Any good CableCard TV tuners for PCs yet?

[glugglug]

Last I checked, those who want to use their PC as a DVR are out of luck with most digital cable providers, due to a) most providers not supporting open standards for their encryption yet, and b) lack of support for cablecard on PCs before Vista.

Time Warner is now offering cablecards for $1.75/month.

Any good card to throw in my PC to use this?

 

[GTaudiophile]

I too am waiting for such a card...

Actually, I would love a PCI-E All-In-Wonder HDTV R600 videocard with OTA HDTV, QAM, and CableCard2 support.

Wouldn't that be nice? I would indeed build a HD-DVD player/DVR/music server around such a card.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I too am waiting for such a card...

Actually, I would love a PCI-E All-In-Wonder HDTV R600 videocard with OTA HDTV, QAM, and CableCard2 support.

Wouldn't that be nice? I would indeed build a HD-DVD player/DVR/music server around such a card.

The AIW cards are done, at least that's what was reported.

As for the original question, no, not yet, and I doubt anyone knows how long before we'll see any cablecard devices since Vista needs to be released first. Last I recall the cable companies were making cablecards hard to come by as they aren't big fans of them.

I would love to see a full on multimedia solution from both ATi/AMD and nVidia with those features (and SoundStorm 2 while we're at it). I would look at setting up a multimedia box with that.

 

[Peter]

... and that is exactly why they don't exist. The DRM mafia does not want you to "own" their precious digital content. You are supposed to view the stuff when and how THEY want you to, not when and how YOU feel like it.

It's (still) slightly better in Europe. We have digital-TV PCI cards available for all three standards - satellite, cable, aerial - and the keycards have a Common Interface standard that is also available on an extension card to the former.

Importing such a card won't help btw, since the US digital broadcast standards differ from what we use here.

 

[MrMet]

Originally posted by: Peter


Importing such a card won't help btw, since the US digital broadcast standards differ from what we use here.

sounded more like NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH to me

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Peter
... and that is exactly why they don't exist. The DRM mafia does not want you to "own" their precious digital content. You are supposed to view the stuff when and how THEY want you to, not when and how YOU feel like it.

It's (still) slightly better in Europe. We have digital-TV PCI cards available for all three standards - satellite, cable, aerial - and the keycards have a Common Interface standard that is also available on an extension card to the former.

Importing such a card won't help btw, since the US digital broadcast standards differ from what we use here.

And to the industry, I say a big FU!

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
And to the industry, I say a big FU!

:thumbsup:

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: MrMet

Originally posted by: Peter


Importing such a card won't help btw, since the US digital broadcast standards differ from what we use here.

sounded more like NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH to me

More like "let's see how long we last before the MPAA sticks our politicians up their arse". They're already trying (see also: French DRM legislation).

 

[Kadarin]

I just bought a Series 3 Tivo, and in checking on CableCards from Comcast, they told me the first one is free, and the 2nd one is $1.50/mo. So I'm getting two.

The Comcast guy on the phone was sounding like they did Tivo installs like this all the time.

 

[RyanM]

I'm wondering how long it is before mom & pop / small business computer shops sue Cablelabs and the cable companies for keeping Cablecard support on the PC gimped to "certified" computers with bios tags and certification.

The FCC mandated the Cablecard standard to keep consumers from being locked into proprietary hardware. I can't see how keeping Cablecard adapters for PC locked down is doing consumers and freakin' favors.

I want to timeshift my HD channels, and I want to do it without an $800 TiVo. A < $120 Digital Cable Tuner for my PC would do the job there, but if I have to scrap my existing media center just to get it to work, then they can blow me.

 

[nullpointerus]

...
...
...

Hear that? That's the sound of all the conscientious digital media providers, politicians, and producers in the U.S. discussing our problem and arriving at an open solution.

/sarcasm

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
...
...
...

Hear that? That's the sound of all the conscientious digital media providers, politicians, and producers in the U.S. discussing our problem and arriving at an open solution.

/sarcasm

As long as everyone sits on their hands and lets them get away with it. The morality police manage to band together to get the FCC to make sure the Janet Jacksons of the world don't go nipping in prime time, so how come the PC enthusiasts can't ban together to keep the cable cartel from sticking it to us?

 

[soydios]

for what it's worth (OEM only, BIOS tags, etc.): http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2904&p=10

All I want is a DirecTV card. If it can handle HD, I'd like it even more. Dual tuners on it would rock my world. C'mon AMD/ATi, within two years, please!

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: MachFive

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
...
...
...

Hear that? That's the sound of all the conscientious digital media providers, politicians, and producers in the U.S. discussing our problem and arriving at an open solution.

/sarcasm

As long as everyone sits on their hands and lets them get away with it. The morality police manage to band together to get the FCC to make sure the Janet Jacksons of the world don't go nipping in prime time, so how come the PC enthusiasts can't ban together to keep the cable cartel from sticking it to us?

obviously 'cause we just have too much fun needling each other over G80 Vista drivers


Of course, you could just grab a shotgun, a CEO, and a spot on the 9 o'clock news.

Become a legend in your own time!

 

[nullpointerus]

Note that there are HD set-top box firewire projects which apparently allow some people to access both encrypted and unencrypted HD content through digital cable subscription. IIRC, you will not get time-shifting, but recording can be made to work well. There's a huge (read: 1000+ post thread) on the sage.tv hardware forums about this very subject.

 

[spam38]

I subscribe to Time Warner's limited basic service in Lincoln, NE. Using the pcHDTV card and MythTV, I've set up a PVR that can handle both HD and SD TV. This includes HD ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, and NBC. I have the tuner card setup on my headless Linux fileserver, and can view shows on any networked computer, usually the one hooked up to my widescreen projector The card also supports OTA formats.

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
Note that there are HD set-top box firewire projects which apparently allow some people to access both encrypted and unencrypted HD content through digital cable subscription. IIRC, you will not get time-shifting, but recording can be made to work well. There's a huge (read: 1000+ post thread) on the sage.tv hardware forums about this very subject.

I've been aware of the 1394 loopholes a while; I think my Scientific Atlanta HD cable box is a candidate for the treatment. The only thing is I don't care about recording HD content a fraction of how much I want to timeshift it.

I'm exactly the kind of legitimate consumer (and businessman, as I'd like to custom-build units like these myself) that's getting f*cked over by the DRM boogeymen, and it drives me crazy.

 

[RyanM]

Originally posted by: spam38
I subscribe to Time Warner's limited basic service in Lincoln, NE. Using the pcHDTV card and MythTV, I've set up a PVR that can handle both HD and SD TV. This includes HD ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, and NBC. I have the tuner card setup on my headless Linux fileserver, and can view shows on any networked computer, usually the one hooked up to my widescreen projector The card also supports OTA formats.

Will it work with non-local HD channels like TNT and HGTV, or pay HD channels like HBO and Starz? And will it work with any cable provider, or just ones that are nice enough to use QAM?