But with the cable digital upgrade, The Man is forcing me to use a box just to see the few channels I care about. My griping with editorial partner-in-crime Melissa Perenson inspired her to write "." It's a fantastic, helpful read. Check it out.

The short version of my story is this: Suddenly I need multiple cable boxes and IR blasters heaped on top of my PC. Or I can go out and buy a computer that supports CableCards, which I can then jam into my PC to descramble the extra channels. (I haven't bought a CableCard-capable PC, by the way. Instead I consulted Microsoft's Ben Reed, who makes these magical machines.) Apparently, it's a select group: ACE Computers, Aspen Media Products, Cannon PC, Exceptional Innovations (Life|ware), Fluid Digital, Inteset, Moneual, Niveus, S1Digital, and Velocity Micro. Okoro and Vidabox are not licensed directly from Microsoft, but rather have agreements with third parties. Will you see any of these brands in your local store? Probably not. I didn't.

What next? Well, bucko, it's time to buy yet another HD tuner--this time one (like AMD's ) that actually has a CableCard slot. The trick is that you need a special BIOS to make any of this feasible. Bonus headache: The card isn't sold independently; you're supposed to buy it already installed in the PC. Infinite loop.

My hat is off to the fine folks at ; but after I took in the dimensions of the mess that was in store, the realization hit me: "Can't I just watch this stuff on Hulu?"