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Cable Industry to Standardize Under Tru2Way
smooth wombat writes "In a move to stave off the FCC, cable operators have now agreed upon one standard to allow TVs and other gear that will work regardless of cable provider. This standard should allow the development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network. The core of the matter is this: there are tvs and other devices which can receive digital programming but cannot talk back to the network. As a result, subscribers must rent out boxes from cable companies. This new standard should, in theory, do away with having to rent a box. There are two downsides to this standard. First, Sony has not signed onto the cable industry's idea and second, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to put forth a proposal for a more open and competitive environment using a completely different standard."
Now remind me how that turned out.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Though the proffered reason this is happening is because of FCC pressure, I wonder that the real reason for this isn't advertiser interest in seeing an end to electronic babel. With every major cable system using (effectively) proprietary hardware, detailed viewing habit data acquisition is difficult or at least complex. I would be very interested to see what kind of information will be shipped back to the provider end, and when. For instance, if you watch a time-delayed show on your DVR does it rat on you when you fast-forward past the commercials? That has to be valuable to advertisers by itself, and getting it in a uniform format regardless of provider would be helpful, too.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Does that mean MythTV could get its channel and program guide direct from the cable feed?
UNIX/Linux Consulting
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
> FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to put forth a proposal for a more open
> and competitive environment using a completely different standard
Like the way we now have a separate HDTV standard than everyone else in the world because they advocated a NTSC replacement even though the existing European standard was perfectly fine?
Perhaps they mean "standard" as in "Imperial Weights and Measures"? It's the "Imperial" part that always ends up being a problem.
Maury
Tru2Way is the new name for what was formerly "OpenCable," the standard which is not open as you need to register with CableLabs and sign an NDA just to see many of the specifications.
The protocol involves a sophisticated DRM system which can allow content providers to dictate which content you are allowed to move or copy and when (see section 6, Security, of the OpenCable Unidirectional Reciever Specification, OC-SP-OCUR-I04-060622).
I'm guessing "Tru2Rape" was just too truthful of a name for them to use.
Why do I want my appliances talking back to any service provider? I value my privacy and I don't want my TV reporting my viewing habits any more than I want a smart fridge reporting my eating habits.
What's wrong with the push method of content distribution? I am skeptical as to what value this really adds to my viewing experience. I get the feeling its not about improving the user's experience at all, but more for gathering data on viewing habits to better price advertising time. I guess I'm at a loss as to what compelling technical problem this solves. The only thing the article really mentions is a lack of standardization for how these devices can acheive 2 way communication, but it never states why that is even necessary.
How is it that an FCC chairman that wants a MORE OPEN standard constitutes a downside?
Why should we have to buy a TV with multiple tuners, picture in picture, dual channel viewing and all sorts of neat capabilities and then be mugged by the cable companies on the way to watch the ball game?
Cable card http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD was supposed to eliminate this, but the cable companies refused the ability to get channel guide info for sets using cable cards.
Personally, I think the FCC should outlawt cable companies from selling set top boxes PERIOD. Take the revenue out of their hands and standards would be adhered to, third parties would arrive, guide info would magically appear on the internet, and every thing would be much more consumer friendly. Mandate only cable card and free the strangle hold. Everybody will be buying a new TV in the next four years anyway, the time is ripe.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
As usual, kickass technology is hobbled by greedy little shits who want to make sure you have to lease all of your content through them, in perpetuity.
It would have been impressive if it were competing with devices that came out in 2003 and 2004 that did exactly the same thing except without the blessings of the cable companies.
Instead of devices that further lock you into one provider, I think that cable companies should be forced to come up with ways to allow their subscribers to get the content they have recorded onto their devices easily -- no reformatting, no slow downloading (TiVo via wifi), etc.
They want to have lock-in permitted by the government? Well, we should get something in return other than higher rates and ever shittier service.
I believe that Chairman Kevin Martin calls it "No TV left behind".
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Why is building this stuff into a television a good idea? Even if the money grubbing cable companies weren't all about screwing you with their prices, what happens when new legit tech does get created? I'm forced to buy a new tv?
This is just 2-way cablecard, aka Cablecard 2.0, aka Open Cable, rebranded with yet another name. It's all a marketing gimmick designed to shake off the negative connotations attached to CableCard and its failure in the marketplace at the hands of the cable companies. These still aren't the droids you're looking for.
I think every cable customer who has every had to use a shitty digital cable tuner for any period of time knows that they suck mightily. They're some of the worst consumer electronics products put into wide release in the last decade. They have horrible user interfaces, they're slow to change channels, they're riddled with banner ads slapped on every spare square inch of screen real estate, they feature glacial channel guides, and are plagued by forgetful DVRs. The list of ways in which cable boxes suck goes on and on, but cable customers have put up with it because they didn't have a choice.
Really, the customer wants to be able to do the same things with digital cable that they were able to do with analog cable back in the 90's. Namely:
10 years and an act of Congress later, Cablecard was supposed to do give us all of the above, but the implementations have been so intentionally broken by the cable companies that it's basically useless. Cable companies have intentionally made the experience of using a cablecard-equipped PC with Windows Media Center (a fine device, whatever Slashdot's biases) or a cablecard-equipped Tivo a complete nightmare. Purchasers have to put up with broken installs, untrained technicians, and then once everything is set up, the system is so fragile that without notice the devices just Stop Working for days at a time, and often don't resume function until hours are spent on the phone with Comcast support. Users of WMC or TivoHD also lose access to PPV and On-Demand, even though they still have to pay the cable company for access to those features, and any channels that are deployed on a new back-end technology called SDV are inaccessible as well. Current WMC PC's and cablecard Tivo's are already obsolete, not 2 years into their product lifespan. CableCard is a lousy deal, and the cable companies have gone out of their way to make sure it remains a lousy deal, because the last thing they want to do is open up their network to competition.
CableCard 2.0, or 2-way cablecard, or OpenCable, or (now) True2Way, or whatever they call it, is supposed to be a panacea. These devices will allow 2-way communications with the cable company's network, and let you buy any cable box you want, complete with ppv and on-demand and SDV. But here's the rub: They use a technology called OCAP, with is four-letter-acronym for "Whatever box you buy will download and run the cable company's shitty software in a sandboxed virtual machine, and the box provider can offer no features above and beyond what is deployed by the cable company." There is no real competition under the OCAP model, because when plugged into the cable network and activated, the boxes will all be EXACTLY THE SAME. Maybe they can compete on hard disk space, but that'll be about it. You want a Tivo or WMC interface? If your cable company doesn't offer one (for the low low price of $15 a month, but did I mention that our standard cable box interface is free!) then you're screwed. You want an interface that isn't covered in banner ads? Good luck with that. The cable company remains the keyholder to the gates of the network, and there's no chance in hell they'll open up.
All this announcement means is that y
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
You do, actually. Because otherwise some channels will simply not work any more. One-way communication means all channels are broadcasted _at once_. And your card has means to decode channels A through M (but not N through Z, even though the feed is there). Now with switching video they only broadcast channels that are presently in use (A,E,L...), so in order to watch channel D your box/card/device has to be able to talk back to the node and say "I'd like channel D now" to which it gets back "Ok, it's on digital channel 1342.1" and magically that particular channel is assigned feed from D for some amount of time, after which it will be reused.
That way cable company can offer you virtually unlimited number of channels even though the bandwidth is limited (and in worst case scenario they only need one channel per each consumer's device). Time Warner already started to move some channels to this delivery system, therefore if you have a cable card and you want to see one of those "small" channels you are out of luck. And if you have "digital cable compatible TV" then you may see some channels that keep on switching content.
So yes, you do want a two way communication, even if you never use Video on Demand.
Hyperom.com
I already have an AnyPlay. It's called a "laptop".
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.