Dell Finally Ships CableCARD PCs

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/08/08/1095609.aspx' target='_blank'>http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/08/08/1095609.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I just got an e-mail that Dell has Digital Cable Tuners now on the XPS 410. Check them out, I’ll have more coverage at a later date as I’m currently out of town."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/ATI%2520CableCard.jpg" /><br /><br />How long has it been now? I've lost track. This is ridiculous. Now we finally have CableCARD PCs available...I can't afford one. OEMs need to shoot for the sub $1000 mark before people will start buying these en masse. But wait, then the cablecos will release Switched Digital Video, and BLAMMO there goes two grand, down the drain. :roll:

[ptyork]

I have to agree. I've waited two years for this and now I can't possibly afford one. I'll probably end up with a freaking TiVo which just burns my bills (replace the "i" with an "a" if you like, but I think that bills is appropriate). What I want is a central PC with 3 or 4 tuners and extenders on all my TV's. Probably never happen.

The funny thing about the "integration ban" is that, while it SHOULD mean that consumers will finally get access to reasonably priced CableCards, in reality it will likely mean that cable companies will accelerate deployment of SDV and roll it out within the next year or two just because it'll help them shave costs off of boxes (and not lower the rates that they raised in response to the integration ban). Quite ironic. As you say...BLAMMO![/quote]

[whydidnt]

Bahh, this is what we get when we allow content producers to determine how we use and deploy technology. They have no interest in satisfying our wants or needs, muchless any desire to innovate. They simply want to force us pay over and over again for the same old stuff. Combine this with a congress that understands very little about the technology it is attempting to govern and you end up with the mess known as cable cards. Mix in a cable card PC and you mulitply the mess, since heaven forbid we would actually be able to watch what we want, when and where we want! :roll:

[Jason Dunn]

Agreed. This whole thing has been a complete, utter, and total fiasco - the cable companies WANT it to fail so they can sell me their piece of crap Motorola PVR for $700 or bill me $10 a month for it from now until the end of time.

Whenever I think about this topic I get techno-depressed. :?

[Jeremy Charette]

What the industry needs is ONE regulatory body, private, not government run; but with close ties to the federal regulators who control broadcast spectrums and regulatory laws (i.e. FCC, Congress, etc.). CableLabs is a (pardon my French) ****ing joke. They are notorious for taking ridiculously long periods of time to approve products and allow manufacturers to get them to market. And they are most certainly NOT looking out for the best interests of the consumer. I'd go so far as to say they are only looking out for the content creators. This latest debacle with mandatory CableCARD STB compatibility, and rumors of SDV coming down the pipe only reinforce the perception that they are NOT working with the content distributors (cablecos, dishcos, telcos, etc.) to create a unified standard that will support the features the distributors want to roll out.

In an ideal world, I'd rent a CableCARD (or other adapter) from my content provider, and plug it into whatever I buy (TiVo, TV, DVR, HTPC...). It would all work, and give me all the features I want (time shifting, place shifting, on demand video, 100+ channels of HD content). And all of my devices would be daisy chained through one digital audio &amp; video cable (such as HDMI).

In an ideal world. :?