ATIs Digital Cable tuner?

mrdonbonjovi said:
http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonderdigital/index.html

Is this OTA only or can it actually connect to my digital cable box?
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It actually takes the place of your digital cable box. As in, you get a cablecard from your cableco, plug your cable into this thing, and it will tune all digital cable channels, including HD.

Problem is, you can only get one of these cards in pre-built OEM systems (like a $1,500 HP Media Center PC). The other problem is, nobody really knows how obtrusive the content protection will be. You might not be able to store/rip/share/archive the beautiful HD content you recorded due to the broadcast flag and etc. So this thing has the potential to revolutionize HTPCs, but it also might just be one big tantalizing dud.
 
Yeah these things will replace your digital cable box. It should be able to tune in just about anything you plug into it.

The cards seem like they will be available at retail outlets but they look like they've been tied to the Vista release as far as availability. I don't see a mention of XP anywhere on the page, only Vista. Not sure why the Vista only look would have to do with anything other than some sort of content protection Vista has built in.
 
I just built a HTPC and the ati550 isn't doing it for me as far as recording goes so hopefully this can. Any ideas on pricing?
 
Anarchist4000 said:
Yeah these things will replace your digital cable box. It should be able to tune in just about anything you plug into it.

The cards seem like they will be available at retail outlets but they look like they've been tied to the Vista release as far as availability. I don't see a mention of XP anywhere on the page, only Vista. Not sure why the Vista only look would have to do with anything other than some sort of content protection Vista has built in.
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Unfortunately cable tuner cards will only come with OEM pc's and will not be avaible as add in card for the DIY. Unless something has changed.:(
 
I assumed since ATI sells all their other TV Tuners as stand alone boxes they'd do the same with this. It's possible due to some sort of content protection I suppose but it seems to differ from their current line of products. I haven't seen anything against it being available in a box so I could be wrong.
 
Anarchist4000 said:
I assumed since ATI sells all their other TV Tuners as stand alone boxes they'd do the same with this.
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They won't. The thing that makes it work is a cablcard which is licensed from Cablelabs. The license tells them it has to come as part of a closed system.
 
What's to say these things won't end up on fleabay in a few months from "bad" or "dead" machines rolling through HP/Dell/etc? And what's to lock the hardware to that specific vendors closed system? Give it time, it'll too be hacked...
 
I just built a HTPC and the ati550 isn't doing it for me as far as recording goes so hopefully this can. Any ideas on pricing?
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If I were you, I would hold off on purchasing that unit. It looks good and sounds like it should work fine, but you should wait until some reviews come out.

Many people have had huge issues with cable card compatibility in their HDTV sets. Also, working with the cable companies to fix any problem tends to be a royal pain.

As far as cable cards go, they’re not quite ready for primetime.:eek:
 
goobenet said:
What's to say these things won't end up on fleabay in a few months from "bad" or "dead" machines rolling through HP/Dell/etc? And what's to lock the hardware to that specific vendors closed system? Give it time, it'll too be hacked...
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Because inorder to use it you'll need a special mobo that has a jumper thingy on it to enable the system to use the tuner. That and you'll need to have certain registry settings to enable Vista to even see the tuner.

The deck is stacked against you using this with a "roll your own" HTPC.

But with the way it's being described it sounds like ATI will be selling these at retail a few months after launch. So there might be hope for us DIYers. :)
 
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