Two-way Cable Cards Ushered in by Sony

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admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
This just in from the "better-late-than-never" department: Sony has negotiated a deal to allow for itself and other television manufacturers to integrate two-way CableCARD technology into television sets. This new technology (which should have been announced, perfected, and released years ago) is dubbed "tru2way" and finally brings two-way technology to the completely stalled, but now mandatory, CableCARD revolution. To-date, the problem with CableCARDS has been that they lacked two-way communication - meaning they lacked program guides, Pay-Per-View, on-demand, interactivity, and any of the many other features that make cable set-top boxes work. All that is about to end and Sony has apparently helped usher in the future of the advanced two-way technology.


Discuss "Two-way Cable Cards Ushered in by Sony" here. Read the article.
 
GlocksRock

GlocksRock

Audioholic Spartan
Is it really even worth bothering to continue to invest in cablecard technology? How many people actually use those anyway?
 
bandphan

bandphan

Banned
Is it really even worth bothering to continue to invest in cablecard technology? How many people actually use those anyway?
me, and the hang up is vod, and comcast sucks arse and will not move forward with 2 way on their end. Cable Card is nice since you do not have the box to interfer with the processing, and allow a good display to handle it;)
 
1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
Is it really even worth bothering to continue to invest in cablecard technology? How many people actually use those anyway?
I use one in my Tivo-HD.

Guide? Tivo has it's own guide.

On-Demand? I could care less about, but I still have a standard digital box for that. The digital box is free and the cablecard only cost $3.95 a month. Sure I can not get HD On-Demand but it's not like they could stream an HD movie any way without frequent macro-blocking and sound dropouts. I think in three years of On-Demand availability we have watched less than ten movies. Mainly because the selection sucks and it's hard to find a movie worth paying $2.99 to watch.

With Tivo I never even think about On-Demand as all my favorite shows are already on demand.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I think the biggest thing is stand alone DVRs and integrated display systems. I'm all for two-way cable cards if it means that I can get one installed into a cable box with perhaps some decent scaling on board, and one that has an expandable hard drive and rock solid HDMI output.

I would forgo the cable companies rental fees on the boxes and an integrated guide should allow the DVR to act on its own, without a monthly added feed.
 
Biggiesized

Biggiesized

Senior Audioholic
A correction for this article:

1) A common misconception is that CableCards, for the longest time, were not two-way. This is incorrect. They have always supported two-way communication. Only recently have more M-Stream (multi-stream) cards been seen on the market. An M-Stream card can handle more streams of video so you can use one in a DVR. The problem has been that televisions have lacked the necessary hardware for two-way communication via CableCards. It's never been the fault of the CableCard itself.

This is a good article to read for a better understanding of CableCards. Surprisingly, EngadgetHD gets it right.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/06/22/cablecard-2-0-is-ready/
 
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It's always been the fault of Cable Labs for not approving the use of two-way. Don't let anybody's slick spin tell you that it's the manufacturers' fault. The fact that the cards can "technically" support two-way is irrelevant. They aren't approved to do it and haven't been until now.

Whether they have to actually swap out existing cards or not is a good question. My guess is yes.
 
1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
Yes but Biggiesized has a point.

Your TV or DVR or whatever device would have to have what amounts to a cable modem built in (like a cable box does) for any type of two way communication.

A simple card swap is not going to make any currently cable-card compatible device fully functional.
 
bandphan

bandphan

Banned
Yes but Biggiesized has a point.

Your TV or DVR or whatever device would have to have what amounts to a cable modem built in for any type of two way communication, card or no card.

Cable boxes already have this.
all the new comcast boxes have "cards" built in. I use an m card with the hope of true 2 way, and in tivo s3 i install. The card ,as i stated before, will allow a good panel to receive and scale the signal better than the boxes
 
1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
all the new comcast boxes have "cards" built in. I use an m card with the hope of true 2 way, and in tivo s3 i install. The card ,as i stated before, will allow a good panel to receive and scale the signal better than the boxes
I don't understand what you are saying.

You currently have a Tivo S3 with an "M" card and you are hoping for it to be true 2-way compatible when the cards come out?

Not going to happen, least not with a card alone.

Comcast and Tivo are working on a device that will plug into the USB port on S2 and S3 Tivo's to make them compatible with SDV. This device also has the promise of making them fully On-Demand and PPV compatible, I am not sure about the guide.
 
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Hi Ho

Hi Ho

Audioholic Samurai
I don't mind cable cards as long as they make them WORK PROPERLY. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent on the phone with Comcast trying to get CableCards to work in TVs. At least I get paid to do it. :rolleyes:
 
dorokusai

dorokusai

Full Audioholic
I love the idea and look forward to ditching a box down the road. My wife won the argument for a simple Bravia for the bedroom instead of the XBR and while I won't tell her....it's probably for the best ;)

Mark
Polk Audio CS
 
yettitheman

yettitheman

Audioholic General
Funny trend:
Years ago... cable could be done without cards.. now they want to use them.
Years ago... sat was done with cards (except old C-Band... wow), now DISH and DTV have moved away from them.


Funny. :D
 
bandphan

bandphan

Banned
I don't understand what you are saying.

You currently have a Tivo S3 with an "M" card and you are hoping for it to be true 2-way compatible when the cards come out?

Not going to happen, least not with a card alone.

Comcast and Tivo are working on a device that will plug into the USB port on S2 and S3 Tivo's to make them compatible with SDV. This device also has the promise of making them fully On-Demand and PPV compatible, I am not sure about the guide.
currently using cc in my display and have installed tivoS3 with cable cards, and was hoping that comcast would impliment 2 way on the M card i currently use.
 
1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
Funny trend:
Years ago... cable could be done without cards.. now they want to use them.
Years ago... sat was done with cards (except old C-Band... wow), now DISH and DTV have moved away from them.


Funny. :D
As far as I know Dish Network and Direct TV are still using smartcards.

In reality the cable companies do not want to use them anyway, the government had to force them to.

Cable box rentals are a large source of income for cable companies, and there is that ever important "living room presence". They want you to see that Comcast logo on the box every time you look at your TV to remind you that without them your life would be dull and boring...
 
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1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
currently using cc in my display and have installed tivoS3 with cable cards, and was hoping that comcast would impliment 2 way on the M card i currently use.
Nope, as I stated before your Tivo or TV would have to already have a built in cable modem for two way communications.
 
Hi Ho

Hi Ho

Audioholic Samurai
10010011 said:
As far as I know Dish Network and Direct TV are still using smartcards.
My Dish DVR doesn't have a card in it. I also have not seen cards in any new Dish or DirecTV receivers I have installed for customers.
 
1

10010011

Senior Audioholic
My Dish DVR doesn't have a card in it. I also have not seen cards in any new Dish or DirecTV receivers I have installed for customers.
My brother has Direct TV and still has a card in his receiver. I also know people with Dish Network that have cards in them too.

I believe the past has shown them how easy the smart cards were to defeat so they have been moving to a lease the box not own it system.

These boxes have a card embedded inside someplace, or the "card guts" are just built in.
 
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