There's
a lot of confusion around CableCARDs and more specifically what's stoppin' companies like TiVo and Microsoft from making OpenCable host devices that can access two-way services.
VOD and
PPV is one thing, but not having access to programming that you've already paid for just 'cause they're being deployed with the latest distribution technology is another. Don't get us wrong, we love new technology, but we don't like it when we bought the latest HD TiVo or Vista Media Center with a
CableCARD slot only to be disappointed 'cause the latest HD channel is only available via our provider issued POS STB. The latest OpenCable specification is supposed to change all this, but for companies like MS and TiVo
it isn't worth the price of admission. Now it looks like there will be another option, in the way of a so-called
Tuning Resolver. This device will physically resemble a USB tuner, and will plug into your TiVo and your cable co's coax feed, and with a little help from a software update on your TiVo, it'll allow you to watch those switched digital channels that you'd otherwise be denied access to. At this point it's nothing more than a proposal from the
NCTA to the
FCC, but with any luck it'll materialize and before we know it the Chicken Littles will have to find something else to run around and complain about.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Iulius @ Aug 27th 2007 4:36PM
Grrr...
Doesn't change the fact that CableLabs and the cable companies knew all along that a one-way communication device (cableCard) could never work with a two-way protocol like SDV, and yet only now do we see any evidence of a solution in the works. I'm not a big "government interference is needed" kind of guy, but if the FCC is this worthless, lets just shut it down. As it is the cable companies do whatever they want. Why should I be spending my tax dollars with worthless regulations?
iulius
MegaZone @ Aug 27th 2007 8:38PM
*ALL* CableCARDs are capable of two-way communication, always have been. And the CableCARD 2.0 host specification fully supports SDV - and PPV, VOD, etc.
What determines if it works in the host device, not the card. TiVo, and basically all consumer CableCARD devices, are UDCPs - Unidirection Digital Cable Products. The main disagreement is that to do bi-directional you need to do CC2.0 with means OCAP - which means giving control of your UI and functionality to the cable company. That doesn't sit well with companies like TiVo, whose business is based around their software and UI. So there is an impasse currently between the cable industry and the CE industry.
This 'Tuning Resolver' would give UDCPs access to SDV content.
horngreen @ Aug 27th 2007 8:43PM
My biggest complaint with the Tivo HD models besides the laughable subscription is lack of a firewire port for archiving high definition to computer and/or D-VHS.
horngreen @ Aug 27th 2007 8:54PM
"I'm not a big "government interference is needed" kind of guy, but if the FCC is this worthless, lets just shut it down. As it is the cable companies do whatever they want. Why should I be spending my tax dollars with worthless regulations?"
Nice quote! The FCC is pro-big business and anti-consumer these days. Shutting em down is a bit extreme, as the tide will most likely shift backs towards neutral, and we the consumer may be heard once again.
horngreen @ Aug 27th 2007 9:00PM
Chicken littles? I hope that is not a reference to someone who has a different opinion that yours. Doorstop is my Tivo HD opinion.
Jake @ Aug 28th 2007 9:07AM
"Chicken Littles" is a reference to those naysayers who have been predicting that SDV would be the deathknell for Tivo and all non-cable DVRs (including HTPCs). Certainly there is a difference of opinion present, but its not a characterization based solely on that diffference; rather, it is a characterization of the poor foundation for the "sky is falling" perspective and the attendant tendency to "bitch, moan, and wildly prognosticate." Check out the Series3 forum at Tivocommunity.com if you want to see unmitigated "chicken-littling" in practice.
Ben Drawbaugh @ Aug 28th 2007 9:08AM
Best comment ever!
That is exactly what I meant and in fact my un-edited version of this post, had a mention of TiVoCommunity.