[mythtv-users] MythTV and HDTV future

[David Brodbeck]

Brian Wood wrote:
> On Mar 3, 2007, at 6:06 PM, David Brodbeck wrote:
>
>   
>> Just read recently that a requirement for all TVs sold in the U.S. to
>> have digital tuners is going to take effect soon.  I imagine the price
>> of small TV sets will increase significantly.
>>     
>
> They really shouldn't, as those devices are really nothing once you  
> are tuning the VHF/UHF bands anyway. The main cost of a standalone  
> card is the board itself and the power regulators, capacitors etc,  
> all of which is already there on a TV receiver main board. Really all  
> they have to do is add a chip, the real cost is probably the design  
> and documentation, as well as the FCC certification.
>   

I'm not sure it's that simple.  I mean, whereas the signal chain was
all-analog before, they now need an MPEG2 decoder and frame buffer as
well.  This seems like a significant increase in complexity to me.