[mythtv-users] MythTV and HDTV future

[Michael T. Dean]

On 03/03/2007 09:11 PM, Brian Wood wrote:
> On Mar 3, 2007, at 6:24 PM, David Brodbeck wrote:
>> Brian Wood wrote:
>>     
>>> On Mar 3, 2007, at 6:06 PM, David Brodbeck wrote:
>>>> Just read recently that a requirement for all TVs sold in the  
>>>> U.S. to
>>>> have digital tuners is going to take effect soon.  I imagine the  
>>>> price
>>>> of small TV sets will increase significantly.
>>>>         
>>> They really shouldn't, as those devices are really nothing once you
>>> are tuning the VHF/UHF bands anyway. The main cost of a standalone
>>> card is the board itself and the power regulators, capacitors etc,
>>> all of which is already there on a TV receiver main board. Really all
>>> they have to do is add a chip, the real cost is probably the design
>>> and documentation, as well as the FCC certification.
>>>       
>> I'm not sure it's that simple.  I mean, whereas the signal chain was
>> all-analog before, they now need an MPEG2 decoder and frame buffer as
>> well.  This seems like a significant increase in complexity to me.
>>     
>
> Hmmm... I was only think of the "tuner" you mentioned, not the  
> decoder chain.
>
> But think about it, a PVR card in quantity, minus the cost of the  
> board, power components, connectors, IR interface, packaging,  
> marketing, included software and documentation starts to get close to  
> nothing. Granted the TV set might need something better than SD they  
> may only do 720P, and if enough of those chips are made they should  
> get pretty cheap.

But, even if they only "do 720P", they still have to decode 1080i60 
because it's one of the 18 formats in ATSC...  So, you need a full HDTV 
MPEG-2 decoder in there.  (I.e. an ATI Xilleon or whatever...  Anyone 
know what those go for?)

Mike