[NCLUG] MythTV Questions

[Chad Perrin]

On Sun, Feb 17, 2008 at 01:14:25PM -0700, Brian Wood wrote:
> Chad Perrin wrote:
> >On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 05:54:12PM -0700, Brian Wood wrote:
> >>Paul Hummer wrote:
> >>>Preface : While these questions are specifically for Brian, I think 
> >>>there's value in getting everyone else's ideas as well.
> >>I'm actually working on a follow-up posting, but I'll respond here as a 
> >>preliminary to that. I'll get something more comprehensive put together 
> >>as soon as I can.
> >>
> >>Since the world is moving towards HD, I will only discuss solutions here 
> >>that have the capability of displaying HD. There are a lot of SD-only 
> >>solutions, some very tiny and silent, but they will ultimately become 
> >>obsolete.
> >
> >SD solutions are probably of some value to those of us who do not have HD
> >televisions yet.
> >
> Good point, and there are some tremendous deals on analog capture 
> devices these days.
> 
> Supposedly analog broadcasting will stop on Feb. 2009, but the industry 
> has asked for and received extensions before, and I suspect a lot of 
> cable operators will still be transmitting analog.

If that happens, one of three other things will have to happen:

  1. Cable and satellite TV providers will have to provide access devices
  (the cable box, et cetera) that translate from HD to analog.

  2. Someone will have to allow one-for-one trade-ins of TVs so that
  everyone can upgrade to HD televisions.

  3. Millions of people will no longer be able to watch TV.

This asinine mandatory HD upgrade legislation will not make everybody
have several hundred dollars above and beyond what they need to pay for
everything that's *more important than a television*.  I, for one, am
more likely to stop watching TV than get an HD television before February
2009, unless a specific project comes my way that is currently still in
the "not sure it's going to happen at all" stage.


> 
> Not for our benefit of course, but it will cost them time and money to 
> change out all the analog STBs they have in the field.

It would cost them a lot of money in customers, too.


> 
> (BTW - a lot of cable companies are trying to tell their customers that 
> "The FCC is requiring us to go all digital". This is bunk, and rules 
> apply only to over-the-air broadcasting.)

Source, please.

This makes the whole situation seem even worse, by the way.  People who
cannot afford cable are the only people actually targeted by new
regulations . . . ?  Who came up with this insanity?


> 
> So I can see building an analog system today, but I would make sure it 
> has a CPU/GPU combo that can do HD in the future, or at least be 
> upgraded to such capability.
> 
> I'm just being careful that I am not perceived as suggesting the 
> purchase of something that might not be useful in a year or two :-)

If cable's exempt, there's no reason to believe it'll actually be
obsolete.  *Someone* is going to have to serve those who can't afford to
plunk down six hundred bucks on a new TV.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
W. Somerset Maugham: "The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for
wit."