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Television Media

A Brief FAQ on CableCards 157

Posted by michael from the betamax dept.
TechNit writes "Just when I thought my Comcast DVR box was not going to change here comes the CableCard. Fascinating concept but I don't see these being used without the added features of Pay-Per-View, Video on Demand etc. that many consumers (me) have become used to. I see these being used more for authentication/theft prevention devices as apposed to stand-alone service providing devices. What do others know about this?" An earlier CNet column points out the shortcomings of current CableCard implementations.
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A Brief FAQ on CableCards More

A Brief FAQ on CableCards

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  • Wait for 2.0 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dreamchaser ( 49529 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:12PM (#11434551) Homepage Journal
    The upcoming CableCard 2.0 standard will allow for bi-directional operations such as Pay Per View and On Demand. The current iteration isn't capable enough to make much of a splash, IMNSHO.

    Some of my fellow TiVo users are disgruntled that TiVo doesn't support CableCard yet. From what I gather, they are waiting for the 2.0 standard (this is only rumor but it makes sense).

    Neat technology, but not feature rich enough yet.

    • Get it now. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by HTH NE1 ( 675604 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:53PM (#11434992)
      But, what if I don't want my TV communicating with the cable company?

      I really don't care for PPV and on-demand programming. I don't use them with my TiVo now; why would I want to use a CableCard in my TV that bypasses my recorders so I can only watch that content live?

      And maybe I don't want them to be able to audit what I'm watching. And no, I don't like that they can do that with my cableboxes now. (Though they do get a skewed look about me based on what my TiVo records as suggestions.)

      • Re:Get it now. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mjh ( 57755 ) <mark@hoCURIErnclan.com minus physicist> on Friday January 21, 2005 @03:19PM (#11435299) Homepage Journal
        I don't use them with my TiVo now; why would I want to use a CableCard in my TV that bypasses my recorders so I can only watch that content live?
        You definately want a CableCard integrated into your TiVo. That way you can simply download the digital stream and reply that through the cablecard, instead of having to encode the analog input. Additionally, the picture quality will be excellent instead of what you're currently getting with the (relatively cheap) builtin encoder.
      • why would I want to use a CableCard in my TV that bypasses my recorders so I can only watch that content live?

        I think the real question is, why would you put the CableCard in the TV, not the TiVo?

        (This is in the near future of course, with CC2.0 with PPV/VoD/KitchenSink-102.2+ and the fabled TiVo compatability with such a monster)
        • I think the real question is, why would you put the CableCard in the TV, not the TiVo?

          No, it's why would I wait to get a CC-2.0 compatible TV with PPV ordering abilities when I can't record with a TV.

          I'd probably pick up a CC-2.0 TiVo and put such a card in it that would let me record PPV and On Demand content (if only TiVo would allow it), but I have no need for access to that content directly on the TV.

          Besides, anything on PPV is or soon will be available on DVD, and is often also currently showing in
      • I really don't care for PPV and on-demand programming. I don't use them with my TiVo now; why would I want to use a CableCard in my TV that bypasses my recorders so I can only watch that content live?

        For you, CableCard will provide access to cable HD programming and (with the 2.0 standard) multiple tuners (so that you can record two shows at once), both of which are not technically possible with an outboard TiVo controlling a cable box. A cable-card 2.0 equipped TiVo will be able to compete feature-for-fe
    • Tivo could really use CableCard support now.

      I think a lot of people in the income group capable of buying Tivo are also Digital Cable subscribers, too. SA Tivos work fine with Digital Cable and the IR extenders, but it makes changing channels slow, its overly complicated and about once every month or so my cable box freezes/reboots, which puts it out of sync with the Tivo (power-cycling not being a function Tivo can do via IR).

      Furthermore, this same group probably has HD TV, and CableCard would give Tivo

  • Hacks (Score:1, Insightful)

    by ectotherm ( 842918 )
    How long until hacked versions show up on eBay??

    • Re:Hacks (Score:5, Interesting)

      by johnpaul191 ( 240105 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:26PM (#11434713) Homepage
      well a hacked cable card would be the same as a pirate digital cable box. i assume they exist? i have heard of pirate analog cable boxes, and ways to trick DSS boxes. if they do not exist now, i am sure they will.

      one thing with digital cable boxes/cable cards is that they generally use something like a MAC address and that number is associated with your account. when you don't pay your bill they zotz the box(es), or when you change programming. you are effectively on a cable company private network so if they have the software they could possibly track down rogue devices..... though from the nature of the cable system it might take them a while to zero in on which actual house/apartment is using that device. that i am guessing from the stories of cable modem users' local networks including a printer hooked up to a neighbor's pc.
      • it's actually simpler than that.

        Cable boxes (digital) are two way. So if you don't get it right the first time, you give away your attempt and your address at once. Not a good combination.

        Satellite is download only. hack away.
        • They can't really just come in your house though, so they can suspect you all they want, but can't really do anything until they press charges or something. Also, people trying to steal cable generally don't have cable service... they steal it from somewhere (duh).

          But yeah, hacking satellites is not only safer, it doesn't seem very illegal to me. (They're sending the signal through MY house, why can't I build some hardware to decrypt it?)
    • They have done a lot of viciousness to prevent that. You would unlikely be able to use it out of region and operater. Look at http://www.opencable.com/specifications/ [opencable.com]

  • Non-Cable DVR's... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PeterChenoweth ( 603694 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:13PM (#11434569)
    I know they will be useful for non-Cable company DVR's such as Tivo, MythTV, or MCE, as they wouldn't have to use IR-transmitters and such to change channels.
    • My MythTV box is exactly why this subject interests me. I currently just do basic/expanded analog cable since I didn't want to deal with the irBlaster to change channels on a digital box. I'm hoping it won't be long till we see PVR cards that implement this standard (and get Linux drivers for em).
  • Anyone remember the boom of Satellite card programming? now they're going to enable a simple card to control our cable subscription too? awesome, time to go buy a new tv!

  • TIVO (Score:4, Interesting)

    by thebra ( 707939 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:14PM (#11434575) Homepage Journal
    Tivo cable card box [pcmag.com]
    • This is great to know. I moved recently, and went with DirecTV for one reason: dual tuner DirecTiVo. I had a Series 2 standalone that I'd used with Comcast, and while I loved it, the delay in changing channels and a single tuner made me want the DirecTV version.

      Now that DirecTV is making noises about dropping TiVo, it's good to know that I'll have a similar option in the future, even if it does mean going back to Comcast.

    • TiVos (up until now at least) have been somewhat hacker-friendly, and can be viewed as a regular old PowerPC Linux box, even able to run other user-compiled apps. Could, then, an adequately-skilled programmer write an app that, running on their new CableCard-equipped HD TiVo unit, tunes and decrypts their cable TV provider's stream using this TiVo's CableCard API, then saves that HD video transport stream to, oh, I dunno, some Samba share?

      As delightful as this sounds, getting a CableCard license requires

      • You can use TiVo's new "TiVo2Go" feature to send a show to a PC. It's saved as MPEG-2 with some sort of DRM encryption. However, there is already software that removes the encryption.

        "The GPL requires that users be able to recompile their Linux kernel,"

        No, it just requires that the source code changes are made available....see tivo.com/linux.
    • From TFA:

      The product should be released in early 2006.

      That seems like a long time from now... I wonder if they'll be able to financially survive until then.
    • From the link...

      With CableCARD, consumers don't need to rent set top boxes from their cable company.

      By the most amazing coincidence you'll have to rent the card from them for at least as much money if not more.

  • While I'd love to get rid of the clunky set-top box my cable company forces me to use, as it's got no serial connection for the tivo... (they actually -ripped- the pins clear out of the db9 connector on the back), I think a lot of people are starting to get hooked on all of the two-way functionality that the cable companies are providing, so it'll be a while until these really see widespread adoption.
    • Yeah, the 2-way interactivity is great. As one of the previous posters mentioned, if you wait for version 2, it'll support bi-directional communication. Until then, we can't really expect anything huge
    • You don't want to get rid of set top boxes, at least any time soon anyway. For DTVs, the TVs themselves are generally nothing more than computer monitors (by design). The integrated tuners in them suck and the 5th generation tuners comming out are supposed to be very, very good (I work at a TV station with Videophiles). The cable cards require either an external or internal tuner that is card compatible. And as the internals suck, an external box (cable or otherwise) you are stuck with if you want good

      • The cable cards require either an external or internal tuner that is card compatible. And as the internals suck, an external box (cable or otherwise) you are stuck with if you want good picture.

        At least you should (hopefully) be able to use a V.2.0 cable card in a DVR.

        This is exactly how I envision things "should be". I want to by a DTV monitor. No tuner should be needed, and let the DVR act as a tuner.
        That way if something new and nifty comes out (such as lets say I went out and bought a CableCard ge

  • Most new TVs have slots for them.

    They're good because you don't need them for premium and other scrabled digital channels. No on-demand or PPV until CableCard 2.0, though.

    Personally, I think its a waste anyway. The only viable cable HD PVR solutions are part of the cable box anyway, so all a cable-card TV gets you is the ability to view the TV and not record it.

    • You are right. I love my new comcast HD PVR. Dual tuners and what have you. But it will be great for the Tivo's, Replay's and Apple's of this world to come up with better PVR's that can work with the cable company.

      I love this cable card idea. I agree that until we see PVR's ready to use them, they will not be very popular.
    • Personally, I think its a waste anyway. The only viable cable HD PVR solutions are part of the cable box anyway, so all a cable-card TV gets you is the ability to view the TV and not record it.

      Are you talking about v1 or CableCard in general. The reason why cable card exists is to specifically remove the ability of the cable company to control the PVR market (among other things). I personally have no desire to give that much control to my cable company, and prefer a homebrew solution.

      When CC.v2 will be r
    • Parent said '...you don't need them {cable cards} for premium and other scrabled channels.' First of all I assume you meant '...you DO need...' because other wise the statement makes no sense at all. Second the channels are not scrabled (what would that mean?) Also they are not scrambled. Digital channels like the CC is for are for encrypted channels, and the card provides the decryption.

      Your last statment about the only viable option for and HD DVR is part of a cable box is correct. It should be noted t
    • Do the 2.0 cards require a new interface in the television, or do new televisions work with both revisions of the CableCard spec?
  • Is that cable providers could start supporting PC based hardware like the pcHDTV [pchdtv.com] high-def video cards. Right now these things only really work with antennas because most cable companies scramble their channels and you need the decoder box to unscramble them. Well if you could plug a CableCard into a pcHDTV-like device then you'd be able to use it with your cable tv instead of just an antenna.
    • I am guessing that they want to stay as far away from PC integration as possible. The more they emphasize PC integration, the bigger the market for hacked cards will become.

  • What CableCard is good for (Score:5, Interesting)

    by daveschroeder ( 516195 ) * on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:16PM (#11434601)
    To summarize an engineer in the cable industry...

    CableCard is somewhat a half-baked implementation right now.

    Currently, it's only one way, so there is no support for two way device communication required for PPV, VOD, etc., and there is no guide, because there is no memory or provision for the EPG (Electronic Program Guide).

    If the industry evolves the CableCard into a truly two way design, with memory and programmability and support for EPG, then it will be interesting. Additionally, an all digital set top costs providers about $70 in volume, while a CableCard is slightly more and has none of the features of the set top.

    Really all CableCard is good for at this juncture is tuning/accessing encrypted digital channels directly with your television or monitor, WITHOUT a separate set top; if that's all you want/need, then it works fine. But what would be really nice is if some third-party PVRs or PCI TV cards for computers supported CableCard: then, you don't really care about the guide or some of the other functionality. You just want to be able to get at, and record, content that you can't otherwise get to without some convoluted IR blaster-type setup with an external set top, or being locked into your provider's choice of PVR, and its features (or lack thereof).

  • So much for the firewire ports on set-top boxes that let you connect a MythTV (or other roll-it-yourself PVR).

    It looks very much like a PCMCIA card, but something tells me that none of the interface specs/protocol will be made public. God forbid consumers or third party companies deliver solutions.

    Sounds like a way to keep only the "cool kids" from playing in the sandbox more than anything else.

    • If you have a cable box you can control over firewire you're lucky. Many of us are stuck with older digital cable boxes and so we're SOL if we want to use our MythBox to record digital cable (well I guess you could use an IR blaster but that's a terrible solution) I have looked forward to a "cable ready" type standard for digital communications for a long time. I despise set-top boxes which is one of the reasons I will not go to satellite. I eagerly await the say I can hook any of my devices (TV/VCR/PVR/etc
      • why are ir blasters so bad? mine's working great, and i'm not even pointing it at the cable box. i got a writeup on my blog:

        http://mythtvbox.blogspot.com

        • Because I'd like to be able to watch one live show while recording another. I accomplished this years ago with a cheap little cable splitter. Once everything requires a cable box that you have to remotely control, the level of complexity increases very quickly.

          Right now your only options for "watching one live show while recording another" are to stick with analog cable, to get a DirecTiVo, or to get two cable boxes. Plan A works for me, but I hate IR blasters. One more box to watch TV is one too many.
          • Yeah, that is frustrating. The coming of digital cable as our only choice sounds great, but it'll end up limiting what we can do with our programming, and give the cable companies control again...

            I'm afraid that someday we'll be paying for cable per tv, just like we used to have to pay per computer when they could control that... hopefully we can end up with a digital cable router-like device...

            in anycase, this is the beginning of the end
            • Many of us USED to pay for cable per TV... I don't think we'll be going down that road again. Remember that while most consumers don't care about DRM when they can't "tape" their soaps during the day and watch them at night they will get mighty upset.

      • Re:Goodbye firewire set-top boxes (Score:4, Informative)

        by GeorgieBoy ( 6120 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @03:33PM (#11435435) Homepage
        FCC mandates that cable companies need to make firewire control possible as of early 2004: Link [digital-lifestyles.info]

        If you live in the US you should be able to do something about this.
    • Isn't firewire written into the HD spec?

      Aren't all HD devices supposed to have firewire ports on them?

      So all the tv's of the future would have f/w on them, no?

      And if my above understanding is incorrect- if you have a cable-card interface (whether is via a pcmcia adaptor, a pci card, a usb adaptor or a firewire adaptor) that's all your MythTV (or other roll-it-yourself PVR) would need. No more set top box needed. Get the cablecard w/ adaptor, plug into MythTV setup and go.

      • Many of these interfaces use DRM-- both the sender and the receiver may have IEEE1394 jacks, but the sender may choose to encrypt its data-- and key exchange is often dependent on whether the devices trust each other.

        If the creators of MythTV have not signed the requisite contracts promising, basically, that "users will have no rights", your MythTV will have no easy way of decrypting the data.
        • One thing I wonder about this is: Will HDTV's end up with cable card slots to decrypt the code. In this case it might be concievable that you could setup a myth box to capture the raw data based on the schedule and have the HDTV do the decode on playback.

          Then the requsite contracts would not be necessary as myth would not decode the video, the TV would do that.
      • Isn't firewire written into the HD spec?

        Which one? ATSC doesn't mention Firewire.

        Aren't all HD devices supposed to have firewire ports on them?

        No.

        So all the tv's of the future would have f/w on them, no?

        No.

        However, the FCC is requiring cable companies to provide a Firewire-enabled cable box if you ask for it.
    • This looks like the specification for the CableCard interface right here:

      ANSISCTE282004.pdf [scte.org]

      I guess it's open after all. Although I hope there's no proprietary software initialization that you still need to actually make it work.

  • HTPC Use... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by drumgeek ( 584256 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:19PM (#11434647)
    I think a big potential use of CableCards, despite their limited two-way featurs now, is their inclusion in HTPCs- allowing for recording of digital cable without having to do weird things with IR Blaster and such. Sadly, the only implementation I have seen thus far was something Shuttle demoed at CES...
  • My analog pirate box still works great on the few remaining premium channels.

  • Just another pothole (Score:2, Interesting)

    by overshoot ( 39700 )
    They have the same problem that all of the other keep-you-from-watching tools do: they also keep you from programming a recording device to capture the shows you actually want to watch while you're away, etc.

    I gave up on "premium" cable TV years ago when I found out that the set-top box that decoded the scrambled channels couldn't be made to work with a programmed VCR.

    With all of the other things-you-aren't-allowed-to-do-anymore goodies being loaded on ("broadcast flag," etc.) to TV with the mandated en

    • I share your disgust with premium cable, and extend it even to basic cable, which has become grossly overpriced. But it's not logical to assume that any new KYFW technology is just going to make things worse. They could actually make things better. No, I'm not certain about that, I'm not even very optimistic -- but it is possible.

      Ask yourself why your VCR can't hook up directly to your scrambled channels. It's because there's no integration between the distribution system and the VCR, except for a very p

  • Cheaper to produce. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:27PM (#11434725)
    Why is it tat all new technologies are focused on three things: 1) preventing "theft" and 2) being cheaper to produce (with consumers pocketing *some* of the savings. 3) The fact that I would be paying for things I oppose (see below).

    There's a reason that I have never wanted to get cable and this is it. The fight in the cable industry is not to bring better programing or features, or even to lower costs for us, but to reduce our ability to use (within our rights as well as without) the content provided.

    Over the years Cable Companies and the "watchdogs" who are supposed to be supervising them (FCC) have been focusingmore on how to compel us to purchase new products (HDTV) than on how to safeguard our rights to use our cultural products. The cable companies have been spending lavishly on this from their profits. My purchasing of their products and services (like shopping at Wal Mart or purchasing Microsoft's products) supports their political agenda by filling their war chest. I suppose I could just donate to the EFF as well but that just ups the cost for me.

    Yes I miss a few shows that are interesting, yes by shopping at more expensive (locally owned) stores I pay more for basic goods than I would at Wal Mart. But, when I factor in the cost of my freedoms, freedoms that are impacted adversely by supporiting the companies that I oppose, I find the skipping the movie, shopping locally, and using linux far far cheaper in the long run.

  • One-Way CableCards not read for prime time (Score:5, Informative)

    by jforster17 ( 94778 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:32PM (#11434765)
    I agree with CNET's "Five reasons to not buy a CableCard".

    There's a long and sordid history in the Cable Industry behind the CableCard. From the outside it seems like a fine idea, but none of the insiders wanted it, so it happened slowly. Now that it's here, it's obsolete as the version available now only supports 'one-way' video services, i.e., traditional broadcast TV. EPG, VOD, built-in PVR, and more interactive services, all require two-way communication, which is not in this version.

    There are specs in CableLabs for the two-way version, but it's not clear if they're finished or even workable. And more likely the existing specs would be trumped by the industry's NGNA -- Next Generation Network Architecture effort (see http://www.cabledigitalnews.com/ngna/ngnaprimer.ht ml [cabledigitalnews.com] for an NGNA primer). The cable video industry is a bit peculiar to the computer and networking crowd because there is basically only proprietary systems. There are standards-based components and approaches, but by the time a whole system is built, Set Top Boxes are not interoperable across multiple systems. The the kicker: with mostly analog video on cable systems, usually almost all the bandwidth was tied up with programming. That left no available spectrum to introduce a different, competitive system. Once a vendor got into a city, the operator never changed over to a differerent vendor in that city, because the switching cost was too great.

    There's a chance this will change, due mostly to digital TV requiring less bandwidth, pent-up demand for new technology (VOD & PVR primarily), and the great success cable has had with DOCSIS-based Internet Access (they make a ton of money on it!) leading to some appreciation for open standards and interoperability. We'll see.

  • Still unclear... what about multiple tuners? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PornMaster ( 749461 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:36PM (#11434814) Homepage
    I'm still unclear if one cable card per setup will be of any benefit...

    If I put a card in my TV, my VCR, which comes before the TV, won't be able to tune the channels, will it?

    Maybe picture-in-picture will work, but what about all the other circumstances where you have multiple tuners? Watching one channel while recording another, etc....
    • There is the same problem with the current boxes as well. If you want multiple TV's -- you have to pay for multiple cable boxes.

      Thus all that you are complaining about can be remdied by getting multiple cable cards.
      • I remember reading specifications for Cable Card's and while with Cable Card 1.0 you needed to buy multiple cards for muliple TV's with Cable Card 2.0 you could connect multiple TV's with just one Cable Card.

        I can't remeber were I saw this though, has anyone else seen something like this?
    • That's why the dual tuner HDTivo coming out next year has two CableCARD slots. I checked with Charter and they only charge $1.50 / Month per card. Not bad. Now if Tivo would just release this damn thing out RIGHT NOW the balance would be restored and Tivo would be back on top.

      Most of us dont want two way CableCARDs. We dont care for PPV, VOD, or goofly little cardgames. We just want our HDTV going right into our Tivo season passes. While those features are "ok", they do not make or break a product at this p

  • WiFi? WTF? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 21, 2005 @02:37PM (#11434821)
    Actual question on the site:
    Does CableCard support Wi-Fi?
    Not yet.

    What the fuck? WiFi? I hate this notion that everything should have everything else in it. What possible purpose does WiFi serve in an authentication card? None.

    Other possible questions:

    Does CableCard support printing my favorite vacation photos?
    Not yet.

    Can I use CableCard like a CreditCard?
    Not yet.

    Can CableCard be exchanged for Wishes and Dreams?
    No.

    Can I write on CableCard with markers?
    On Tuesdays.

  • If it were portable then it would be interesting (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RmanB17499 ( 829438 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @03:21PM (#11435320)
    If I could take my CableCard to a friends' house, snap it in, and watch the channels I subscribe to, or bill the PPV to my account -- then it would be something to write home about. I know I'd have to assume that either cable company is the same at my friend's house or has some sort of "roaming" agreement -- but don't I pay for cable -- not my house? And if I'm away from hoome...that cable subscription is basically useless.
  • While CableCards in their current state have limitations in functionality, they also have some plusses:

    1. Cheaper to rent than STBs. They are about 40% the cost of the STB.

    2. Unified remote control. No separate remote for STB.

    3. Better picture quality. Often your $4000 HDTV will have a much better tuner than what your $5/mo STB has. Plus there is no cable to run/degrade signals from the STB to the TV.

    • 3. Better picture quality. Often your $4000 HDTV will have a much better tuner than what your $5/mo STB has.
      Eh? You know HDTV is digital, right? It either comes in or it doesn't..
      • It isn't digital from the box to the TV unless you use DVI. Few cable boxes support DVI.

        Also if you connect the cable box using component cables for HD then any SD is usually upconverted to 1080i or 720p. The cable box normally does a super lousy job with the upconversion. My cheapo RPTV's internal line doubler is FAR superior to the upconversion of my TWC cable box.

        With CableCard the signal received by the TV in its native resolution. From there the TV can scale and process using quality hardware.
      • You know HDTV is digital, right? It either comes in or it doesn't..

        You also know that most cable boxes have component analog output, and that most cable systems more than a few analog stations too, right?

    • 4. Warehouse space. Those giant digital boxes take up a huge amount of space in the warehouse. Cable companies can fit a few dozen of these in a desk or safe easily.

      5. Less Cable company owned equipment to go wrong. The cable card is more of an authorization device than a decoder/descrambler. If the internals of the digital box die, cable co eats the cost. If your TV's QAM demod suddenly starts to flake out, well, that's your problem.

      6. (sort of) easy, self provisioning installation. You come to the office

  • My TV has a card in it. plusses 1. Can tune to premium channels with the TV while I record another premiium channel with the cable company supplied DVR -- which has only one tuner in it. [sigh] 2. Swiches channels about 5x faster than the dvr box 3. cable company provides it for free if you have a box too. minuses 1. no two-way communication yet. So no ppv via cable card 2. with cable card in, you can't grab your neighbor's ppv feed (my cable company send ppv over QAM in the clear -- very educational as t
  • It's cheaper for cable companies to produce and distribute CableCards than set-top boxes, and consumers are expected to pocket at least some of the savings.

    Sure consumers will pocket some of the savings. Just like bypassing the middleman and dsitributing content on-line directly to your customers will allow publishers to pass some of that savings along to the customer (or maybe the companies will just pocket the savings... which sounds more likely to you?) They'll probably rent out the cards for $6.99

    • Well of course, because Economics 101 tells us that in an industry consisting of small players with no product differentiation in perfect competition, price equals marginal cost because all players must lower their price to compete.

      What's that you say? Cable companies aren't in perfect competition? How could the FCC allow that to hap...

      ...oh wait.

  • And where it the outrage over traditional NTSC broadcasting being turned off at the end of the year?

    Your portable TV, your regular TV with rabbit ears, and your radio that picks up the soap operas... are all going to quit working in a few months... forcing you to spend, what, $200 to be able to receive the new HDTV signals...

    Where is the outrage? Or will it all happen when folks wake up and their TV's only show snow, ...and in fact it will be *illegal* to run your old TV!!! Believe it!
    • "Illegal to run your old TV"? This is a dumb remark. You can run it all you want; it just won't pick up anything once the NTSC stations are shut off.

      Which won't be happenning by the end of this year, or next year either. But it'll happen soon enough.

      Where's the outrage? Well, most people who even know about this issue probably already have ATSC equipment themselves, so they realize how badly NTSC sucks by comparison. I certainly won't miss it.

      But anyway, by the time the shutoff does come (again, not this

  • Cable companies HATE CableCard (Score:3, Interesting)

    by doormat ( 63648 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @04:10PM (#11435857) Homepage Journal
    Its not in cable's interest to deploy CableCard technology. They'd rather you rent a $10/mo box forever instead of buying a CC-equiped device. Its a lost revenue stream. Even if they charge you $1/mo for the actual card (it still remains their property, you'll NEVER see a CableCard on e-bay since end-users are never allowed to buy one), you're losing a large amount of revenue in equipment rentals.

    So what do they do?

    As anyone with a CC equiped set know, they provide shitty service and support to cablecard customers. Staff I've talked to dont get informed. They have to search the web to go and find information on what TVs have difficulties and what to do about it to fix them. The software is still buggy, despite the FCC mandate that CableCard be operational on July 1 2004.

  • Too much integration = big, expensive TV to repair (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IronChefMorimoto ( 691038 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @04:12PM (#11435887)
    I just purchased the cheapest Toshiba rear projection HDTV out there -- the plain ol' 46H84 (???). It's a big-ass 46" rear projection HDTV monitor with just the right amount of inputs for the crap that I have. I paid just over $1000 for it to be delivered. Not the best price, but not ridiculous either, given that it replaced a 5-year old 27" Magnavox tube television.

    So, I saw this News.com FAQ the other day, and I had a talk with my boss before Christmas about this CableCard crap and when the best time buy an HDTV will be. When I talked with my boss, I researched the CableCard ready Toshiba DLP projection HDTVs that are in their lineup. Pricing was higher than their entry level DLP projection HDTVs, and certainly a lot more than my dinky rear projection HDTV that I just bought.

    Anyway, my conversation with my boss got me thinking...what happens when the CableCard slot shorts out or fails after the first year of warranty coverage? What happens if one of these new integrated card readers on some of these HDTVs stops reading SD cards from your camera?

    My thinking is this -- you just paid $3000+ for a nice HDTV with CableCard a year ago. Now, if you didn't get sucked into a bullshit store service plan for $500 which might not cover a failed CableCard slot, you're stuck with a relatively new TV that has trouble getting digital cable or satellite services. Or you've got a TV that, 1-2 more years, will have this nice little HOLE in the front of the console for that SD card that it can't read, thus screwing up your pricing if you decide to sell it used.

    I say stop the integration with the most expensive piece of hardware in my entertainment center. I'm not paying $3000 for a receiver or a DVD player. Those are relatively inexpensive items that I can replace in a pinch if need be. But a $3000 TV ought to be stable enough -- in terms of integrated features -- that it won't require replacement or a repair for something that can just as easily reside in a satellite or cable receiver in my A/V rack.

    Not to mention the fact that, if I DO have a service plan that will fix it, I run the risk of sending off my nice $3000+ HDTV to someplace that may F--- it up in transit or during repairs, or, based on stories about Best Buy service plans, not come back for 3-4 months. The TV should stay put, and keeping it simple -- without all this extra crap built in -- is the safer bet, I say.

    Or at least make it a modular add-on to the back of the TV that can be purchased for a reasonable price and, thus, replaced if broken at a reasonable price.

    IronChefMorimoto
    • Where did you get the 46h84 for anything close to $1000, delivered or otherwise?
      • Best Buy -- they friggin' raise/lower the price every week, sometimes 2-3 times. The week before I bought it, it was listed at retail of $1399 on the BB website. $1499 or something higher in store. The week I bought it, it was still retail online, but it was $1098 before $40 delivery fee. This past weekend (2 weeks later), it was up to $1599 in the store.

        The pricing fluctuations are NUTS!

        IronChefMorimoto
    • Anyway, my conversation with my boss got me thinking...what happens when the CableCard slot shorts out or fails after the first year of warranty coverage?

      This is basically equivalent to, "What if the tuner on my TV craps out after the warranty runs out?" The answer is the same: Pay to get it fixed, or buy/rent a set-top box/tuner that sends it's signal to your TV via a video port. Only now you'll have a choice of set-top boxes: the one the cable company provides, or competing cable-card equipped set-top b
    • Or at least make it a modular add-on to the back of the TV

      That's exactly what the cable card is. And your fear of the cable card slot failing is one of the reasons that they don't do that very often. The connector for a modular add-on is far more likely to break than a solid state device. And if your modular add-on is, say, a memory card reader with physical connections being made and broken, that simply gives TWO highly likely points of failure instead of one.

      Additionally, the cable card slot is not

  • TiVo's letter to the FCC regarding the CableCARD (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Thomas Hawk ( 796343 ) on Friday January 21, 2005 @04:27PM (#11436066)
    TiVo submitted a letter to the FCC this week suggesting that cable operators are not doing enough to promote the CableCARD and are not inclined to promote it, especially the more advanced cards which allow dual tuners. TiVo argues that it is not in the cable operators economic interest to promote them and that the cable companies are trying to completely control their access, guides and channels to the detriment of competitors like TiVo. http://thomashawk.com/2005/01/tivos-letter-to-fcc- and-will-microsoft.html [thomashawk.com]
  • Home theater enthusiast care about quality and that is why it is actually a GOOD option to have. High end HDTV sets are selling with the slots right now because it allows the owner to bypass the set-top box which is usually NOT as capable as the scalars, decoder, etc. within the television. Not to mention taking one more piece of equipment out of the loop makes for a stronger, better signal. All this is highly noticeable when viewing SD analog content. If I spend thousands of dollars for my television
  • Googling around [google.com] discovers it is a PCMCIA [hdtvexpert.com] device. And the quote is CableCARD is coming to a PCMCIA slot near you.

    My nearest PCMCIA slot is on the left side of my notebook. So, when do I finally get to watch TV on my laptop?

    --Mike--

  • What I would like to see is simply, a digital VCR.

    That is a box with Tivo like features in terms of pausing live TV, but otherwise can act just like a VCR that happens to store recordings on the HD. I don't care about "season pass" style features, or at least could do without.

    It would be nice not to have to pay a monthly fee for a guide service, and I have no need of PPV or VOD so really just being able to handily record TV (especially HDTV) without tapes is a high priority for me.

    The HP "hub" sounded l
    • What I would like to see is simply, a digital VCR....

      Several companies are coming out with them. Sony already announced the DHG-HDD500.

      What I'd really like to see is a CableCard adaptor that would plug into the FireWire port on the Mac Mini.

      This probably won't be allowed because the mini doesn't have enough DRM.
    • What I would like to see is simply, a digital VCR.That is a box with Tivo like features in terms of pausing live TV, but otherwise can act just like a VCR that happens to store recordings on the HD. I don't care about "season pass" style features, or at least could do without.

      If this is all you want, you can probably have it now. Most cable companies are now offering such a product. They generally don't have the fancy TiVo features like being able to track a show if it changes time, automatically resolve
      • Again, why should I pay more per month for that? That's why I like the CableCard concept that I can plug into other devices of my choosing. As the other poster noted, some are coming out.

        Now, the real question is if Dish in any way supports the Cable Card concept.
        • Again, why should I pay more per month for that? That's why I like the CableCard concept that I can plug into other devices of my choosing. As the other poster noted, some are coming out.

          You'll pay more because for a lot of people DVR features add value. CableCard will give you more choice as to whether you pay the extra money up front or spread out over months as a monthly rental. However, 3rd party boxes probably won't save you money, because it is likely that CableCard based devices will be aimed for t

  • Unanswered questions (Score:2, Interesting)

    by freeze128 ( 544774 )
    OK, It's a CARD, right? A little rectangle that you can pull out of your TV and put in your shirt pocket.
    Can I pull my cablecard out of my TV, go to a friends house (who has the Same cable provider, and a cablecard ready TV) and plug in my cable card so I can watch the Channels that *I* paid for?

    I bet it wont work that easily, and that I would have to end up calling the cable support line each time. If that's the case, then WHY in gods name is the little bugger so portable? It doesn't need to be.
    • Can I pull my cablecard out of my TV, go to a friends house (who has the Same cable provider, and a cablecard ready TV) and plug in my cable card so I can watch the Channels that *I* paid for?

      Sure. Just make sure that your friend's cable is able to correctly receive the digital transponders. They are usually way above the analog channels in frequency, and if your friend's cable has been just plain 'ol basic television service (pobts?) for years, it may not be up to current spcifications. If that's the cas

  • CableCard's first function--and arguably its most important--is to prevent people from stealing cable TV.

    GREAT....

    CableCard is meant to replace set-top boxes. But it does not yet replicate all set-top box functions.

    FASCINATING.

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