For all you HTPC junkies drooling at the thought of a pci cablecard

[Hoooooooar]

There was one at CES, should launch this year sometime, for $400 which is alot better then what dell and all them charge for a "media" (HTPC) computer, probably around $1800

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/cetons-quad-cablecard-tuner-for-windows-media-center-gets-a-pri/

engadget has the link.

The days of $20-35 per HD box rentals from the cable companies are soon to be over, yay, of course it'll take a year or two to pay for itself, but it'll be well worth it imo, and thats launch price and the first one, I'm sure that some economy 1 channel ones will come out which would probably be fine for most.

[rallynavvie]

I'm really looking forward to see which cable/satellite providers will support this. It's one of the biggest no-brainer items that's not been created. Still the $400 price tag is for the PCI-E card, the actual cable card needs to be "liberated" from a STB so you're probably still paying the stupid monthly rental rate.

[jman98]

I'm a Comcast customer and I am the only person I know who has CableCard. None of my friends or family even know what it is. Comcast doesn't like to support it because it can't do On Demand, but if you ask for it over the phone they will grudgingly send someone out to set it up for you. I'm not sure that they would provide another cable card to me if I asked for one to use a PCI card like this, should it actually ever come available.

I have the impression that CableCard is basically DOA and there is no customer demand for it and the cable/satellite companies wish it were dead already. Unless I misunderstand, I don't think rallynavvie is correct that a CableCard needs to be "liberated" from a STB. I have no STB for my HDTV and simply have a CableCard plugged into it.

[rallynavvie]

Are we clear on what sort of card we're talking about? Your HDTV has the equivalent of a laptop PCI slot for that card? That doesn't surprise me much since we're moving toward integration but how many HDTVs have integrated DVRs? I greatly prefer my HTPC as it can record multiple streams simultaneously and then serve that recorded (or live) content to any of my networked HDTVs. DVRs are mostly still STBs these days, and many STBs I've seen contain that card which, I'm assuming, decodes that cable provider's signal for the channels/service you are paying for. As you can see in that picture that PCI-E device has a slot for such a card, essentially turning your HTPC into a quad-channel DVR.

[jman98]

CableCards themselves are tiny. About 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. CableCard is CableCard. As far as I know we're talking about the same thing unless you don't mean what I do by CableCard. This is what I mean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_card
Look at the photo.

[jman98]

And by the way I am not at all questioning why someone would want this device, I am just questioning:
1) Whether it will actually ever be available at all (many devices announced never actually make to consumers)
2) Whether cable/satellite companies will help you to get one. They don't like them at all. The Wikipedia article I linked to in my previous post says that cable companies have a proposed in front of the FCC to eliminate CableCard altogether.

[rallynavvie]

Those are what I was speaking of. Their hardware is identical to a PCMCIA card (that's the acronym I was blanking on) and I've seen them in the backs of almost all the STBs I've looked at recently. Of course the cable companies hate them because there is a potential for lost revenue when a customer can purchase a STB and change providers simply by changing cards instead of the entire STB. They can also get aftermarket DVRs instead of renting them from their providers. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons why these cards are bad for cable companies but good for consumers. I don't know why they're so afraid of lost revenue though, only power-users are going to know of these things and that must only constitute maybe 10-20% of their business. However I could see rising subscription costs as a result.

[usually_quiet]

I don't think there is a lack of interest in CableCARDs. It's just that devices that would take them are costly and few.

Even though CableCARDs have been around for several years, the compatible equipment that is available for sale to consumers is on the expensive side -- high-end TVs, TiVos, Moxis, ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, and now this new device. I would guess it is not cheap to add support for them.

However, the pool of interested consumers may be growing a little now that analog cable is being phased out by the larger cablecos. I long for the days of cable-ready equipment, and I have only had an STB for a few months. I have SD digital starter service, and most of the channels I get are available in clear QAM, which is somewhat helpful, but there's no telling how long that will be true.

If you read the Wikipedia article, it appears that the cablecos and CE manufacturers are bickering about the features and their implementation for future CableCARDs or replacement devices. Both want to be in control, and consumers have been left waiting.