One word about why I'm blogging about CableCard, and then I'll move on to re-posting two previous blog entries on the issue [with more back-ground information].
Checking last years analytics data I found that three of the four pages covering CableCard have received less than a dozen page views each for the year. I would expect a few more page views than that for a released standard, so I took notice and wondered why that was.
Here are the three CableCard pages and their visits [they differ only in pin-outs]:
S-Mode CableCard. 14 visits.
M-Mode CableCard. 13 visits.
CEA-679-Mode CableCard. 11 visits.
Blog Posting [10/5/06 CableCard]:
CableCARD from what I have found so far is a 16-bit PC Card in a PCMCIA format. CableCARD was designed to replace the cable box from the cable company; any company could produce a CableCARD from the standard so you were not locked into renting from the cable company. This was the FCC.
CableCARD appears as a PCMCIA slot on the back of HDTV sets.
Any how version 1.0 came out last year [2005] from I understand and has a few draw backs. Information only flows one-way with CableCARD. So with CableCARD you are not able to use Pay-per-view because the card only receives signals from the cable company it does not send information out to them. Seems like a lot of people are already waiting for CableCARD 2.0 to come out to address the short comings of version 1.0.
So CableCARD from a hardware view is just another implementation of the PCMCIA card. Why they used the out-dated PC Card interface escapes me.
Blog Posting [8/27/07 CableCard]:
I was out looking at Digital TV's on-line, up-dating the web sites listing for CableCard. This is a PCMCIA slot and PCMCIA card, a tuner card that can be inserted into a slot in the TV to replace a cable set-top box. Some TV descriptions indicate the term CableCard, while others indicate Digital Cable Ready [see below]. I was only able to find a few HDTV units from Hitachi which came with a CableCard slot. I see a few from Sony too. The CableCard allows the user to plug cable directly into a TV set without the need for a set-top box [STB]. CableCard slots may also be found on Digital Video Recorders [DVR]
Version 1 of CableCard was 'one-way' only so with out the cable decoder box things like 'pay-per-view' was unavailable. Version 2 released in June of this year should be fixing this problem [I have not yet reviewed it]. As of July 07 according to an FCC ruling; cable companies now have to supply set-top boxes that come with a removable CableCard. The ruling may bring CableCard back from the dead.
Digital Cable Ready [DCR], this attribute describes a TV that incorporates a CableCARD slot to facilitate the reception of one-way digital cable content (which may include analog, digital, high-definition and/or premium programming) without the need for a set-top box. A CableCARD is typically provided for a nominal monthly fee by the cable provider. Sets may also use the term Digital Cable Turner.
So the CableCard standard was released in 2005, with only a few products available by 2007, crushed in 2009 and I assume no longer supported in any new product by 2010 [never being used by anybody]. However it is still mandated by the FCC, so they would have to change their rules.....
8 comments:
If the cable companies really wanted the consumer to get full content without a set top box it would have happened by now. I had a cablecard mall kitchen HDTV that worked great. No, I couldn't use on demand or dvr and didn't have a cable guide, but for a stealth wire free kitchen install it worked great. If you want that now, you have to by a TV made 4-5 years ago. I won't even tell you all the hoops I had to jump through just to get my cable provider to even acknowledge that they had cablecards available.
I guess I should have said that out-right; the cable companies did not support CableCard. You only have two options accept what they charge or go satellite. Same with the cell phone companies, but there is pay-as-you-go.
I'm just glad I wasn't one of those engineers working week ends to develop a CableCard implementation just to see effort walked away from.
Do I even need a "CableCard" implementation any more? My BluRay is taking to the internet right now [perhaps a bit slowly]. Why not just force the cable company to supply the required information over the internet [cable] connection?
I can't get a CableCard from Comcast unless I pay $40.00 and let them install it in my equipment, then I can rent it. The American people have been sold out by congress.
Yea I see some of that on-line. Although many of the posts I just looked were older and the price was a bit less. But, yes it does look like Comcast will charge for the visit and at least for the second Cable card.
So, I just don't see the point of CableCard at all why not just use the box.
I did just find this; .."No. After your CableCARD device is installed and activated by a cable field technician, it is "bound" to the original Digital Cable Ready TV in which it was installed. In order for your CableCARD to operate properly in another Digital Cable Ready device, the CableCARD has to be re-installed in the new device by a field technician."..
Guess that why people need a service call??
Digital cable-ready or DCR.
Interactive digital cable ready or iDCR extends DCR.
And I see that version 2.0 of CableCard was just updated [re-released] in Dec. 2009. Yes it's release #20, but still version 2.0?
5/22/10 Now I see this thing called tru2way which is called the replacement to Cablecard. I thought version 2.0 of Cablecard would be the replacement to Cablecard [rev 1].
Maybe tru2way is the new replacement to cablecard with out the need for a card at all.
As I read on I find this; "The tru2way platform, formerly known as the OpenCable Application Platform"..
It also seems that Panasonic already has an HDTV [PZ80Q series] that supports tru2way ~ maybe Cablecard is going away. However I do see this disclaimer; "Not all cable systems are compatible with this feature". But not being compatible was the big issue with Cablecard all along. Anyway it indicates that tru2way is full two-way interactive, with no need for a cable box.
5/22/10 On a separate topic, I checked Google Webmaster tools for the keyword Cablecard.
Google indicates that this Cablecard blog posting showed up in a Google search over 1000 times over the last 30 days. The link was only clicked on 22 times, but that's another story. By comparison the web site page covering CableCard showed up less than 10 times [less than 10 impressions]. So for some reason this blog post shows up in a Google search 100 times more often then the CableCARD web page.
1-5-10; The FCC came out with some new rules for Cablecard in Oct 2010, but there was not much technical stuff... have the installer come out with the correct Cablecard, that it works, tell people how much it costs and so on.
So even as the FCC indicates this standard is doomed, they're still pushing CableCard until its replacement comes out. I assume the replacement to cable card would either be tru2way, or AllVid. However support for tru2way seems to have disappeared, and it's a bit soon to say what will happen to AllVid. In fact the term 'AllVid' does not really come up on the FCC site except as a single word with no supporting data.
http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2010/db1014/FCC-10-181A1.pdf
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