EngadgetHD is reporting that Media Center isn’t ready for the upcoming digital transition in the US.  While the “original” date has already come and gone, it looks like Media Center has yet to keep up.

From the article:

Media Center fans woke up to a rude awakening late last week when they realized that many of their OTA HD channels were missing guide data. After a number of reports at The Green Button — where Microsoft is usually very receptive to programming data problems — it become apparent that almost all the channels missing data were the very same ones where the broadcasters stayed on schedule and shut off their analog transmitters in February.

This is sort of scary for me since I’m about to invest some money in a rather large antenna to dump cable.  No guide data really makes it pointless.  I should be safe for the most part as I’m running Windows 7 but not everyone is.  Anyone running pre-TV Pack Vista is going to have serious trouble.

Phil Lozen from Living in HighDef has an interesting take on the topic:

Despite Microsoft wanting Media Center to expand its reach, things like this will continue to keep it from mainstream adoption. A regular user isn’t going to be on The Green Button looking for a solution. Guide data is the key to making a DVR solution work, without it you have a digital VCR that you have to program manually. The only difference is no clock flashing 12:00 a.m.

Not everyone is going to jump into Windows 7 feet first.  Either they won’t want to drop for the software at retail or they’re not going to buy a new PC.  Either way, allowing people to be stuck without ATSC guide data is a huge problem that MS needs to resolve quickly if they’re really serious about taking Media Center to the people.