oolz: The card is not just an interface and chassis for the cablecard... Its handles all the encryption for both the cable company and windows media for 6 HD streams of Audio & Video in REAL TIME... That is the hurdle...
No one has been able to do this to date, and Ben is right no one will for quite sometime... this is a whole other world from a single channel setup.
There is a reason why AMD/ATI only produced a one stream solution. Two streams is a nightmare, 6+ is amazing.
Trust me there is ALOT of technology in that card! I want one >
I'd pay at least $400.00... Any which way you cut it, it's a much cheaper solution than anything else out there. Like the gentleman stated earlier with the two dual tuner Tivo's, it's at $40.00 per month cost... people are paying $480.00 every year for a far inferior setup...
But I understand the cost of entry could be too high at $400.00+. There is always the two tuner setup and add on in the future.
Anyways, we'll have to see... If the product is successful, economics of scale will kick in and I'm sure you will see the price drop from its release cost. Whatever that maybe...
Analog will be completely gone soon to free up bandwidth for the internet. Analog over the air analog over cable... Its a non-issue, it will all be digital soon enough... with that said I'm not sure if it support analog... I doubt it.
To answer some questions regarding this card over the network with MCEs.
This card WILL enable a media server type enviroment using MCEs as a type of client. One windows 7 computer with this card can broadcast over your LAN (ethernet) protected live or recorded content to an MCE in real time.
So one windows 7 box with this card and three-six MCEs distributed via ethernet to different rooms/different TVs... all in real time. Live or prerecorded.
They also have a commercial solution called UCrypt that will do far more than 6 channels... The 6 channel cap is a windows 7 restriction, not the restriction of the ceton technology.
As far as VOD is concerned Scott is right... it possible and I'm sure its coming, but it will take a partnership of sort with an MSO to make it happen... Basicly custom cards for a given MSO, since each company does VOD differently. Only time will tell and the success of this card will open up features like that in the future.
Cable Companys pay hundreds of dollars to SA and Motorola for thoughs cheesy STBs they rent to you... they do not make any money off of it. It takes years for the mso to pay off that box.
Unfortunately, there is no "Selling Out" to the cable industry. They dictate what they will allow, and you create a product.
I wish companies like Ceton and ATI. Make exactly what we wanted, and the cable industry would conform.
With that said, I think Ceton's Technology has the first chance of being a retail product... However, only time will tell and the industry moves sloooow...
Too many people have to agree, before anything happens...
Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
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No one has been able to do this to date, and Ben is right no one will for quite sometime... this is a whole other world from a single channel setup.
There is a reason why AMD/ATI only produced a one stream solution. Two streams is a nightmare, 6+ is amazing.
Trust me there is ALOT of technology in that card! I want one >