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12/07/09
12/04/09
The FCC needs to stop playing in the sidelines and step into the limelight. The big cable providers are going to remain resistant to CableCARDs when they can lease out set-top boxes to consumers and make their money that way. Require cable companies to open their networks to more standards, give a nice big "fuck you" to the MPAA and the like and require ClearQAM on all channels.
Cable companies don't want it because it won't make them as much money. Consumers don't want it because they don't know about it. Who else do you think is gonna bump the status quo Mr. FCC?
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/05/09
Cable companies are only required to send locals in ClearQAM. Few go farther than that.
12/05/09
The funny thing is that same system sends all OnDemand in the clear as well. So he does see all of those, I think they have their priorities backwards.
12/04/09
I'm stuck in a Verizon serviced area - no FIOS at all up here - and I'd die for U-verse TV. All it is is one @#%#@% Internet connection out to the world, how hard can it be to open it up so us non-AT&T U-Verse areas can have some of the TV love?
12/04/09
12/04/09
I'm hardly an expert with cable systems, but I'd rather go without cable than deal with the atrocious Scientific Atlanta STBs that get foisted on you, along with the privilege of paying for them. I don't care what solution comes along to address it as long as I can plug my USB TV tuner into my computer and have the channels and DVR functionality work from Windows Media Center.
12/04/09
12/04/09
They need way more regulation.
12/04/09
12/04/09
But it sucked so bad I got rid of it within a week, it never synced to the guide to display the upcoming shows or info about the show, completely incompatible with PIP, no ON-Demand service, it didn't even have all the HD channels available that I was paying for. I called Comcast and they blamed it on the TV, which may be partly true, I guess. Or they gimped it on purpose so I would have to rent the more expensive set-top box.
Utter Junk.
12/04/09
12/04/09
Is this something you would put in like a Panasonic whatever, and the Panasonic whatever would replace the box that Comcast usually supplies?
12/04/09
12/04/09
Thanks for the explanation.
12/04/09
Its either that or do to the Cable companies what they did to Ma Bell not too long ago. Remember the old acoustic coupler modems and fax machines of yore? That was because you couldn't connect anything but Bell's equipment to the telephone lines and you had to "rent" the phones from them. The Government put the kibosh on that, the same as they should with the cable companies.
12/04/09
12/04/09
I guess you fail to see the fact that you're stealing something that isn't yours huh?
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
Wait, screw grandma. I have no idea what you're talking about either.
12/04/09
OTA=over the air(using an antenna).
12/04/09
That's what's wrong with the CableCARD - hand models with horrible hands.
12/04/09
12/04/09
Require all cable boxes to output unencrypted video of all subscribed channels via FireWire.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
11/27/09
While PCs have long been able to act as DVRs, for a scheduled event, if you're already doing something on your PC, you're going to drop frames capturing, and it will effectively make your PC unusable while recording. It would also fill up your hard disks very fast.
I just subscribe to a satellite provider that has the option of PVR receivers - that way I can record what I want when I want, even on 2 channels at once now, for no extra fee, and skip commercials instantly, pause and rewind live TV, etc... all the usual features.
...but as I watch less and less TV, I find the occasional Bittorrent download isn't exactly squashing my net connection either. It's often neccesary anyway as the networks love to play shell games with their broadcast slots.
11/27/09
The industry is moving from time-shifting to on-demand: being able to effectively circumvent what time a specific show aired by recording it has been replaced by not caring at all what the original show time was, since you can just get it on-demand. TiVo should have got itself into the on-demand business while its profits were high - imagine if Hulu was originally created by TiVo or if TiVo had made a deal to somehow get (over the TV line or the internet line) on-demand for it's service, i.e. "missed the show AND forgot to record? We still got it for you!"
But TiVo decided that the industry wasn't going to fundamentally change with the Internet so they decided to just refine their product - and now they're suffering for it.
11/27/09
11/26/09
I can understand being subjected to advertising for something that I get for free, but Tivo is already getting money from me AND from the marketing research companies they sell my viewing data to.
This is the main reason I am looking for an alternative when it comes time to upgrade.
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/27/09
Well, yes, that's true. But I don't have Comcast digital or a cable box, so I don't see Comcast ads at all.
I don't watch live TV, only Tivo, so the Tivo's UI is the most in my face. The ads during pausing lock the system for a few seconds while they load, and once there, cover about a third of the screen. Yes, I can clear them, but I shouldn't have to do that every time I hit pause.
The ads that pop up at the end of a recording also lock my system for about 10 seconds while loading.
11/26/09