johns said:
I wish somebody who knew exactly what was going on
would clearly and simply explain all of this. I've been
through it for about 3 years now, and I have truly heard
enough bullshit and half truths. Worst of all are the left
out items that you are not aware of until it is too late,
and you are the proud owner of a worthless piece of
crap ... or close to it. Then, when you try to "upgrade",
you get another piece of crap that is even worse than
the first.
Here's what I think about this post: ( probably wrong )
1. An HDTV doesn't need a tuner,
it already has one built in to it.
Some do, some dont.
And that tuner will only take properly formatted
signals for HDTV .. another $500 a year.
Plenty accept both HDTV and the older analog TV.
2. Most HDTVs do not have sufficient resolution
to act as a computer monitor, so what is the
point in putting an HDTV card in a PC ...
You only play the HDTV material on the
HDTV, you dont use it as a monitor.
The big advantage with an HDTV card in a PC is that
it replaces VCRs so you capture the digital TV direct
to hard disk, with no loss of quality at all.
And the big advantage of doing it with a PC is that you
get complete flexibility, you can have more than one
HDTV card in the PC, I have 4, have as much hard
drive space as you like, burn whatever you like to DVDs
etc, and dont have to fart around with the limitations with
stuff like Tivos kludging bigger hard drives into them etc.
and then try to use the HDTV as a TV when it is already a TV.
It allows you to record stuff on the PC that you watch later.
I watch almost nothing live, watch recorded stuff almost
exclusively. That allows you to watch it when you choose
to and not when its broadcast, and to skip the ads and
the boring bits and repeat bits that you choose to etc.
3. Most PC monitors are either too small for TV, or
too expensive when you get to sizes like 27 inches.
Yes, thats why you have a decent HDTV to watch the material on.
So your choice is to run two monitors ..
one PC monitor in the 20 inch size, and
a 2nd LCDTV in the 30+ inch size .. but why? ...
So you get the best of both worlds, the full lucious HD
color etc in perfect unfucked digital on the HDTV and
get the decent resolution display of what you have
captured when selecting what to watch etc.
when you can just hook the 2nd LCD-HDTV-TV
to the cable TV input and be done with it ???
You're then stuck with watching it when they choose
to broadcast it and to wear the ads and the crap as well.
4. The market is waiting for a decent size LCD monitor that
is affordable and has high resolution for gaming, movies,
AND Analog AND HDTV ..
Makes more sense to use an existing monitor as well as the HDTV.
with a freaking switchbox that will let you run the damn thing as
a stand-alone TV set that you can see from 6 to 8 feet away ..
I prefer to have both at once, particularly for the display
of progess thru the recorded material time counter wise etc.
OR connect to the PC TV-tuner card for PVR
downloads and recording and dvd burning.
No point, the HDTV tuner/capture cards for PCs are cheap.
WITHOUT the stupid thing becoming the
family TV for the teenagers to hack,
They dont get to hack a damned thing.
or the wife to get screaming mad about because
it JUST DOESN'T ACT LIKE A TV SET !!!!!
Makes more sense to choose one with a clue instead.
And I wouldn't mind high speed cable network be included
that gives me both cable TV and broad band internet for
less than $400 a year for THE WHOLE FREAKING THING.
Sure.
5. As it stands right now, all you can buy are bits and
pieces of all of this, and you cannot get the whole
package in a useful, SENSIBLE, affordable package.
Thats just plain wrong. They are buyable
and a lot more flexible than Tivos etc.
Not a shred of rocket science require to assemble
it yourself anyway. Just as easy as with any PC.
And if you are rich and stupid, you can get all of this,
And if you arent rich and still stupid, you can too.
but you will have duplicated each function so many times,
that the first mis-click of the mouse will put your system
in a mode that will wind you up in DIVORCE COURT,
or pulling 3 to 5 for just losing it .....
Wrong. Its perfectly feasible to make it bullet proof.
