Switched Digital Video quickly became a bad word around here -- don't get us wrong, we want more HD as much as the next person, but not if it means we'll have to use our cable company's lackluster STB. Luckily
TiVo owners will be getting
a solution to their SDV woes soon, but our friend
Gary Merson surveyed several HDTV manufacturersand none left him with the impression that there was any chance that the current crop of
CableCARD enabled HDTVs would work with the new "
tuning resolver." This most certainly blows a big one for those customers out there that are actually using this feature, and that will start to
watch their HD channels fade away -- assuming they haven't already -- but many manufacturers abandoned the technology over a year ago. The dream of a set-top-boxless solution isn't lost though, as
Samsung, LG and Panasonic all expect to have
tru2way TVs available this year, and with any luck these won't be obsolete after only a few years.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andyg8180 @ Apr 15th 2008 4:47PM
ouch... i was interested in going cable card... guess not... but i dont have comcast, so i may still be in luck for a whlie...
Mr. E @ Apr 15th 2008 7:29PM
Most likely a short while, if you're using cable. With continuous bandwidth pressure from competing with satellite and FiOS, all the cable companies are going to go with SDV eventually, it's just a matter of time. Fortunately, the end result is that we'll have even more HD channels available, and hopefully they'll be able to continue, or go back to, sending the original signal from the source broadcaster.
Too bad the whole cable card implementation got shot down before it even really took off. Reminds me of the IEEE1394 link that was supposed to let us record all our HD, with mostly reasonable (5C) copy protection along the way.
omoks @ Apr 15th 2008 6:39PM
Maybe its just me but I've never really had any problem with cable boxes.
Loralyn @ Apr 16th 2008 9:22PM
Why does the FCC swallows every rationale fed to them by cable companies without question? The latest sham? Citing a lack of bandwidth, the cable companies have successfully sabotaged the use of cablecards by moving HD stations to SDV.
Was there really no alternative? What about the bandwith dedicated to providing 6-10 versions of Premium stations? As cable customers now record programs for viewing at their convenience, having the exact same programing on 10 stations only appears to provide more choice.
For decades, the cable companies have fought and delayed implementing every FCC regulation designed to improve cable services and lower the costs to consumers. The use of a cablecard not only freed cable customers from the necessity of having a set-top box, it would have freed customers from the necessity of renting a set-top box from their cable provider.
Clearly competition in this area would have been beneficial for consumers.
rellufnalla @ Apr 19th 2008 11:12PM
I have been using a cable card since I purchased a HD plasma in 2005 and have never (ever) used a set top box. They were too revolting of an application to consider and I would prefer not to have content access over having one in my house.
I will definitly buy a tru2way equipped set as soon as they are available to replace my analog sets.