i have a backwoods local cable provider and they broadcast a whopping 250 digital channels in the clear (aka "clear qam"). This includes all the hd channels, I get like 100 hd channels in clear qam. interestingly the only 2 digital channels that they encrypt are a local cbs affiliate and lifetime. Im guessing this is because the encryption technology requires a costly license and because my area is mostly older people none of them have caught on to clear qam yet. so the provider did a cost analyses and figured the money they would make by renting more boxes by switching to encryption wouldn't offset the cost of implementing the encryption.
i want to take advantage of this, i want to buy a smart tv that has netflix, samba/network share streaming (not just dlna preferably, my twonky server is a stripped down version built into my router and wont let me set up different settings for different streaming clients, so it has compatibility issues with some dlna devices), and built in dvr. I know they use to sell tvs with this feature in the usa like 2 years ago. i also know that some tvs had alternative firmare available that unlocked this feature. tvs with this feature are common in europe for dvb, but i need atsc.
i know what your all going to say, that i should just rent a dvr box from my provider and that smart tvs are kinda silly since you keep an lcd for around 10 years and the "smart" part of the tv will go obsolete in around 2 years so for the netflix/smb i should just get a wd live or something. the thing is this is for my parents bedroom, and they are not tech friendly. i may have to forgo the dvr and just get a cheap lcd and a wd live, but id like to see the options for a smart tv first. needs to be around 32" and less than $500
