Cable cards costs extra, often as much as a HD STB. And to get it you probably also need to purchase digital cable which in turn also usually makes you also pay for at least the extended basic option.
- Tom Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:Built-In HDTV Tuner: Add HD-capable antenna to receive over-the-air high-definition broadcasts, where available. Optional set-top box required for high-definition cable or satellite programming.Only because the cable and DBS companies are pulling the strings, and their customers are the puppets. People in general don't want it to be this way. Matter of fact, the same thing is happening now with the QAM tuners that has been happening for years with NTSC tuners: people going for basic cable, now unencrypted digital cable, just so they can do without the STB. (CableCard, two-way CableCard, would solve that problem too, for all cable channels.) "The reality is" that you either think in terms of what's best for the cable company or what the consumers want. Consumers in large part don't want the STB, and it doesn't matter to them if it's more lucrative to cable companies to rent out proprietary STBs. The built-in browser is a similar situation. It's most likely true that the more nerdy crowd will make the TV part of a PC-centered system. But if the conglomerates are serious about using the Internet for some of their distribution, then they will have to "encourage" the CE manufactuers to build in the most essential components in the TV. That's the only way this Internet medium will get used by the masses, for TV programming. Besides which, I'm not sure I understand why so many people favor a return to the mainframe idea. The "central computer that runs your whole house" is a bit of a throwback to the future-think ca. 1955. We're way past that now. Computers are embedded and distributed, not centralized. Bert----------------------------------------------------------------------You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
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