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HDTV via GNU Radio
NortonDC writes "High Definition TV has been successfully captured in its native data stream from an over the air broadcast by a software defined radio that is Free and open source from the GNU Software Defined Radio project."
Sounds too useful to exist.
It will taste the blade of DMCA before the end of the month.
GNU TV, where the scripts are open-sourced before the show airs and you know all the jokes before the intro starts rolling.
How is different from network tv, where the scripts are rehashes of something from 10 or 20 years ago and you know the entire plot (painful jokes included) in the first two minutes.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
By taking this defeatist attitude, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The card is $1,300. The reason is economics: people do not buy them in mass quantities, therefore they are rare and expensive. These cards are typically used in fringe high-tech situations, and honestly $1,300 is an awfully good deal considering what the same capabilities would have cost five or ten years ago.
If the card is already down to $1,300, instead of $13,000 or $130,000, the price can be reduced to $130. Once software radio becomes a demanded product, the push to increase production will make the cards more available.
Again, if you want to play around with cutting-edge tech, the card is pretty inexpensive. I've been dealing with high-speed video vendors who want $60,000 for essentially an overclocked VCR. And that's half of what they cost ten years ago.
These guys have done something few are able to do: take an idea and actually follow it to completion. The first personal computers weren't cheap enough to give away in cereal boxes either, so give this some time and encouragement.
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