Low Cost HDTV Cards

Dozer writes "TerraLogic's new Janus-based HDTV cards allows a PC user to get some excellent HDTV without draining the wallet. The cards will do line doubling and handle AC3 audio, all for less than 10% of the cost of an HDTV set..." So I want that, Linux support, and then HDTV broadcasts of every sci fi movie ever.

Comments

Will regular TV sets become useless?

[Raetsel]

Every TV channel is allocated a certain slice of the spectrum. What we don't think about much is the fact that the current signal does not use the full allocation! HDTV will use the full allocated bandwidth, and is slated to replace(!!!) the current broadcast signals several years past 2000. (I don't know the exact date.)

What does this mean?

1. HDTV is digital, current broadcasts are analog. There is no compatability.
2. The FCC has given up on the idea of 'backward compatibility' in this case.
3. You will have to replace your TV, or purchase a receiver that'll feed an analog interpretation of the digital signal to your old TV
4. Manufacturers can no longer use the unused portion of the TV channel spectrum for medical telemetry.
   1. 
      This caused a problem in (Houston?) Texas when a HDTV broadcast test was performed. The local hospital's wireless medical telemetry equipment (heart monitors and the like) suddenly stopped functioning due to the obvious overwhelming interference!

Standards do get replaced. We don't use spark-gap transmitters for obvious reasons. Television is about to evolve, hopefully for the better. I just hope that we won't be getting up-close-and-personal with Dan Rather's pores.

Now, let's look at this from the cable company's point of view. Their carrying capacity is based on the currently used bandwidth, not the allocated bandwidth. When HDTV comes along, they're not going to be very enthusiastic about carrying these new, fatter signals. Remember, on one HDTV channel allocation, a station can transmit 3 'standard' (525 line) broadcasts or 1 'high-definition' broadcast. In Connecticut, TCI has their 'digital cable' offering. The channel numbers go all the way up to 800. Not by any stretch of the imagination are all of them used, but with HDTV clogging their pipes, the number of channels that they can offer will drop drastically. I don't think that TCI will be exactly happy to drop pay-per-view channels in order to transmit the 'new and improved' Public Broadcasting.