[aggregate reply to multiple messages and people]
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 7:34 PM, Erik Goldoff <[email protected]> wrote:
> I don't know if there's a 'cable card' version of tuner available
> that would work for this now ...
The local broadcast stations (typically at least ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox,
and PBS affiliates) usually come through unencrypted ("QAM in the
clear"). (This may actually be by FCC rule, although I haven't
checked the regulations.) A digital tuner card of the right design
can capture these signals. So your Windoze Media Blender may be able
to record those, if you get a new card.
Or just buy a TiVo. ;-)
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 8:19 PM, Hilderbrand, Doug
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I have Comcast and have been trying to figure this one out too. I think what
> is happening is that the analog TV spectrum has been sold to make $$ for our
> benevolent government.
While sort-of true, that doesn't really have anything to do with
cable operators. Their distribution systems don't use broadcast
bandwidth. So the FCC mandate to cease analog NTSC broadcast does not
impact cable operators at all.
But it is still true that standard definition digital signals use
*MUCH* less bandwidth than std def analog signals. Digital can be
compressed; NTSC (analog) cannot. So all those analog channels are
eating up tons of bandwidth the cable operator could be using for
other things (which they could be charging for, of course). Getting
rid of them is a big ROI for the operator.
Note that "digital" does not imply "high definition". It's possible
-- indeed, quite common -- to send a standard definition signal using
digital methods.
You need a different type of tuner to receive, decode, and
decompress digital signals. So older, analog-only tuners see no
signal. Further, the new ATSC broadcast system uses a different
format than digital cable, so a digital tuner may work with one but
not the other, or both, depending on the design of the tuner.
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Hilderbrand, Doug
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey, why don't newly manufactured HDTV's come not with dual analog/digital
> tuners, but with digital/analog-band-digital tuners?
That question does make sense to me. Why would you want to be able
to tune an ATSC signal in a band that won't have ATSC signals?
TV manufactured past a certain year (2006?) have to include a
digital tuner. They *don't* have to include high definition
capability. I suppose TVs manufactured past the analog cut-off don't
need the analog tuner anymore. I don't know if there is regulation
either way. And there are still analog-NTSC-only markets in the
world, so it may be that they'll continue.
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 9:59 PM, Glen Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> The only cable card pc tuner is an OEM only and available for Win7 media
> center.
Yes. The CableCard standard includes crypto. Both the card and the
host device (i.e., TV, DVR, or computer tuner card) have to be
certified by CableLabs. Without that certification, the host device
doesn't get a crypto key, and so won't work with a cable network.
This is similar to how DVD players have to be approved before they can
play most DVDs.
The big part of the certification is/was making sure that the host
device doesn't allow the user to do *anything* other than sit in front
of the boob tube when the program was aired -- no recording, no time
shifting, no commercial skipping, no thinking. See
<http://xkcd.com/129/>
TiVo fought a multi-year battle with CableLabs to get them to accept
the idea of recording and time shifting. TiVo still had to agree to
take measures to keep people from re-distributing content. For
example, for unencrypted programs, I can download the MPEG streams off
my TiVo using HTTP, and play them on just about anything. Not for the
copy-restricted stuff.
(In my heart, I suspect CableLabs ultimately caved only because
otherwise TiVo would have petitioned the FCC, and that would likely
have ended badly for CableLabs. They'd rather agree to terms than
have terms imposed upon them.)
For the Windows PC CableCard stuff, the only way the OEM could get
the needed crypto key was to sell an integrated system (computer,
tuner card, software) that gave similar protections.
I don't know how the Win 7 / MSFT CableCard deal is supposed to
work; that's news to me.
-- Ben
~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
