Now that ATI is finally shipping its internal OCUR cards, which enable OEMs to build home-theater PCs that can connect to digital cable systems, we decided it was time to publish a small home-theater PC roundup (look for the full story in the August issue of Maximum PC). The three HTPCs we reviewed were impressive—except when it came to OCUR. I haven’t witnessed a product rollout botched this badly since Microsoft introduced the Zune.
Here’s a little background if you’re not familiar with OCUR. Following an FCC mandate, cable companies must now allow their customers to access their services using third-party equipment, as opposed to forcing them to rent a set-top box from the service provider. ATI and Microsoft, seeing a golden opportunity to move the PC into the living room in a big way, teamed up to create OCUR (Open Cable Unidirectional Receiver). Pair an OCUR with a CableCard from your cable-TV service provider and you can receive digital cable on your HTPC.
Internal OCUR cards are rolling out--to the sound of one hand clapping.
OCUR, believe it or not, was announced more than 18 months ago. But in order to pass muster with Hollywood, Microsoft had to build a massive DRM system into Vista, and ATI had to restrict the availability of OCUR cards (now known as the TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner) to OEM PC manufacturers. The only way you can purchase a TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is as part of pre-built Vista PC: Do-it-yourself builders like you and me are left out in the cold: We can’t add them to an existing PC, and we can’t build them into a roll-your-own rig.
Two of the three HTPCs we received for review—a Voodoo Aria and a Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater—had two internal OCUR cards each; the third system—an S1Digital Media Center FX Edition—had dual over-the-air HD tuners. S1Digital said they would be shipping OCUR-equipped systems by time our print issue hit newsstands.
No comments:
Post a Comment