The death knell for HTPC's ?

[Pliablemoose]

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I'll likely go with OTA, online and rental DVD's as the analog signals are digitized and scrambled.

 

[erwos]

Yet another reason to be thankful I migrated off HTPCs and onto TiVo. TiVo ain't perfect, but at least I know they're not going to cut it off at the knees at any time.

You could always buy a CableCard-enabled HTPC, though...

 

[Slick5150]

Well, for what it's worth, the Comcast tech that was out here a couple weeks ago confirmed that they'd likely be shutting off the analog broadcast around here by the end of the year and that customers would be provided a small converter box, but said only if they didn't have a QAM tuner on their TV. I asked him specifically if that meant those channels that are currently broadcast on the analog channels would be unencrypted ClearQAM and he said yes, many of them already are (which is true, many are also broadcast over a ClearQAM channel already), and the rest likely would be as well as that way they won't have to give EVERYbody one of the converter boxes which they don't really want to have to do.

So, maybe it'll depend on the carrier, or even the market, but they guy sounded pretty confident around here that they wouldn't be locking everything down.

 

[sdifox]

err, there are atsc/qam tuners for computer...

 

[sivart]

another reason I'm glad I dumped the cable company and put up an antenna.

One HTPC has a ATSC tuner, the other strictly serves my ripped DVD's and Hulu.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: sdifox
err, there are atsc/qam tuners for computer...

Yes, and if you read the linked article, you'd find out they're about to stop working.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: sdifox
err, there are atsc/qam tuners for computer...

Yes, and if you read the linked article, you'd find out they're about to stop working.

It's just ClearQAM going away but that was bound to happen anyway, there was no CableCard solution available anyway for the DIYer. ATSC will still work though. Pliablemoose was bitching about analogue no?

 

[masteryoda34]

Microsoft needs to start working on integrating more Hulu type services into Windows Media Center.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: sdifox

ATSC will still work though. Pliablemoose was bitching about analogue no?

No...

Digital Transport Adapters - low-cost cable boxes that are little more than a basic QAM tuner attached to an RF modulator.

DTAs may be little more than a basic QAM tuner, but that "little more" is that they support a very basic form of encryption - a 56bit DES-based cypher known as Privacy Mode - which would allow them to receive and decrypt lightly encrypted channels. The FCC separable security mandate has previously prevented Privacy Mode from being used, but we have known for some time that cable companies and device manufacturers were looking to get a waiver for DTAs. In effect they have been soliciting the FCC for permission to encrypt all EB tier channels with Privacy Mode, so that reception would be limited to DTAs and CableCARD devices.

So... Soon no unencrypted QAM

I have a Hauppauge quad tuner that does QAM & analog both, and they're both going away with the FCC's blessing. I don't care about analog, but losing the unencrypted QAM will suck.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

Originally posted by: sdifox

ATSC will still work though. Pliablemoose was bitching about analogue no?

No...

Digital Transport Adapters - low-cost cable boxes that are little more than a basic QAM tuner attached to an RF modulator.

DTAs may be little more than a basic QAM tuner, but that "little more" is that they support a very basic form of encryption - a 56bit DES-based cypher known as Privacy Mode - which would allow them to receive and decrypt lightly encrypted channels. The FCC separable security mandate has previously prevented Privacy Mode from being used, but we have known for some time that cable companies and device manufacturers were looking to get a waiver for DTAs. In effect they have been soliciting the FCC for permission to encrypt all EB tier channels with Privacy Mode, so that reception would be limited to DTAs and CableCARD devices.

So... Soon no unencrypted QAM

I have a Hauppauge quad tuner that does QAM & analog both, and they're both going away with the FCC's blessing. I don't care about analog, but losing the unencrypted QAM will suck.

as the analog signals are digitized and scrambled

That was from your op... I assumed you were talking about the analogue signal...

I would like to see the FCC chairman shot.

 

[Binky]

Unless I missed something, this article has nothing to do with ATSC broadcasts. Your digital antenna and ATSC tuner will still pick up local stations in their full HDTV digital glory (far superior to most cable providor streams).

This article is only about QAM broadcasts from a cable provider. Since I've never even configured any of my QAM capable tuners, it doesn't bother me at all. You can still get every single cable channel by the s-video output on the back of (almost) every cable box.

 

[marincounty]

Firewire from your cable box? I haven't tried this, yet, but sounds promising.

 

[MagickMan]

I love my HD-PVR, works great for me and I don't have to worry about that crap.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: sdifox

as the analog signals are digitized and scrambled

That was from your op... I assumed you were talking about the analogue signal...

You're misinterpreting the article. That bit of the article was referencing the general trend towards analog signals being phased out and having encrypted digital to replace them, not some bizarre scheme to do analog encryption.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: marincounty
Firewire from your cable box? I haven't tried this, yet, but sounds promising.

Doesn't work on most channels (read: almost all), due to 5C encryption.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: sdifox

as the analog signals are digitized and scrambled

That was from your op... I assumed you were talking about the analogue signal...

You're misinterpreting the article. That bit of the article was referencing the general trend towards analog signals being phased out and having encrypted digital to replace them, not some bizarre scheme to do analog encryption.

wasn't talking about the article, rather your sentence. I know analogue signal is supposed to die off.