Windows Vista Digital Cable Tuners: don't call it OCUR

Seems strange that it's been a whole year since Gates took the stage at CES 2006 to introduce CableCARD support in Windows Vista, but here we are, and with Vista about to hit the streets it's finally happening. Except users no longer need say "Vista with CableCARD" or OCUR (OpenCable Receivers) -- those boxes are now referred to as "Digital Cable Tuners", or DCTs, and that's the hardware you're going to need on your CableLabs certified Vista box to record digital cable HDTV. Expect to see a hell of a lot of boxes like this one at this year's CES, as well as any number of HTPCs ready to take advantage of it.

[Brian @ Jan 6th 2007 7:33PM]

I wonder what ever happened to the ATI PCI Express cablecard that was supposed to release with Windows Vista? ATI announced it about 6+ months ago and I haven't heard anything about it since.

I hope ATI still releases a PCI Express card so we don't have to have these big ugly boxes plugged into our PC's to use cable card.

[CaptCaveman @ Jan 6th 2007 9:11PM]

F'ing Cable Labs.
I was so looking forward to this until they decided that it would only work with certified PCs. There's no way I'm buying a new computer just to have cable card support.

[J @ Jan 6th 2007 10:00PM]

anyone know if there will be a way to home-build vista pcs with cablecard support?

[JoeStalin @ Jan 7th 2007 9:59AM]

Any extender news besides the blasted 360?

[Jay @ Jan 7th 2007 2:03AM]

I thought the point of this was to ELIMINATE the set top box!?

They are really screwing this up.

[Matt @ Jan 12th 2007 5:20PM]

This is all so confusing. If I already have a "set top box" with DirecTV and it decodes the HDTV channel, is there anything that can record what comes out of that? Is that what this fills the gap of?

If this is a replacement for the set-top box I already have, isn't it just a DIFFERENT set-top box?

[Bobby @ Jan 30th 2007 11:31AM]

Jay, you hit the nail. This could be a really exciting time, and a time for MSFT and the big names to pull some of us who have happily been innovating and creating new ways to use existing technologies in the 'illegal' arenas into the 'legal' fold.
Yes CableCARD could eliminate the STB. It could get rid of the complexities of using an analog tuner, plus and OTA HD antenna, plus the STB firewire just to access the channels you already pay for from your PC (as I do on my custom HTPC rig).
It could enable the plug-and-play ease of popping the OCUR card into the Media Center Edition PC some people already PAID for (I have not) giving you a really fun and easy-to-use machine. But it will not.
It will only be provided with new PCs from the big-name OEMs.. Forget the small OEMs and DIYers that have developed these concepts of practical living-room PCs, extenders, and so on. Releasing the OCUR cards to a larger audience could usher in a wave of new consumer innovation still dependent on MSFT for an OS and hardware that provides the framework. Instead it will find its way into a few living rooms of those who have no idea what it is or how to take it apart and understand it, let alone use it.
It will become an add-on to overpriced POS machines from Gateway; and the rest of us will sit down and figure out ways to steal it or otherwise continue to rip-off these companies that so easily rip us off.

[Kevin @ Feb 22nd 2007 5:48PM]

Amen to this blog's comments. One other way to get around the issues is to use the MyHD MDP-130. Now if only it support MCE/Vista...