CableLabs and UpdateLogic to provide digital TV software updates via cable

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 17th 2006 at 1:17PM

Digital TVs are complex consumer electronics devices in their own right, and sometimes need software updates. UpdateLogic has had technology in place to deliver updates to TVs from manufacturers like Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Sony via PBS, but what about the many customers with only a cable box and no OTA antennas? Now the company has partnered with CableLabs to use the OpenCable specification to enable updates to set top boxes as well as connected digital TVs. This process doesn't need user intervention, so don't expect a call from your parents on how to install the latest update, but at the same time we can just see the first time someone comes home to a dead HDTV from an upgrade gone wrong. Those reservations aside the ability to hopefully add features and solve minor glitches is intriguing, although there's no word on a possible 1080p software update for that 13-inch TV/VCR combo in our basement.

Filed under: Displays, Set-top boxes, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony

Tags: cable labs, CableLabs, glitch, patch, updatelogic, upgrade

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Jim @ Oct 17th 2006 2:35PM

This is the worst news I have read in a while. *Content providers* want control over everything. This sounds like a way for them to update your TV like they do a cable or satellite box. This way they can add restrictions to the way we watch and record TV, especially digital HDTV broadcasts, what devices we can connect to our TV's, etc. Add to the fact that this will happen automatically behind the scenes is all the more worrysome.

Am I the only one who is troubled by this?

Neutral

Jeff N. @ Oct 17th 2006 3:05PM

I too am concerned about it Jim.

Neutral

Eric @ Oct 17th 2006 4:39PM

Gimme a break guys. Did you even bother to look into what they're talking about? This process is no different than a Windows update on your computer...or maybe you think your MSO is controlling that too. Your tinfoil hat is on too tight.

cableric

Neutral

Taz @ Oct 17th 2006 5:23PM

I agree with Jeff and Jim... it's just too much of a temptation for media companies to just update stuff on the fly (or drop some new 'feature' in a bunch of updates)...
It's got nothing to do with tinfoil hats either... Sony are well known for those kind of shenannigans, and look at what Creative have just done - http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/16/creative-removing-fm-recording-from-players/

Neutral

Eric @ Oct 17th 2006 6:03PM

Oh don't get me wrong. I don't doubt that Sony could send an update that would disable a certain feature in your television, but that does not equate to your cable co. "seizing control" or your equipment. It equates to CE manufacturers buckling under the pressures of legal threats from Communist Hollywood & the RIAA.

Neutral

Jim @ Oct 17th 2006 6:18PM

Even MS Updates threw Windows Genuine Advantage in as a *critical* update when it certainly was not. It was a way for them push down control. I don't trust the RIAA, MPAA, etc to simply *bug fix* my TV. Why would they even care? They don't. It's not even about piracy anymore. It's about control. What if they handicap the firewire ports or change the 5C DTCP protocol so the D-VHS stops recording? What if they decide to turn on ICT on the components for all HD? What if they lobby (buy) the congressional votes to re-enable the broadcast flag for OTA HD?

Having access directly over my TV like that is just way too much control. All TV's would need is a simple ethernet port, like the Toshiba HD-DVD players, to grab the firmware from the net. Using the cable card slot and building the infrastructure for it means that have *other* ideas in mind for it's use.

Neutral

David @ Oct 17th 2006 7:58PM

by Eric: "I don't doubt that Sony could send an update that would disable a certain feature in your television...It equates to CE manufacturers buckling under the pressures of legal threats from Communist Hollywood & the RIAA."

Man, I'd hate to buy a $2000 TV because of the features it had, then come home 2 months later and find out half of those features are gone because the manufacturer was pressured by Hollywood/RIAA/MPAA. And that is exactly (except change "TV" with MP3 player, and cut the $2000 by a factor of 5-10) what happened with the Creative MP3 player in the link Taz gave.

I say: there should be no removal or "addition" of features to the objects I own without my approval. And if some law changes or something that forces manufacturers to remove certain features, I should be compensated for no longer getting a feature I payed for.

Preferrably, that compensation should come from the MPAA/RIAA idiots that pay their 'stars' in millions and then claim they have to fire their poor set-builders and janitors because piracy made their profits shrink. If you want my sympathy, at least ask Tom Cruise to accept payment more in line with, oh, I don't know, a freaking world-class brain surgeon, before you tell me that you "had" to fire 10 employees making $40,000 a year because a few people bootlegged your movies.

Neutral

Mark @ Oct 18th 2006 12:48AM

My $0.02 Rant.

If the media co's have it their way, physical media will be disposed of and replaced by devices that digitally control/dispense ALL content. Either pay per view or Pay bigger $$ for portable DRM hobbled content.

This is just a stepping stone, and even if this particuar tech is not successful, it shows where the industry is headed.

Steam is a prime example of direct-to-consumer content delivery/control. http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php. I don't have a problem with this, however I do have a problem with being required to install Steam in order to play HL2 which was primarily a single player PC game with absolutely no mandatory functional reason to be hooked to the net EVER (remember, Source multiplayer was merely an OPTION and not the incentive for buying the game).

If Steam/Valve knows this about your PC,
http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html
Think of what could be retrieved about your entire Home Theater setup?

Some people will not care, but I do.

Possible anti-consumer goals achievable through this technology.
1. Further control of content re-playability and or recordability (portability). Fair Use RIP.
2. Targeted Selling based on Viewing Habit data. Consumer privacy for sale and we won't see a cent!
3. Keep PVR users from skipping commercials. My time is still much too valuable to spend watching them.

End Rant.

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