Digital Home Thoughts: ATI's CableCard Digital TV Tuner: WTF?

So yesterday I'm cruizing teh internetz, pondering the purchase of a CableCard ready Media Center PC. You see, I really hate the HD DVR STB that Time Warner gives, no, rents to me. TiVo is fantastic, but there's that pesky monthly service fee. The only option to get digital cable on a Media Center PC is to use ATI's Digital TV Tuner box, which is only available with the purchase of a new PC from an approved supplier.

Can't be that expensive, right? I mean, the cable company rents me their box for $8 a month, TiVo will sell me theirs (sans service) for $300, and I can buy an HD tuner card for my computer for less than $100. So how much is ATI's solution? Three. Hundred. Dollars. Per tuner. Want to be able to record one HD channel while watching another? Blam: $600. Oh, and you'll need to spend at least $1000 on a new PC to even get the option to line ATI's pockets with your hard earned cash.

What gives? With prices like this, how does Microsoft ever expect to sell Windows Media Center? How do they expect to compete with the likes of TiVo or the CableCos, who can offer boxes with nearly all the same functionality for a fraction of the cost? I'm an enthusiast, a geek, an early adopter; but even I won't pay $1600+ for the pleasure of being able to watch digital cable on my Media Center PC.

Come on guys, get with the program. Drop the price. Offer them for sale without the purchase of a new PC. The way things stand today, CableCard ready PCs are going to be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of technology history.

Jeremy Charette is a Contributing Editor at Digital Media Thoughts, and also works in Procurement for one of the world’s largest banks. He enjoys reading, cooking, and racing in the SpecForza league. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, USA. He loves to watch TV, but hates paying the cable bill every month.