ATI's CableCard Digital TV Tuner: WTF?

[Jeremy Charette]

So yesterday I'm cruizing teh internetz, pondering the purchase of a CableCard ready Media Center PC. You see, I really hate the HD DVR STB that Time Warner gives, no, rents to me. TiVo is fantastic, but there's that pesky monthly service fee. The only option to get digital cable on a Media Center PC is to use ATI's Digital TV Tuner box, which is only available with the purchase of a new PC from an approved supplier.

Can't be that expensive, right? I mean, the cable company rents me their box for $8 a month, TiVo will sell me theirs (sans service) for $300, and I can buy an HD tuner card for my computer for less than $100. So how much is ATI's solution? Three. Hundred. Dollars. Per tuner. Want to be able to record one HD channel while watching another? Blam: $600. Oh, and you'll need to spend at least $1000 on a new PC to even get the option to line ATI's pockets with your hard earned cash.

What gives? With prices like this, how does Microsoft ever expect to sell Windows Media Center? How do they expect to compete with the likes of TiVo or the CableCos, who can offer boxes with nearly all the same functionality for a fraction of the cost? I'm an enthusiast, a geek, an early adopter; but even I won't pay $1600+ for the pleasure of being able to watch digital cable on my Media Center PC.

Come on guys, get with the program. Drop the price. Offer them for sale without the purchase of a new PC. The way things stand today, CableCard ready PCs are going to be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of technology history.

Jeremy Charette is a Contributing Editor at Digital Media Thoughts, and also works in Procurement for one of the world’s largest banks. He enjoys reading, cooking, and racing in the SpecForza league. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, USA. He loves to watch TV, but hates paying the cable bill every month.

[Jeremy Charette]

So yesterday I'm cruizing teh internetz, pondering the purchase of a CableCard ready Media Center PC. You see, I really hate the HD DVR STB that Time Warner gives, no, rents to me. TiVo is fantastic, but there's that pesky monthly service fee. The only option to get digital cable on a Media Center PC is to use ATI's Digital TV Tuner box, which is only available with the purchase of a new PC from an approved supplier.

Can't be that expensive, right? I mean, the cable company rents me their box for $8 a month, TiVo will sell me theirs (sans service) for $300, and I can buy an HD tuner card for my computer for less than $100. So how much is ATI's solution? Three. Hundred. Dollars. Per tuner. Want to be able to record one HD channel while watching another? Blam: $600. Oh, and you'll need to spend at least $1000 on a new PC to even get the option to line ATI's pockets with your hard earned cash.

What gives? With prices like this, how does Microsoft ever expect to sell Windows Media Center? How do they expect to compete with the likes of TiVo or the CableCos, who can offer boxes with nearly all the same functionality for a fraction of the cost? I'm an enthusiast, a geek, an early adopter; but even I won't pay $1600+ for the pleasure of being able to watch digital cable on my Media Center PC.

Come on guys, get with the program. Drop the price. Offer them for sale without the purchase of a new PC. The way things stand today, CableCard ready PCs are going to be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of technology history.

Jeremy Charette is a Contributing Editor at Digital Media Thoughts, and also works in Procurement for one of the world’s largest banks. He enjoys reading, cooking, and racing in the SpecForza league. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, USA. He loves to watch TV, but hates paying the cable bill every month.

[ptyork]

Jeremy, this is all CableLabs doing, not ATI. CableLabs will only certify a full system, so ATI isn't allowed to sell the cards separately. The cost is all supply and demand. It cost ATI a ton to get these things working with CableLabs ultra stupid specifications and they are now having to charge a ton in the hopes of getting some of their investment back. Anyway, IPTV will destroy cable cos and obsolete CableLabs before we see anything affordable in the MediaCenter space using the CableCard spec. Personally, I'm waiting impatiently to jump up and down naked and urinate on CableLabs grave... (okay, probably unnecessarily graphic, but it is how I feel)

[ploeg]

Microsoft does not want to compete with the cable companies. Microsoft wants to be the partner of the cable companies. Microsoft wants to sell their version of IPTV to the cable companies, which will then pass Microsoft's fee (along with their own fees) to the consumer. Why should Microsoft fight the cable companies when Microsoft can collect fees from the cable companies using Microsoft tech, and let the cable companies be Microsoft's retail agents?

Media Center PCs have always been a niche market, and if Microsoft gets its way, they will always be a niche market. That's why you no longer have a "Media Center" version of Microsoft Windows. It's just another piece of software that most people will have little interest in.