Re: MythTV HD?

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

NZG <ngustavson@emacinc.com> wrote ..
> > Thanks for the good info. Any chance you might have some input on:
> Ditto here, but can't this be done for under $200?
> I mean, I can get a DVR for that.
> What advantage am I going to get for buying a $200 tuner card?
> Tiger direct is selling tuners for $35.

Please don't quote the entire thread, folks. We already got it the first time around, and it's in the archives if anyone wants to follow along.

1. You can't find an HDTV tuner card for under $200
2. What Tiger Direct is selling for $35 is an OTA NTSC tuner card, NOT an HDTV tuner card.

You can't get an HDTV DVR for $200. If you can, do tell where, 'cuz I want one.

HDTV != NTSC TV.

What you're getting with /this/ particular $200 HDTV tuner card is:

1. Complete manufacturer Linux driver support
2. No implementation of the "broadcast flag".

You won't get either with pretty much ALL of the /other/ HDTV cards out there.

And if you get an HDTV-VR in the near future, you can bet your bottom dollar it will implement the broadcast flag, and may even be based on Microsoft Media Edition, and include all sorts of nasty, onerous, encumbered, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) so-called "features" to prevent you from getting in touch with your "inner pirate". Arrrrrgghhhh, mateys!

If you don't want to get one, that's fine. Don't do anything you don't feel like. That just means more of them are available for the rest of us...

BTW, the U.S. Government has mandated that ALL NTSC OTA broadcasts will go dark in 2006, forcing the transition to HDTV (so that they can reclaim the current TV spectrum and auction it off to further fatten up the lobbyists and re-election coffers -- yay!). Whether we collectively decide to "kill our TVs" at the proscribed date remains to be seen.

That's why you're seeing regular TV prices drop through the floor. There won't be any channels for them to receive in a couple of years. I suspect that HDTV-to-Channel-3/4 converters will become very big sellers.

The thing is, the converters, also implementing the broadcast flag, will be required to "go dark" if you try to "convert" digital HDTV-PVR recordings to display them on your "analog" TV.

This is the final closing of the "analog loophole" that has been the holy grail of the MPAA and over-the-air broadcast interests.

Now that the DMCA is in place, it is a federal offense to "tamper" with your cable authorization card, your satellite tuner card, and now, your HDTV tuner, your DVI cable, and your TV's DVI inputs.

Even a "black-box" bridge-router for an HDTV signal that "drops" the broadcast flag is detectable, since content is now digitally signed, and thus, not alterable. Except for a pre-fair-use-ban device, such as the HD-3000.

Mike/


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