[opendtv] Sony, six cable companies adopt two-way CableCARD tech

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 12:20:47 -0400

This is what Michael Powell was trying to make happen. This should also
work with so-called switched video.

It seems inevitable that other companies will also sign on, and will
then also have a voice in the evolution of this standard.

Bert

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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080527-sony-six-cable-companies-a
dopt-two-way-cablecard-tech.html

Sony, six cable companies adopt two-way CableCARD tech
By Nate Anderson | Published: May 27, 2008 - 10:05PM CT

CableCARD technology has always faced a major adoption hurdle. While the
cards themselves can handle two-way communication, TVs and set-top boxes
were unable to use them for anything beyond one-way traffic. The lack of
video on demand services and electronic program guides (to say nothing
of the problems this posed for switched digital video) meant that
CableCARD solutions were generally inferior to the boxes provided by the
local cable company. Until now.

In what is something of an armistice between the consumer electronics
business (the people who make the TVs) and the cable business (the
people who stream content to those TVs), Sony and six major US cable
operators have inked a memorandum of understanding to use the Java-based
tru2way technology. Combined with a CableCARD for decryption, the system
will make two-way cable products practical, something that could cripple
the existing set-top box market. And we know just how much you loved
that set-top box.

Tru2way: Bad name, good idea

Tru2way is the rebranded name for an initiative hatched years ago at the
cable industry's CableLabs research consortium. It's a middleware stack
that will be included directly in televisions and other consumer devices
that make use of cable programming, and it offers a common system for
application development (cable companies can download apps like
electronic programming guides into the device).

Yup, you still need it Because apps are downloaded into consumer devices
and run locally, it should be simple for cable operators to roll out
features like games, web-type services such as online backing through
the TV, e-mail access, even caller ID on the TV screen. ("Honey, the TV
crashed again!")

The new agreement between Sony and the cable companies means that all
have agreed to adopt the system and roll it out within a designated
timeframe. It also gives consumer electronics companies like Sony input
at CableLabs, a key part of the deal. The companies can now shape the
development of tru2way rather than having the standard imposed on them,
to cable's benefit.

The agreement will be expanded to other consumer electronics makers who
want to sign on. While companies like Panasonic have previously
announced support for tru2way, that deal was only between Panasonic and
Comcast. Getting Cox, Time Warner, Comcast, Charter, Cablevision, and
Bright House onboard should go a long way toward making tru2way a
plug-and-play national standard for digital television.

Boucher likes it

Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA) has been a pro-consumer tech voice in
Congress and a long-time critic of the DMCA, and he applauded the
agreement today. "I congratulate Sony and the major cable operators for
achieving consensus on a set of core principles that will speed the
introduction of new two-way plug-and-play devices," he said. "With this
groundbreaking compromise, these industry-leading companies and other
major cable companies will ensure that consumers will have broader
access to innovative competitive cable ready navigation devices from
commercial retailers and will have expanded options to enjoy cable
programming, including video on demand and other interactive programming
options."

Rep. Rick Boucher The "compromise" Boucher is referring to is the
adoption of the cable-built tru2way system; consumer electronics
companies had been petitioning the FCC to force the cable companies to
standardize and open their protocols for digital two-way services so
that the consumer electronics firms could be in charge of designing the
interfaces on their devices.

One possible downside of the news: the official announcement notes that
the system will "protect consumers' home recording rights along with
copyright owners' rights to secure their digital content." We'll have to
wait and see how that last bit works itself out.

While the move means that digital cable could soon become as
plug-and-play as analog cable was (and is, I suppose), it will be quite
some time before the much-loathed set-top box vanishes. If the move to
digital over-the-air broadcasting has already showed us one thing, it's
that people hang onto their TVs a looooong time. Two-way services will
only work on new, tru2way-equipped TVs; older sets, even those with
CableCARDs, are out of luck.
 
 
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