Are PC based PVR's going to disappear?

[sleonard]

In the near future the US is going to start broadcasting HDTV for everything and standard definition will simply be turned off. While the deadline is some time away and will likely be extended (probably already has been and might be again) it will still end up in the neighborhood of 2-3 years from now. (Maybe 3-5)

When that happens what's going to happen to great applications such as Sage when it becomes illegal (will it?) to produce and sell capture cards that can do high definition? Without these cards, Sage is useless and the whole PC TV/PVR industry disappears overnight.

1. Maybe it will continue but be limited to the few OTA channels available. (With Hollywood putting a "no copy" BF on 3/4 of all OTA content which leaves nothing but most of the commercials for PC PVR's)

2. Maybe it will be limited to standard definition outputs (s-vid, composite) of the cable/satelite boxes that will continue to be included on those boxes for backwards compatibility (at least for a number of years after the deadline).

3. Maybe cards will come out that re-encode an HD analog signal (component) that has already been decoded by a STB and somehow squeak by all the copy protection laws passed by the United Corporations of Hollywood. ( 2005 was the year the name was officially changed from USA to UCH )

4. Maybe a lucrative black market arises for the manufacture and smuggling of HDTV PC cards out of SE Asia and becomes the next opportunity for the Chinese mafia. Sage Corp. relocates to Hong Kong.

5. ??? What are your predictions?

[Hi8]

there already HDTV PC solutions... just a few in a 3min search



HDTV tuner with 2 RF and analog inputs DViCO software decoder recorder
DFUSIONHD2 (DVICO - FUSIONIIHDTV)
$159.00

MyHD MDP-120 PCI ATSC HDTV Tuner Card
MDP120PB (MIT - MDP-120)
$289.00

HiPix HDTV Tuner PCI Card
Telemann's HiPix DTV-200 HDTV Card is first of it's kind release of a PC based ATSC Tuner/Decoder for Digital Over-The-Air transmission of standard and high-definition.
$399

[Hi8]

there already HDTV PC solutions... just a few in a 3min search



HDTV tuner with 2 RF and analog inputs DViCO software decoder recorder
DFUSIONHD2 (DVICO - FUSIONIIHDTV)
$159.00

MyHD MDP-120 PCI ATSC HDTV Tuner Card
MDP120PB (MIT - MDP-120)
$289.00

HiPix HDTV Tuner PCI Card
Telemann's HiPix DTV-200 HDTV Card is first of it's kind release of a PC based ATSC Tuner/Decoder for Digital Over-The-Air transmission of standard and high-definition.
$399

[stanger89]

I know that OTA has to be HD by 2006 I believe, but I have heard nothing about the same requirements for Cable/Sat. Also, nothing I have read suggests that it will be illegal to produce HD cards after the BF so long as they obey it, however current cards will continue to work even after the BF.

1) OTA channels will still be available, and will still be useable with current HD cards, although new ones (from after the BF) will have to obey the BF.

2) SD outputs will be around for a long time considering the installed base of SDTVs.

3) If you take a look at the following thread this is exactly what we are trying do define. Digital Rapids has expressed an interest in producing and analog HD encoder cards, possibly feature equivalent to the 250 (less the tuner).
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...&threadid=2920

4) That's a posibility although I hope it's not our only option.

5) For the next few years there isn't much to worry about. Cable/Sat providers will continue to provide STBs with SD outputs as forcing the HD issue would alienate their customer base. What is likely is that before too long (couple years) we will have to rely on STBs since analog cable will go away.

While it doesn't look very good, there are a few things that do encourage hope.
-Digital River
They have expressed an interest in producing an analog HD recorder, this would take advantage of the "Analog Hole" something that will not like go away in the forseable future, the installed base of sets requiring analog inputs, both SD and HD. The first 3 or so generations of HDTVs don't have digital inputs.l
-CableCard
This is good news for everyone. While similar the current D* setup, CableCard is a standard, as opposed to the proprietary nature of the D*. Hopefully, some enterprising company(s) will build a CableCard compatible TV card.
-Microsoft
I know, I know, the competition right, but if they are dedicated enough to MCE their pockets are deep enough to motivate an enterprising company like I mentioned above.

Hopefully at least one of the above will come to fruition, but an analog HD recorder is likely the only one that will not reduce the level of control we now have over our recordings. The other two solutions will probably obey the BF.

My $.00000002

[MarcusInMd]

There are NO FCC requirements at this time that say ANY broadcasters be it cable/satellite or OTA be in HDTV. The federal requirements are only that they BROADCAST A DIGITAL SIGNAL. This could be HDTV or SDTV or EDTV.


Edit: And this requirement is ONLY FOR OTA.

Marcus