As it turns out, the CableCARD itself is capable of two-way services like VOD and EPG (Electronic Program Guide). However, the industry has not yet settled on the way two-way HOST devices should work. A host device is a TV or in this case a TiVo. For TiVo users the EPG is part of the TiVo system, so you really only miss the VOD features. The industry calls these one-way devices OpenCable Unidirectional Receivers (OCUR), which you may occasionally see in literature.
Timing for the two-way agreement is probably about a year. Mfrs will then have to update their software, etc., before consumers see it. TiVo has managed to get an agreement with CableLabs to work with two-way digital cable systems in a way that retains much of the TiVo features, yet works with two-way services like VOD. In the meantime, if you live in a few selected areas you can get a subset of the TiVo service directly from Comcast or Cox. The TiVo software is downloaded into the set top box (STB) that you have now for digital cable/DVR service (e.g. Motorola STB). This service will also be rolling out, but it costs subscribers a bit more per month. Also waiting in the wings is Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS). This system eliminates the need for the CableCARD. Everything is built into the TV or DVR. This is also timed for about a year from now. DCAS was supposed to have been defined by 2007, but it has taken longer to get there. Best Regards, Gary Sasaki digdia <http://digdia.com> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Kearney Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 7:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [TiVo Central] Cablecard Comcast limitation > Anyone care to comment about this apparent Cablecard limitation? CableCards are DEcoders. They take an inbound signal and convert it for display locally. Services like pay-per-view and video on demand depend on bi-directional traffic, signals have to go BACK to the cable company. That's beyond the scope of a decoder like CableCard. As such there's nothing wrong with the cablecard concept. Times and technology have changed since the inception of the CableCard idea and things like VoD and PPV are part of that evolution. It's reasonable to assume that future generations of cablecard-type devices will evolve to support new features like VOD and PPV. Personally there's never been anything on TV I've ever needed to see "that bad" that I had to resort to the outrageous prices they gouge for PPV and VOD. I've been happy to be patient, setup a wishlist and simply wait for it to eventually roll around to being broadcast. That and put 'em in my Netflix queue. We're switching from DirecTV to FIOS. One TV will be setup with a regular FIOS set top box and a Series2 standalone Tivo. So if there is anything "that important" we'll still have a way to get to it. It won't be as tightly integrated as if it were integrated into the Tivo, but then, it's JUST TV... so who really cares that much? -Bill Kearney [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
