Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category Time Warner CableCARD Fix On The Way
Company finally offers free SDV adapters in Austin, more markets in December...
10:57AM Tuesday Nov 04 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: Video · business · hardware · alternatives · cable · networking
Time Warner Cable has aggressively been deploying switched digital video (SDV), a technology that conserves network bandwidth by holding unwatched channels at the edge router. Unfortunately, the upgrades to the two-way technology have crippled one way CableCARDs for many customers, something that recently resulted in a $40,000 FCC fine for the company, who is now forcing annoyed customers to use TWC cable boxes if they want a full digital lineup. Light Reading says that the cable company has finally made adapters available (for free) in their Austin, Texas market, and expects a broader deployment of the technology to occur in December.

Related:
  1. Cablevision Loses Network DVR Case
  2. Cablevision To Appeal DVR Ruling
  3. Cable's Answer to AppleTV?
  4. Sling Media Takes On The Cable Modem
  5. CableLabs To Test SDV, TiVO Adapter
  6. Comcast To Deploy Femtocells
  7. AT&T's 2G Customers See A Downgrade
  8. DOCSIS 3.0 Gets Faster
Forums » Time Warner CableCARD Fix On The Way
view: topics flat text 
Post a:
magnushsi

join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI

Cablecards are not 1 way...

For clarification again....there are NO one-way cable cards, just one way hosts...

FYI - Many TW sites have the tuning adapters and are just finishing their internal testing before releasing them.
socrplyr

join:2008-03-25
Canton, OH

Re: Cablecards are not 1 way...

While your statement is true. CableLabs will not certify a two-way host, so effectively the standard is one-way.
magnushsi

join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI

Re: Cablecards are not 1 way...

As excellently noted below, that is not an accurate statement.
MichaelWacey
Premium
join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS

This shows how little the cable industry understands

My goal is to make TV watching simple. I like the idea of cable cards because I do not need the silly cable box. With SDV, I can get a cable card and no cable box but I need a box for SDV. This is pathetic. Why can't they come up with a scheme where the cable comes out of the wall, plugs into my TV, and I can watch what I want. Too bad they do not understand their customers.
magnushsi

join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI

Re: This shows how little the cable industry understands

There are a few ways to look at it. The cable co's are actually are trying to help the customers by giving them more HD content. But unfortuneatly technology precludes some of that more without change.

You could actually blame the TV manufacturers for not supporting every form of cable technology. Now that's not very realistic either. But if the TV or Tivo supported 2 way, SDV could be supported.

I think as with everything, you have to look at the "greater good" as a whole. Right now cablecard customers are an extreme minority. Why? Well thats argueable as well, but cable co's are trying to make the most customer base happy, or at least content while they compete with satellite or in some areas FIOS/U-Verse.

It's unfortuneate that some customer bases have to suffer, but that's kind of like everything that progresses in the world.
socrplyr

join:2008-03-25
Canton, OH

Re: This shows how little the cable industry understands

I think the original poster meant that why can't there be a standard two-way device, like the CableCard spec does for one-way. Note, I am talking about the FCC mandated CableCard spec, which does not allow for two-way devices. I fully understand that an actual CableCard can support two-way, but as I mentioned above, such a device would not be certified by CableLabs.

MacLeech
The one and only
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-14
SoCal


edit:
November 4th, @12:59PM

This article shows how often the CableCARD issue is misreported.

The 2-way CableLabs spec is OpenCable: »opencable.com/ CableCARDs are just part of it. The spec is a couple years old.

For consumer marketing it was rebranded tru2way late last year: »www.tru2way.com/

More info here:
»www.ncta.com/IssueBrief.aspx?contentId=4272

CableLabs has certified several (6 according to the list) OpenCable devices over the last couple of years, but until recently none of the manufacturers released them to retail. Here's the list of CableLabs certified UDCP/OpenCable devices:
»www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf

That list doesn't include the cable boxes made by Cisco, Motorola, Panasonic, and Samsung that are designed to be OpenCable compatible but are not certified yet.

Panasonic released a couple of tru2way TVs to retail last month:
»www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/17/pa···icago-r/

Steve
ho ho ho dammit
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA

Re: This shows how little the cable industry understands

Ok, so what's the reason Tivo doesn't support two-way?

* They just didn't do the work?
* They aren't allowed to make it work?
* They won't get it approved?
--
Stephen J. Friedl | Unix Wizard | Microsoft Security MVP | Tustin, California USA | my web site

MacLeech
The one and only
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-14
SoCal


edit:
November 4th, @12:46PM

Re: This shows how little the cable industry understands

It's still in development and is known as the Tivo Series 4:
»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6506184.html

Apparently they were waiting for the fight between the CEA endorsed DCR+ and the CableLabs OpenCable to be decided before they started designing a 2-way box:
»www.lightreading.com/document.as···d=132578

Too bad by the time Tivo decided which to follow, most cable companies had already deployed THOUSANDS of OpenCable boxes (due to the FCC integrated security ban):
»www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/17/ti···ard-2-0/

n2jtx

join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
·Optimum Online


edit:
November 4th, @01:06PM

said by MichaelWacey See Profile :

Why can't they come up with a scheme where the cable comes out of the wall, plugs into my TV, and I can watch what I want. Too bad they do not understand their customers.
Actually I have wondered something similar for a while but in a different format. Granted you cannot have ClearQAM for all of the channels since customers have to pay for the premium channels. What I would like to know is why a cable box could not be developed that sits between the cable feed into the house and the house wiring. This box would either have a CableCard in it or be a traditional box with a SmartCard. The box would decrypt all channels the subscriber is entitled to watch and rebroadcast those channels to the house side in ClearQAM. It would require some horsepower but probably not beyond the current technology. This would at least allow subscribers to hook up any number of their TV's in their house without incurring the monthly rental charges and per-outlet fees (oops, maybe I just answered my own question )

MacLeech
The one and only
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-14
SoCal


edit:
November 4th, @01:41PM

Re: This shows how little the cable industry understands

There is a whole home solution (TeraPIX by BroadLogic) that can bolt to the side of the house, but unit costs, installation costs, and in-home signal distribution problems are big enough issues to prevent any cable companies from rolling it out.

It's just easier and cheaper to slap a box on every TV that needs it and handle a couple channels at a time.

To rebroadcast everything in the clear you would need some serious hardware to handle hundreds of channels. You're talking a headend in a box and even the TeraPIX doesn't do all of what you want. It just converts select tiers of digital channels (not all of them) to analog and it doesn't keep them digital, remux them, or rebroadcast them as QAM channels.

P.S. ClearQAM (as opposed to encrypted QAM) is a misnomer as it's not the QAM channel that's encrypted. It's the MPEG streams on the QAM channel that are encrypted. That means the QAM channel has to received, demodulated, (possible MPEGs demuxed), and then the MPEG stream can be decrypted.

TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast

said by n2jtx See Profile :

said by MichaelWacey See Profile :

Why can't they come up with a scheme where the cable comes out of the wall, plugs into my TV, and I can watch what I want. Too bad they do not understand their customers.
Actually I have wondered something similar for a while but in a different format. Granted you cannot have ClearQAM for all of the channels since customers have to pay for the premium channels. What I would like to know is why a cable box could not be developed that sits between the cable feed into the house and the house wiring. This box would either have a CableCard in it or be a traditional box with a SmartCard. The box would decrypt all channels the subscriber is entitled to watch and rebroadcast those channels to the house side in ClearQAM. It would require some horsepower but probably not beyond the current technology. This would at least allow subscribers to hook up any number of their TV's in their house without incurring the monthly rental charges and per-outlet fees (oops, maybe I just answered my own question )
Good idea. But, it won't make everyone happy because most TVs still don't support QAM. Though going forward that would be an excellent way to not need more than 1 box per household.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?
Joe12345678

join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

said by n2jtx See Profile :

said by MichaelWacey See Profile :

Why can't they come up with a scheme where the cable comes out of the wall, plugs into my TV, and I can watch what I want. Too bad they do not understand their customers.
Actually I have wondered something similar for a while but in a different format. Granted you cannot have ClearQAM for all of the channels since customers have to pay for the premium channels. What I would like to know is why a cable box could not be developed that sits between the cable feed into the house and the house wiring. This box would either have a CableCard in it or be a traditional box with a SmartCard. The box would decrypt all channels the subscriber is entitled to watch and rebroadcast those channels to the house side in ClearQAM. It would require some horsepower but probably not beyond the current technology. This would at least allow subscribers to hook up any number of their TV's in their house without incurring the monthly rental charges and per-outlet fees (oops, maybe I just answered my own question )
Just trun that in to a full home DRV and put mini boxes at each tv.

luckykevin

join:2005-04-30
Arlington, TX
·RoadRunner Cable

time warner dallas 2 way cable cards and no sdv

twc dallas was smart they went from 750mhz to 870mhz systems

and now are adding channels above 750mhz
travel hd
team hd
game hd
disney hd
espnu hd
espn news hd
abc family hd
toon disney hd
cbs college sports hd
lifetime movie net hd
halmark movie net hd
bio hd
science hd
tlc hd
fox news hd
fox business hd
fx hd
mgm hd
the weather chsnnel hd
golf hd

in addition to the first eleven they added ealier this year.
tbs hd
cnn hd
fsn hd
food net hd
hgtv hd
golf/versus hd
discovery hd
animal planet hd
nat geo hd
a&e hd
history hd

all available on cablecard devices.
Forums » Time Warner CableCARD Fix On The Way


Friday, 09-Jan 07:41:25 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 9 years online! © 1999-2009 dslreports.com.republican-creole