I strongly recommend over the air ATSC if you possibly can. Cable is just 500 channels of a vast waist land, remember? ;-)<div><br></div><div>Allen</div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 2:49 AM, Marc Tousignant <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:drayson@net1plus.com">drayson@net1plus.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">> Hey all,<br>
><br>
> Though I hate to be a bearer of bad news, the FCC made a decision<br>
> yesterday to permit cable MSOs to turn on the limited encryption on<br>
> their "DTA" boxes. This has some fairly far-reaching implications.<br>
> To put it simply, it permits the cable companies to roll out low cost<br>
> analog terminal adapters and lock down all the unencrypted QAM<br>
> (besides, possibly, the local broadcasts). I strongly suspect,<br>
> especially given the ominous tone of the quote from the MSO in the<br>
> Update at the bottom of the second article below, that we will see a<br>
> mass rollout of DTAs in most cable markets, and unencrypted QAM being<br>
> phased out.<br>
><br>
> I could be wrong, but this article hits all the right keys to make me<br>
> feel that I am not.<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=180850&site=cdn" target="_blank">http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=180850&site=cdn</a><br>
> <a href="http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=419&doc_id=180878&s" target="_blank">http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=419&doc_id=180878&s</a><br>
> ite=cdn&<br>
><br>
> Meaningful quotes:<br>
><br>
> "The waivers give Comcast and, potentially, other operators the green<br>
> light to deploy those inexpensive, one-way "channel zappers" (they<br>
> cost about $35 each) with security enabled, thereby sidestepping an<br>
> integrated security ban that took effect in July 2007."<br>
><br>
> In the first comment (which was written by the article author):<br>
><br>
> "Probably not a huge surprise, but The Consumer Electronics<br>
> Association was a tad dissapointed in Monday's waiver order, claiming<br>
> that consumers will be the ones losing out. also, doing some checking<br>
> with the MSOs to see if the new waiver order will have any affect on<br>
> thier DTA plans, and at least one among the majors said that "this<br>
> [order] is what we've been waiting for." "<br>
><br>
> Troubling news. If having access to basic cable with the QAM tuner<br>
> you bought in your television means something to you, now would be a<br>
> fantastic time to start making people aware of this. With analog<br>
> television one could reasonably expect to get the basic lineup by<br>
> simply plugging in the cable-- With this decision, that capability<br>
> seems on the verge of extinction.<br>
><br>
> Robert<br>
<br>
</div></div>Already sent a letter off to my Senator.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Marc<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>