interactive).