Coming Next: Using Your PC as a Cable Box

[Food Network Fan]

Coming Next: Using Your PC as a Cable Box

By Saul Hansell

While the top executives at the Cable Show last week were jockeying to cut deals to distribute major cable networks over the Web (for paying customers), the engineers in the background were talking about a completely different approach to getting cable programs onto computers.
Right now, video signals are transmitted over cable systems in a method called QAM, which is designed specifically for set-top boxes and cable-ready TVs. Computers and other digital devices need special hardware add-ons in order to receive the cable programming.
But what happens when you want to watch the Food Channel in the kitchen, and (horrors) you only have a laptop there?


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[Bentley Green]

What will thet think of next, I wonder?

[bakerman]

Cable companies are complaining that customers are already using too much bandwidth, many of them are capping usage. Time Warner is testing a metered system where if you go over a certain amount of bandwidth that you are charged more, they have certain tier that can be purchased, of course this is only being tested in areas where there is little to no competition for internet services. I would like to know how they are going to deal with all this extra bandwidth needed.

I know that it seems after I have watched an hour or so of netflix that they slow down my connection to a crawl, I mean very slow, I am almost 100% sure that they are throttling down my connection. I have options though and I am going to check them out.

[Pluff Mudder]

HughesNet is the same way for satellite internet. If you go over a certain amount of bandwidth in a month they will slow down your download speed for the rest of that month. We use it on the motorcoach when we have traveled and use as a backup at the house. Also use satellite TV (DirecTV) too. No cable TV here on Edisto. Either satellite TV or a antenna.

[BerryBaby]

This is all too confusing for me.