Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler So pissed - Cable Card is DOA (Vista HTPC)

Long post over on AVS but some really great info about cable card and PC's. Developer from Velecity PC interacts with everyone and gives out some really good info about how Cable Cards work. It's pretty much a must read for anyone that is/was interested in a using one, even if you're not talking HTPC. It affects all Cable Card devices (TV's, Tivo series 3, etc)

Nutshell. Cable companies are implimenting "Switch Video" which won't work with Cable Card 1.0, which is all we have out there right now. And Cable Card 2.0 won't help us much (for many reasons).

I'm so pissed... I've been counting the days till I could get a Cable Card HTPC and now it's just not worth it.

Here's to hoping for IPTV...

I'll try to go back and find the reference article, but I believe the FCC and Congress are already pushing back on this. The Cable Co's (mostly owned by or are owners of Big Media) have been fighting against the FCC mandated Cable Card and this is just their latest try at an end run to avoid it. Remember, they will do ANYTHING to control the entire path from the artist to your living room. Such is the unfortunate dark side of digital media.

OK, let's say this does fall about and Cable Card is worthless in PC's. As I'm thinking about it, I'd probably be ok with only being able to record broadcast stations. I'm not going to record sports channels to watch a game later. So, broadcast channels can be done now in HD OTA with Media Center PC's, correct?

What's it going to take to get HD OTA setup. I just want to be able to record Heroes in HD since it is on at the same time as 24. Other shows when I am not going to be around to watch them would be helpful as well.

Do I need an antenna up on the roof with a line running down? An indoor antenna near the TV? First one the HOA probably won't like and the 2nd won't pass WAF. Any other options?

Depends on the OTA signal strength in your area. A $20 set-top loop antenna might do it. Or you might need an outdoor antenna. A friend of mine has one that cost $129 and is about the size of a DirecTV antenna. I'm looking into an OTA antenna so I can use the pip/input swap features on my TV. With it you can tile up to 16 stations using the internal tuner or tile and swap between inputs. Plus the OTA antenna will let me get the sub-channels on local stations.

I have this antenna mounted in the attic above my garage. Nobody sees it, so the wife and the housing association love it. And OTA HD is damn pretty.

Terk HDTVo

If you check AVS, Terk has a pretty crappy reputation, but this antenna has worked quite well for me. Probably because all of the OTA stations I watch are all in the same place, 20 miles away. Luckily, the front face of my garage points directly toward the towers in question, so it was an easy installation. AntennaWeb is a good place to help you figure out what antenna you'd need.

If I recall correctly, housing associations cannot legally keep you from mounting an outdoor antenna (within reasonable size restraints, I imagine). Throw a feeler out at AVS. There are some people who are pretty militant about this issue there.