Where have all the cable cards gone?
Cable
cards. Where have they gone? Have you noticed that they are no longer in many of the new HDTVs. Check this out:
Panasonic's new PX60U
series doesn't have 'em. Samsungs new DLPs and
LCDs
don't. JVC dosn't have the Card on their plasmas. We can keep going
here. HPs plasmas and LGs plasmas. None of these have
Cable Card support.So why is this? Are manufactures waiting till Cable Card 2.0 comes out. Or is that they found out that many people are not using this option. We are sorry 'cause we don't know but we hope that it is the former of the two. Cable Card 2.0 is going to change a lot of things. It will bring all of the benifits and features of a cable box, like on-screen guides and on-demand, to the cable card. The current implimentation gives consumers the same stations as a cable box but not the same features. We want our features!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jake @ May 3rd 2006 12:05PM
A poster at AVSForum who works for Sharp said that the Japanese and Korean manufacturers aren't inclined to include CC 1.0 support, and aren't sold yet on CC 2.0.
CC is a US cable company technology, for which the foreign manufacturers have to pay licensing royalties. This drives up cost. The manufacturers are in a heated price war right now, and are trying to trim all the fat that they can. From their perspective, CC 1.0 was a still-born technology. Very few consumers wanted it, the cable companies were not very cooperative in making it cheap (since they were essentially forced to create it by the government), and the inclusion invariably made the product more expensive.
I'm a DVR user myself, so I will never want a TV with cable card support. Now, Tivo's Series3... that's another thing entirely...
Joe @ May 3rd 2006 12:17PM
Follow the $'s... cableco's charge a lot less for CC than they do a HD STB (DVR or otherwise). It is so bad that in some markets TWC refuses to troubleshoot or work on CC issues, instead telling consumers (like my parents) that their TV (a Sammy HLR) doesn't really support CC so that they can charge $8/mo for a STB instead of $2/mo for CC.
If the cableco's aren't making it attractive to consumers, why pay the lic. and manuf. fees to integrate it. I wish we'd just do away w/ integrated tuners and give people STB options. IMHO, decoupling the display with the source would greatly simplify the consumer's lives - but I'm kind of alone on that stance.
Bruzer @ May 3rd 2006 1:57PM
I think it's more likely that most consumers don't know what a cablecard is nor do they know if they can use it. Higher end users like ones that come to this sight I'd say are in the minority, and would most likely be using a DVR. That would make the need for a cablecard in a TV an unneeded device. I just wish the satellite companies were forced to use a cablecard too. I can't live without my Sunday Ticket.
Dillon @ May 3rd 2006 1:59PM
IMO cable card is important because it keeps the cable monopolies from sticking it even more to the customers. I much prefer my $2/mo cable card to a $10/mo STB which requires yet another remote.
w/o a CC alternative, cable companies could try to roll even more useless services into their HD packages and jack up the price. My cable company charges $10 for the STB, $10 for HDDVR which also requires $7 for program guide and 2 way services. Not worth it IMO
But cable card is pretty poorly supported, mine died last week and made my HLR5067 act completely crazy. Cox swore it was my TV, but upon replacing the CC it went back to normal. I just hope 2.0 is implemented better.
Brian @ May 3rd 2006 2:21PM
I've had cablecard for over a year in my DLP Mitsubishi and I've never once used it. Good thing it's free from Comcast! Why don't I use it? Because I ONLY watch TV off my HD-DVR just like anyone else with Tivo/DVR. Cablecard would be nice for a bedroom LCD where you want to limit clutter, but not for your main tv.
I think cablecard will be very important for devices such as the Series3 Tivo, and Media Center PC's. I've been dying for full cable support on these devices and cannot wait for them to come out. Too bad Microsoft is about to delay vista again...which delays cablecard support on the PC. Hopefully Apple beats them to the punch and releases a cablecard compatible minimac for the home theater.
IMO cablecard in a 50" or larger tv is not needed because chances are the person will use a DVR. But, I think it's important to keep cablecard support in the smaller wall mountable TV's such as Plasma and LCD where often times people want to eliminate clutter such as a cable box or DVR.
Tak @ May 3rd 2006 2:28PM
Having worked for the evil cable company, I can tell you that this version of the CC is really limiting. Whereas your cable box (whichever flavor you prefer) has the ability for interactivity (like an onscreen guide and ondemand content) the CC was functionally unable to provide those services. Now whether they were *diabled* by the companies that developed the technology is a topic for another discussion. I see television manufacturers simply following the consumer demand here - less functionality, means less people wanting the technology.
Dave @ May 3rd 2006 2:34PM
It's seems some of the higher end display's still embrace CC. Sony has it on their XBR Bravia line. I have a Sharp GD6U in the bedroom with a Moto CC from Comcast and it works great, better yet there's no monthly fee for it here. My Moto 6412 DVR runs $10.00 per month. The PQ on the SD channels is consideraby better than the DVR. For the bedroom it makes perfect sense to me, I could care less about the guide and On Demand. Dave
Thomas @ May 3rd 2006 4:28PM
I can state, being a cable tech, that these things really arent ready.. TV companies dont seem to have their software upto spec, and almost same goes for SA who makes the cards we use.. We have been goin way outa our way to make these $2 cards work, spending many man hours for that whole $2.. Right now in our eyes, as Im suspecting with the TV co.s, is that we'd rather set that option aside til specs are understood on both parts and they continue to work as they should.. Currenlty most cards we install have problems within weeks.. and some just either dont notice or dont have problems.. Too this day, yet have I seen any cable card we carry work correctly on a Toshiba (even after their so-called fix) for more than a few weeks..
Its crazy and drives us service techs nutz.. Id rather put in a piece of equipment I know I can make work 100% from day 1..
Just my 2c..
(in no way am I stating that this an opinion from the Co. I work for)
Scott M @ May 3rd 2006 4:55PM
My Sony 42" rear-projection LCD A10 has a cable card slot. This was a new model late last year so they must have dropped the slots since then in diff models.
jim @ May 4th 2006 7:49AM
Has a CC2.0 date been established? - Series3 tivo is really appealing as it will allow for OTA and cable..
Scott K @ May 4th 2006 6:24PM
I think cable card can be useful for people who don't use any interactive VOD or PPV type services. The cable co I work for doesn't advertise cable card at all, but does have it available. They do charge $100 to install it, but we do have service techs like Thomas out there all the time trying to keep the things working for people.
I personally have had no interest in one, like many others here, because I use the HD-DVR. Once Tivo Series 3 comes out though, I certainly plan to use cable card. Lets just hope I can get a break on the installation fee since I work here!
Matt @ May 5th 2006 11:55AM
Cablecard 2.0 is critical for the high-end 3rd party set-top boxes to really develop (along with HDCP HDMI video cards that have hardware supported full 1080p de-interlacing). I would have built my own set-top box already if there was any way to do a 3 HD Tuner, 1 terabyte of storage, with interactive tv guide. Currently, no way, so I am stuck with the crap-ass SA8300 from TWC. Maybe next year.
Bill @ Jul 22nd 2006 7:24AM
Personally, I think CC is crap. The only two manufacturers that don't seem to have issues with them are Panasonic and Mitsubishi, but there are still a large number of issues with the cable line that are impossible to troubleshoot (I work tech support for TWC).
If the CC gave you a real idea as to what's going on with your signal, it would work better. But since we're stuck in a place and time where no one seemed to think of that (but hey, even the old crappy Pioneer sd stb's we have can read their own signals), CC is not for the average user or the bastage from upper-crustville usa who feels that because he or she makes at least the upper 6 figures that it's MY FAULT her crappy samsung plasma burnt in and doesn't get signal.
So SA and Motorola, if you're listening, make sure that you add something to the standard that forces manufacturers to give consumers reads of what the signal is doing. MMK? mmk. then maybe these people would understand why they can't get HBO and Showtime on their cablecard tv sets.
M. Y. @ Nov 27th 2007 3:17PM
I've been reading the TiVo forums and most cable users who buy HD TiVo's with cablecards seem to have few problems. It seems to be an excellent way to get the advantages of TiVo and inexpensive access to HD both at once. You do forego any "on demand" services and "pay for view" but, maybe it's just me, but I've never used those anyway. I am thinking of getting the special TiVo offer for people who are already customers-- a two tuner HD TiVo with cable card slots and a wireless network adapter all for about $700. What do you all think about that?