PVR Recording and Digital TV - USA

[Jim_]

Not sure about that......I read a few months back that some of our government reps are deciding whether or not they should pass legislation to subsidise digital to annalog converter boxes.....if they weren't going to get rid of analog I couldn't see them looking into this type of subsidy.....

I also know that all new TV's sold in the US must be digital cable ready.

From my limited understanding, the FCC regulates all transmitted frequencies, RF radiating devices, and enforces content laws for open (un-encrypted) broadcasts. IE tax & regulate, tax & regulate, tax & regulate…
They’ve already chopped up the existing broadcast TV frequency range and are selling chunks to the highest bidder (or should I say, lobbyist). I’m sure retired folks on a limited income will finally understand what was done to them, and thank the FCC in an appropriate manner, when their TV’s give nothing but static in ‘09 :mad:
But unless a wired signal or device creates harmful RF that interferes with an FCC regulated frequency, they have no control over it? So a cable company should be able to down-convert digital content and distribute it to our analog TV’s & capture devices on current broadcast frequencies (in the future) without FCC interference. But the strangle hold the entertainment industry has on DC is a different situation all together….

[soccerdad]

I would not mind (too much) paying for a monthly cablecard that allowed me to record shows as I do today on my PC. Being able to skip commercials and manipulate the recorded show the way I want outweighs the cost of the cablecard (or at least I would hope).

I think the industry needs to realize that the consumer model is moving to an on-demand model where on-demand does not necessarily mean viewing your recordings at your place of residence. GBPVR users are streaming their shows over the internet and we are working on getting them to stream to handheld devices as well.

Charge me for the service of delivering content to me.....but let me decide what I am going to do with it and when.......

I agree 100% with you. My Time Warner branch lists Cable Card available for only $1.75 per month. It can't give your "on-demand" movies, but it will give you all normal digital service. The STB costs $7.70/mo to rent extras so I would love a PVR card that I could plug a cable card into. I hope I am not just wishing for this forever. I don't mind paying for it, I just want to use it like I want, and watch the shows that I want, when I want to. 90% of my useage is to make sure I can put fun, high quality, brain food in front of my kids instead of those creepy new cartoons like Yu-gi-oh. The Magic Schoolbus rocks....

I don't sell it, I don't even stream it over the internet. I just watch the shows at times that work for me, then I dump them.

[UncleJohnsBand]

Just found this recent article....looks like cablecard is coming to town....

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6107359.html

[Brian_W]

UJB,

Thats true that the cards will be available, but there is a lot of rumor that the PVR cards for PC's won't be available to purchase retail, only by an OEM purchase. Hopefully that will only be a limited time and we will be able to buy them.

Brian

[Brian_W]

Here is an article that has a little bit of promise, but does contain that evil acronym we know as DRM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1908511,00.asp

Brian

[kaffeen]

There is DRM stripping software for audio. I am not sure about video, but it won't be long before a solution exists.

If you can make it, someone will always be able to break it. The movie and recording industries are a bit screwed when it comes to copyrights, it would be in their best interest to look at different business models (some of which are already doing that, i.e. SpiralFrog and EMI).

[nitrogen_widget]

This may be a stupid question since I don't know how HDTV STB's work, but since your HDTV signal comes in over coax do the boxes also have a coax out?
And if they have coax out is the true HDTV signal? If so couldn't you just set an HDTV tuner card to channel 3 for recording & change the channel on the stb via the PC & record a true HDTV signal?

[UncleJohnsBand]

Here is an article that has a little bit of promise, but does contain that evil acronym we know as DRM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1908511,00.asp

Brian

Here is an update on the ATI card....due out with Vista.....OEM only.....Retail following later on.

[Brian_W]

Here is an update on the ATI card....due out with Vista.....OEM only.....Retail following later on.

Nice, I am just still concerned about the DRM crap and the DIY PVR systems like GBPVR. I have a feeling it won't be as easy as we are hoping to use one of these on our systems

Brian

[gkreis]

If we can't build our own PVRs then there goes automatic commercial skipping. I REALLY like that feature.

I guess what we are seeing is that we better count on Core 2 machines, running Vista and cablecards if we have to have a hope of controlling the content. I wouldn't be surprised if the companies don't devise a means to make it harder to skip commercials.

I have been wanting to get an HD TV, but I can't bring myself to plunk down the bucks when I can't avoid high monthly bills for the required HD channels, HD DVR and no commercial skipping. Those costs add up to the cost of an HD TV in a couple of years. HD TVs are a waste to watch SDTV and they look worse then a CRT TV. Maybe I need to just buy a projector for movies and then keep the old CRT TV for SDTV and GBPVR with my analog cable.

Things are a mess right now...