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Sony Introduces Passage

Posted by Hemos on from the making-the-world-work dept.

UncleCrispy writes "Sony, a newcomer in the cable industry announced its new technology, Passage, on the opening day of the BroadBand Plus Show to the receptive ears of the cable community. "Sony's Passage Technology is a simple, elegant solution that allows equipment from multiple vendors to peacefully co-exist on legacy digital CATV networks" Now you won't be stuck with the SetTopBox your cable provider forces on you, but with Passage you should be able to go to the store and buy any box you want. If you want a DVR box, you can buy it, and you'll no longer be stuck with the rental fees. Sounds like it's a good deal for the cable providers and consumers, but how will current SetTopBox monopolies take the news?"

3 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. rental fees ain't bad. by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    hmm my cablemodem costs $100.00 in the stores. my rental fee is $5.00 a month. I have had the cable modem die twice in 2 years and they replaced it for free because I was renting it while my neighbor had to go buy a new one from the store..

    I figure that I'm way ahead of the game because I rented. and next year when the Cable company changes a few things and requires a change in the calbe modems, I get a free one while he has to buy another modem...

    what's the advantage of owning your cable equipment again?

    BTW, I had my digital cable box replaced once in the past 2 years also...

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. Perhaps I'm missing something... by Blacklaw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...but it sounds similar to something we've already got here in the UK. When ITVDigital went bust, the old set-top boxes could still receive the 'free-to-air' digital channels, such as BBC4 and ITV2. To get more people to switch on (no pun intended) to digital television, the Government (who are talking about switching off the old analogue system sometime in 2004) told set-top manufacturers to make more of these old boxes.

    The result is that you can buy FreeView boxes for £100 which pick up around thirty digital channels - without paying a subscription fee. And it's not just a BBC monopoly - any broadcaster who shoves out a free-to-air digital channel can be picked up on a FreeView box.

    I dunno, I'm probably missing something incredibly clever that Sony have done to make this 'new'.

    -Blacklaw

  3. Flashback by 1stflight · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm remembering how a Sony exec once said they'd "firewall file trading at your PC". And I can't help but wonder if this is somehow part of that ?

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    3000 dead over past 2 years, still no free Palestinians, still