ATI TV Wonder CableCARD tuner for sale!

[Enormous]

(As seen on Engadget)

VAIO® Digital TV Tuner

Looks like Sony is breaking the whole "must be sold with Vista PC" thing, and selling the ATI CableCARD tuner alone! This gives me a little more hope for our collective futures... That is if you're running Vista...

[evilpenguin]

Don't get to excitted

Chris @ Oct 25th 2007 11:52AM
Sorry guys, but you will not be able to use this.

I was Velocity Micro's Director of Product Development, and I deployed CableCARDs for them.

1) You need an OEM activation BIOS with the proper OSFR ACPI table not only present, but populated with vendor specific information.

2) You need a special copy of Vista with digital cable tuner activation PID. You will not be able to purchase this unless you are a direct OEM with MS and have signed a DTOS.

3) You need to sign a conformance letter with Cable Labs and they store the information from #1 in this list on central servers, and that information is checked every 90 days to ensure compliance.

4) If at any time it is found that the information has been compromised, Cable Labs need merely to flip a switch and you will cease to receive premium cable content.

Xavier Lauwaert - Sony @ Oct 25th 2007 1:50PM
All,

I am the Product Manager for Sony's VAIO line of Digital Home products so please allow me to correct some comments made above:
- @ Chris, thank you for detailed and very correct comment on CableCARD usage with PCs.
- you are absolutely correct, only selected models qualify for usage with this TV Tuner
- as everyone can see, we posted the following cautionary note: "Compatible Models: Units already shipping with ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner"
- this is a secondary/optional CableCARD tuner for VAIO models that already ship with one such tuner.
- by offering this secondary tuner we wanted to enable our end users (who bought a VAIO model shipping with one tuner) to view and record simultaneously premium TV content (especially HD channels)
- the applicable units are selected models of the XL, AR and LT series shipping with one tuner already
- This is an ATi Digital Cable TV Tuner and is not rebranded VAIO. we just used the VGP-ANK1 naming for our internal purposes

In the hope this clarifies matters,

Xavier @ Sony

[Enormous]

But! But!!

They've always got the needle for my corresponding bubble.

[willgill]

Have ya'll see this external cablecard tuner by ATI, marketed by Sony VAIO? This could be the answer to so many prayers. What are the odds of SageTV being able to work with this thing? I'm picturing two of these things next to my Sage box and I'm about to cry happy tears.

* merged *

[MeInMaui]

Cry? Yes.
Happy? No.

Here is a link to the bad news in the other thread discussing this.

Aloha,
Mike

Hmmm....I wonder if it will tear a hole in the space-time continuum when this thead is merged with the thread I linked above?
I guess only time will tell.

[jdamore]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Hmmm....I wonder if it will tear a hole in the space-time continuum when this thead is merged with the thread I linked above?
I guess only time will tell.

I'm stuck in an infinite loop!

[willgill]

Ok.. so I read it must be purchased with a corresponding VAIO that already has a cablecard tuner. Is there any chance I could use Sage if I bought this VAIO or is it locked to Windows Media Center?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by willgill

Ok.. so I read it must be purchased with a corresponding VAIO that already has a cablecard tuner. Is there any chance I could use Sage if I bought this VAIO or is it locked to Windows Media Center?

I'm pretty sure SageTV will not know how to recognize the tuner. And I think Vista Media Center is part of the locked path.


Gerry

[surge]

Can anyone from Sage comment on this?
Now that Dell is starting to sell systems that have the OCUR BIOS for about $1000 and CableCard tuners for $180, this could be a good year for PVRs.

It would be better if we weren't locked into Microsoft and their slow moving "progress"