ARE WE THERE YET? ARE WE THERE YET?
OR WHERE ARE THE HDTV TUNER CARDS:

Perhaps needless to say, I have received a number of email messages specifically asking where are the HDTV Tuner cards (the HDTV-related email is a relatively small minority of the emails that I receive but they do come in). I am NOT talking about TV Tuner cards for getting digital cable or digital satellite, but about High-Definition TV for getting superior High-Definition (which is not necessarily digital) widescreen pictures on specially-equipped HDTV sets. Typically, HDTV can only be obtained via over-the-air (OTA) antennas from local broadcast stations, but cable and satellite companies are beginning to carry the local HDTV broadcasts as well as premium HDTV from certain channels like Showtime or HBO. Anyways, the aforementioned HDTV-related email messages would usually come from frustrated PC users who have searched the internet to only find a sparse and expensive selection of HDTV Tuner cards on the net. There are a few HDTV Tuner cards out on the market and you will find them if you search for them -- but they are few and you may find them to be too expensive for most PC users right now. ALSO, PARTICULARLY FOR THOSE FOLKS IN THE UNITED STATES, THE HDTV TUNER CARDS THAT YOU MAY FIND ARE MOST LIKELY ONLY FOR TERRESTRIAL OVER-THE-AIR HDTV BROADCASTS -- AND NOT NECESSARILY FOR ENCRYPTED DIGITIAL CHANNELS THAT YOU GET WITH HDTV-ON-CABLE OR HDTV-ON-SATELLITE. Give it a year or two (or most likely a few years) for any market for HDTV Tuner cards to really grow to allow for a larger and more reasonably priced selection of HDTV Tuner cards. HDTV may be here now, but that does not automatically mean there will be a whole slew of inexpensive HDTV Tuner cards for PCs out on the market right now.
 
You can click here or here and then scroll down to find a small selection of HDTV Tuner cards among the other links on the supplemental page for "more" TV Tuner cards links -- tell me if you know of more HDTV cards. However, what you may want to do for now is get one of the cheaper regular TV Tuner cards (which are still good TV cards that companies are still making and that people are indeed still buying and using), learn all you can about doing TV-on-PC including playing with video files, and then wait for the selection of HDTV Tuner cards to grow with hopefully the prices dropping also.
 
For now, you can say the reasons for the CURRENT (don't worry, give it some time to change) sparse selection for HDTV Tuner cards include: (1) some manufacturers of TV Tuner cards may possibly have a SMALLER or ZERO profit margin if they were to put new HDTV hardware in their TV Tuner cards; (2) manufacturers may currently find it to be cheaper (and therefore more profitable) to continue manufacturing regular TV Tuner cards; (3) the group of people who want HDTV on their PCs is currently made up of enthusiasts who are currently too small of a group to sell to; (4) most traditional PC users currently don't care about TV on their PCs let alone HDTV on their PCs; (5) the manufacturer may currently find it to be too expensive to provide support for a HDTV Tuner card; (6) traditional PC consumers may currently find it too frustrating and be unable to sort through the nationwide confusion as to how to receive HDTV programming whether over-the-air (OTA) or cable or satellite; (7) manufacturers and software companies may be too slow in jumping on the HDTV-Tuner-cards-on-PCs bandwagon; (8) manufacturers may be waiting for the legal regulations and requirements for HDTV and digtal cable (including the issue of whether to require mandatory digital rights management copy protection in all TV hardware whether for TV sets, set-top boxes, or for PCs) to sort themselves out between the politicians, Hollywood, manufacturers, and software companies and waiting for the dust to settle before coming out with a niche product like a HDTV Tuner card for PCs; and (9) manufacturers may be waiting for the current market to grow before jumping onto the HDTV-on-PC bandwagon. Again, there are some HDTV Tuner cards from some manufacturers out on the market, but other manufacturers may be waiting for the market to grow and the dust to settle before considering whether to produce HDTV Tuner cards. Give it a little time for the current conventional wisdom to change as more people become enthused with HDTV.
 
It's NO PROBLEM if you are a HDTV enthusiast, but the rest of the world has to catch up. Similarly, the major manufacturers are waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. Don't worry, just like you, I'm also impatiently waiting for the selection to get wider and to become cheaper.
 
-Ruel

Close This Window