by Don Burnett
Note this is an opinion piece, but be ready to be totally pissed off when you read it..
According to an article on Gizmodo, and Gary Merson (The HD Guru), Cable customers who use the current CableCard to access protected HD content, that's Windows Media Center and TiVo to you and me, will soon start losing HD channels. Why you ask? Well, cable carriers are moving from a direct stream of video to "switched digital video," which use two-way digital cable boxes to see what customers need then send it to them. CableCards are only one-way devices. Supposedly CableLabs has a USB "dongle" device that enabled 2-way connections via the CableCard.
Time-Warner cable has already started eliminating channels from the one way only cable card service (the tier known as VOOM HD- which is about 15 channels if memory serves me correctly). So CableCard customers are losing channels there, and no dongle in-sight for those folks yet. The big problem with the dongle is that some devices including TVs that use CableCard don't have USB ports and never will.
I think this is totally lame and just more attempts to control content, over the reality of going to new hardware that will conserve bandwidth, which is the excuse being used. This further adds to the Media Center issues with HD content. I think we should be lobbying the cable industry to support existing products like one-way cable cards and being more consumer focused. To me this is an internal save money decision that was made to go to a "switched" system, that is in the interest of the cable company but not the consumers.
Breaking changes are never good for any industry, and it just shows the power of the cable companies to make an arbitrary change of service like this. The FCC needs to step in and do something about this kind of thing, as it's not consumer friendly..
Cable Labs responded to these allegations on Gizmodo. quoting their excerpts:
"Content available on cable networks is changing all the time. New services are added, some are redesigned and others are removed."
• "SDV technology is designed to expand the range of services offered by cable operators, not reduce them."
• "Many CE companies chose to implement receivers that lack the necessary circuitry to provide a full two-way cable experience with the CableCard."
• "No product was ever originally designed to work with this new Tuning Adaptor including the existing Tivo UDPC products...Since consumer products don't use Microsoft Windows, they don't have plug-in drivers. Instead a new firmware update is needed to include the necessary driver controls to interact with this new external device. Makers of any existing UDCPs that already have a USB port (there are many) are just as able to provide new firmware as Tivo, if they chose to do so."
• "Consumers should look for products identified as tru2way to ensure they will be able to get all the new and advanced services their digital cable systems can deliver."
The last item doesn't exist right now as far as I know.. Either way,I believe this is yet another anti-consumer arbitrary decision to EOL (End-of-Life) One way CableCard technology, before many of us ever get to see or use it (my humble opinion), but the word needs to get out.. Please write the FCC and Congress and lets get some examination of this issue going.
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