[mythtv-users] Is the Digital Future bleak?

Dewey Smolka dsmolka at gmail.com
Sat Jun 2 00:44:03 UTC 2007


On 6/1/07, joe.white at wachovia.com <joe.white at wachovia.com> wrote:
>
> My neighbor has recently gotten a high dev TV, so now we are considering it
> as well.  Envy is a nasty thing, but what can you do?  So, I have been
> reading thru the wiki and various HD threads in order to figure out what
> adjustments would need to be made to our current MythTV setup.

Almost no adjustments to get Myth to work with an HD set. A few
adjustments if you actually want HD content. Remember that you'll
generally get a better picture on an HD set even when not feeding it
an HD signal.


> Now I am wondering if its something that I really want to pursue.  From what
> I can gather, the HD tuners can only receive unencrypted channels, of which
> there are a handful (less than 10) in most areas, usually only Discovery and
> the OTA channels.  Further there is no guarantee, in fact it is likely, that
> these channels will be encrypted in the next few years.

I think it's highly unlikely that the channels available today (at
least the OTA ones) will be encrypted. The FCC is very specific about
this, and the local affiliates of the major networks care about
getting their advertisements delivered to as many people as possible.

I am also, probably naively, opimistic that either a) cable and
satellite distributors will realize that there's no point in adding
complex encryption technology, or b) that eventually there will be a
system-agnostic cable-card type solution that will work on any
platform. After all, we're not trying to steal anything -- we already
pay for it.

> So, in two years, when we all go digital, I will be forced to place my
> MythBox (lovingly) into my storage closet and rent a DVR from
> Time-Warner-Microsoft-Jiffy-Lube.

There's also the possibility that within a few years there are cards
capable of doing on-the-fly transcoding from unencrypted HD analog to
MPEG-2. Yes, I know the bandwidth involved and the staggering amount
of processing required to make this happen, but I also remember a time
when 100 MB of storage was an exorbitant luxury.

You won't have to put your Myth box in storage as long as analog sets,
and therefore set-top-boxes exist. And it will be quite some time
before those disappear.

>
> Is this an accurate assessment of the situation?
>
> Bleak.

It's an inconvenience for sure, but not as bleak as all that. We're
still at the point that HD content is a novelty, and as such carries a
hefty premium. But once it is widely available, the gatekeepers of
today simply won't be able to control it the way they are now.

So go ahead and splurge for that new 37" LCD or whatever you're
looking at. And be confident that it two years your Myth setup will be
even more capable than it is now. Probably much more.


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