hi folks,
my Knoppmyth R5A22 system (separate backend, frontend plus a Mac frontend) is working sweet, some niggles here and there, but each upgrade squashes more bugs. I've been watching the trends in CATV and it seems that the PVR-nn0 cards days are numbered, with regards to their tuner hardware. I have Comcast, and have recently seen a report that Comcast Chicago is going all-digital:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/m ... ers/181961

Am I reading this correctly? It would appear, then, that we'll be using HDTV PCI cards or external (multiple) settop boxes in the near future that can accept a digital signal.
That would be regrettable, of course, seeing as how many of us have invested in PVR-nn0 cards and take advantage of the mpeg encoding/decoding features.

Anybody?

-sTv

They'll be obsolete by 2009 when the FCC finally sunsets NTSC broadcasting at the very least. <shrug>

no they wont..

namely because there will be devices that will handle hdmi > svideo conversion..

the tuner will be junk.. the rest of the card will be fine.. it'll really be no different than those people using the PVR-XX0 series to record sat tv and from digital cable boxes.

it'll be a few years yet before svideo is tossed from the majority of cable boxes etc..

heck.. jsut look at the pc world.. you can still get brand new pc's with ps/2 mouse and keyboard connectors.. yet this was all supposed to be done away with USB.

I think the point had more to do with the ephemeral nature of technology. How often do you use your VCR these days? If my PVR cards continue to be useful for even 3 more years I'll count it a win.

The FCC rule is only over the air transmission. Comcast and the others will still be putting normal "cable" through the coax. It does seem bit by bit they are moving items to their digital channels though. Sucks. What's worse is the number of channels they are encrypting in that range. Losr-lose.