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By: Richard Del Cazzo
Web site: http://www.hdtv-hdtv.com
ATI Technologies, one of the pioneers in bringing television
to computer screens, says it's gearing up to start bringing
HDTV to your PC with a HDTV tuner card, due out within the
next few months.
"By doing it through your computer, you don't have to
buy a $2,000, $3,000 home entertainment system with an HDTV,
etc. You can use your PC monitor," said Matthew Witheiler,
with ATI Technologies. "This will cost about $100 more
than a typical graphics card, so obviously a lot more affordable
than a standard HDTV would be. By plugging in an HDTV antenna,
a small indoor antenna, the software will automatically go
out and find the channels available in your area.The software
features allow you to basically pause HDTV, but not only pause
it, go back in time. So, go to a previous show [and] record
it directly to your hard drive. Also, burn to DVD, so the
ability to take your HDTV movie and burn it to a regular DVD
and watch it at full HD quality."
Though it only brings in HD broadcasts, it won't decode HD
cable or satellite signals.
A handful of companies already offer HDTV tuner cards for
computers -- My HDTV PCI card by the MIT company, Telemann's
HiPix and Hauppauge's WinTV-HD, just to name a few.
Most are available almost exclusively online. ATI hopes to
make it more mainstream by bringing the technology into real
world retailers.
Now, you may be asking -- how is this going to save me money
if I have to first go out and buy an HD-ready computer monitor?
You can enjoy HDTV even without the expensive TV set BY using
a tuner card.
Chances are, your current monitor is already capable of high
definition.
"The quality on your PC monitor, although the monitor's
small -- you probably have a 15, 17, 19-inch monitor -- but
you will see the fine details, the hairs on people's backs,
the dirt flying up from the football players on the ground.
And it's really impressive. It just catches you. It's a great
solution," said Jeremy Kaplan, with PC Magazine.
But just because you don't need a new monitor doesn't mean
you may not need a new computer.
Most of the HDTV tuner cards require you to have at least
a Pentium 4 or equivalent system.
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