Rumors of CableCards Demise

[Audioholics]

<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/CableCARDdemise.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 66px; HEIGHT: 100px" alt=[CableCard1] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/CableCard1_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A> Two years ago CableCard was going to release Cable TV subscribers from the bondage of the set top box and provide freedom to digital Cable aware devices like HTPC. A recent story in the New York Times expressed that CableCard is dead. In the words of Richard Doherty researcher from the Envisioneering Group: "The CableCard is essentially dead, It will go down in history like the Edsel." The numbers speak of a technology in decline. Is CableCARD gone, or could there be a resurrection?

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[ironlung]

I think I need a new hobby.

 

[techigirl78]

For me it just wasn't an option. I like having my guide and ordering various events via pay per view. Having a cable card would remove these options and wasn't really viable when I setup my system.

 

[ned]

This would be a big blow to HTPC user who wants to record and archive progarms. I would also need a new hobby!

 

[Wayde Robson]

I think Clint hits the nail on the head in the last paragraph. But the exact reasons Clint states are not only why the consumer is reluctant to adopt CC but also why the Cable providers are dragging their feet. All those interactive features are more revenue streams.

Another problem not mentioned in the article - hell, I could write a diatribe on the troubled short life of the great idea that is CC that rivals a Dostoyevsky novel in tragedy and verbosity - the quick succession of versions. CC then CC 2.0 was quickly adopted now CC2.0 is all but dead with OpenCard on the horizon.

Maybe the technology simply isn't suited for a hard slot on a digital TV. Maybe it's better suited to be a slot built onto a disposable card for on a PC bus like another LAN card for instance? What about a FireWire or USB peripheral? Maybe we're not looking for a "CableCard" at all, we're just looking for a way to mobilize our media, which has its own built in set of opponents.

Maybe we need to think outside the card. (groan)

Okay, okay, 2 minutes for illegal use of a marketing cliché

 

[JonBaker99]

Woah wait people were actually using CableCard?!?!?! And it worked? Huh.

CableCard is dead. The world yawns and goes back to watching programming through their digital box.

 

[ironlung]

consumer electronics are a joke right now!

Woah wait people were actually using CableCard?!?!?! And it worked? Huh.

CableCard is dead. The world yawns and goes back to watching programming through their digital box.

I guess I was the only one wanting to buy a tivo series 3 and a digital cable tuner for my HTPC( and actually get something other than OTA HD ).


How screwed is Tivo on this???? Maybe thats why there so mum on a release date over at tivocommunity. I would not mind using the comcast DVR if it wasn't such a POS. 10 hours of HD is not enough and they do not support adding or enlarging the storage. It's repeat recording is a roll of the dice. Search functions are a joke compared to tivo. I'm sure Comcast tivo will be as crippled as the Direct tivo as far as feature set; no HME, no MRV, no tivotogo, no tivotogoback unless your a linux guru and hack the crap out of it. I will not even mention all it's bugs.


Hey CE industry!!!! The cash is burning a hole in my pocket!!! Don't you want it!!!

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Since I'm already paying $150/month for a DVR-cablebox (plus cable & high speed internet), I see no reason to downgrade. DVR is the only reason I get to watch TV at all.

 

[rgriffin25]

There are Manufacturers that are already pulling away from cable cards. Check the new JVC HD-ILA sets NO cable card. I have the misfortune of helping our customers who want to use the card deal with the cable company. I think the only person to blame for this is the cable company. Un-educated tech support both in the field and on the phone.

Just because you get the cable card doesn't mean you lose all functionality. I know Sony has a DVR box that accepts cable card and uses TV guide. Some of LG's plasmas and LCDs have the interactive guide and DVR built in. So in essence you don't lose a thing, except the extra $13 a month the cable company charges for their DVR.

In a recent LG training course, half of the day was spent on the cable card. I will say it has been easier getting results from the cable company now that I have been educated on the matter.

I won't be losing any sleep if the cable card technology is eliminated. I will say that I think it is a shame that it was so short lived.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I think CableCard is a phenomenal idea that still needs some tweaking and should be setup with things like DirecTVCard and DishCard. The future is all about the HTPC as far as I can tell. Not as much a 'PC' as a set top box all-in-one appliance. Download movies, listen to music, surf the web... Well, most PCs can do that now. But, what they can't do is act as a proper DVR type device for ALL your cable channels or ALL your satellite channels. Integrate all that into a single unit, and then let people choose the type of 'card' to go into the box... now we're talkin'!

I think a big issue is that instead of CableCard being the defacto standard, the major players (Motorola/Sci. Atlanta) are still using hardware based boxes. Why not use CableCard 2.0 type technology within the boxes and at every level? A lack of training, support, and any push towards CableCard will be a sure way to get it to die.

Very sad IMO.

 

[Wayde Robson]

I agree with you BMXTrix, but there is one big thing standing in the way ... here comes a rant - enter at your own risk.

Like most technological development from aerospace, agriculture, medicine and especially consumer electroncis - there are two things

What's possible IE what can be done

What really happens what the legal, economic forces that be will allow.

Now, I'm not going conspiratorial on you here. But in world where pieces of our human genome are being patented thereby being owned by a corporation that has all legal rights to any procedure that incorporates that strand of our DNA. We've come a long way from the days when medical science was all about discovery and sharing the information for the benifit of mankind.

A legal collective like NTP can hold a patent that holds a whole realm of technologies hostage.

I won't try to pretend I know anything about aroespace technology but there sure are a lot of stuff that breaks being sent out. Personally I think the exploration and eventual colonization of space is our primary mission in this current phase of our technical evolution. We humans only have so much time on this planet. Forget global warming or any political bias toward the environment. We're due for an asteroid, some random climatic change (whether you believe it's caused by us or not)

I don't know what the answer is but I think we need a lot more of what's possible and a little less of the stuff getting in the way.

 

[davidwjohnson]

CableCard 2.0 - Good Article

Here is a link to an interesting article on CableCard 2.0

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71682-0.html?tw=wn_technology_6