Plus you can only get it (at least in my area) if you subscribe to extra services that I don&#x27;t need like VOIP.  CableCard could&#x27;ve been a viable alternative and spurred a market for DIY and third party cable tuner&#x2F;decryptors but it was poorly implemented and support from cable providers is typically awful so for most people it&#x27;s just not worth it.<p>I came close to ordering a Ceton CableCard tuner card several times so I could stick a small form factor PC in the entertainment system and get the nice setup I used to have before they killed off all of the unencrypted digital QAM channels.  Unfortunately, the standard is so encumbered that hardly any software can support CableCard (one popular option was the now-deprecated Windows Media Center).<p>Back when QAM still came through unencrypted, I could pay for cable and hook it up to my cheapo Hauppauge card and use WMC as a great program guide and DVR setup.  Even back in the Win Vista days it was vastly superior to anything on a cable box.  Then they moved everything to encrypted and my tuner got repurposed for watching OTA stuff on my PC.<p>Now I just pay for cable&#x2F;internet but watch everything streaming on legit sites or torrents.  Yeah, I know...but it works better and I&#x27;m still paying for it so even if it&#x27;s not legal, I don&#x27;t feel that it&#x27;s immoral.