Digitalization of television became a major national project in Finland some years ago, when a decision was made to abandon all analogue tv transmissions, and provide only digital broadcast content. There were reasons of ‘cost efficiency’ (=money) behind the decision, but also the general techno-utopian spirit of our country is behind the whole Lets Be the Top Information Society in the World thing, or at least that is what I suspect.
Even as a self-admitted technophile, I have postponed the transfer into digi-tv to this point because of the ridiculous quality (or lack of it) digital set-top boxes provided. When television, the supreme and ubiquitous media terminal gets stuck every half-an-hour, when even switching channel can take 15 seconds, all subtitling is missing or erronous, it was very hard to believe in the future of this whole thing.
The latest generation of boxes finally seems to have crossed the boundary where they are “usable enough”, “stable enough” and the genuine benefits of digitalization become apparent (primarily the better quality of image and sound, combined with an accessible electonic programme guide and hard-disk recording). I got mine yesterday – Topfield TF5100PVRc model – and currently I am mostly satisfied. But the basic situation remains, complex broadcast-networked & computer-like systems are released in ‘beta’, the various national “standards”, networks and programs create a mess, which is resolved (or not) piecemeal, as users act as beta-testers, report the endless bugs and firmware updates fix something – and possibly introduce new bugs.
Link: the Finnish DVD Plaza Topfield TF5100PVRt May04 Bug report thread.
frans goes blog 
I too have been eyeing at the Topfield 5100 box(es), but the high price has been a set back for me. As a Mac user I have also been checking out the Elgato EyeTV firewire/USB DVB tuners, but they too have been way out of my price range.
Recently I heard that Terratec Cinergy T2 (connects to your computer via USB 2.0) works nicely enough with G5 Macs, so at the moment that looks like the best option for me. The price is really affordable ( depending on where you shop) for a working and easy solution to record DVB MPEG2 streams (that’s “programmes” in analog tv talk).
— jj
The best feature of Topfield, I think, is its open programming API. This has quickly led into blooming of freeware and commercial add-on programs for the box. – I also considered USB and PC card alternatives, but decided to postpone those until I can afford to set up a proper HTPC system.
What does the future hold for Gamers? Time will only tell. Your blog shares some thoughts, but I’m not sure if it covers the direction of things to come. Look @ Nintendo Revolution, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3? We are even seeing in Game cable boxes appearing and online game toolbars. http://www.igamebar.com. One thing is for certain! It is definitely a good time to be a gamer.
Well, fortune telling is always hard. 😉 I am not sure if new devices will transform the essence of gaming, though. But it is perfectly possible that if some element of current hardcore game cultures are made more accessible by the new platforms, it can become more popular, and that way the actual substance of gaming to start gradually changing, too.