CableCard (1 Viewer)

[LewB]

Anyone have any information about Cablecard ?
I have an order in for a Panny TH-42PX25U/P and it has a Cablecard slot. I love the idea of life without a cable box.
The card is supplied by your cable co. and plugs into the back of the set. The card allows the set to get your cable programming without that nasty cable box (adios channel 3!)
I E-mailed my cable co. (Cablevision) to ask about their plans. I was wondering if anyone out there had any info about this ?
Here's a link to Scientific Atlanta's Cablecard

 

[SteveAnd]

I emailed Comcast with the same type of question-a few times. The only response I have received from them has been a "canned" response that does not address cablecards at all. But, they will be required to make them available to those who want them. I thought it was at the end of April, off the top of my head, but I could be off a month or so. I'm certainly eagerly awaiting one of these puppies.

 

[LewB]

I think I read that it was FCC mandatory by July 1, 2004.

 

[LewB]

Some more info on Cablecard , and one more

 

[LewB]

Got a reply from Cablevision saying that they do not now and do not plan to offer a 'cablecard'.

 

[RobbieF]

I emailed Time Warner Cable (Houston) and the response I received was that they are currently in development. They didn't give any specific date of availability.

Think I could offer my tv for prototype testing and receive free cable?

 

[Harold Southard]

I don't think they have a choice to not offer it.

http://www.crblaw.com/allclients2/20...dPlayRules.pdf

http://www.crblaw.com/newsarticle.as...dPlayRules.htm


from the above link.

"CableCARDS



Under the new rules, Cable operators will be required to order and supply CableCARDS. Rules adopted at an earlier stage of this rulemaking required PODs (the predecessor to CableCARDS) to be available by July 1, 2000. We expect the new rules to require that by July 1, 2004, all digital cable systems must provide CableCARDS to consumers coincident to CE Manufacturers product roll-outs, in sufficient quantity to ensure convenient access by customers. In the meantime, however, as the Panasonic DTV begins to show up in retail outlets, consumers may begin asking for CableCARDS. It would be prudent for MSOs to begin to:

prepare customer service representatives to handle inquiries for CableCARDS
establish appropriate means for fulfilling requests for CableCARDS.
establish procedures for recording information incident to the authorization of CableCARDS as they bind to the security certificates in “Host” DTVs."

 

[JohnnyG]

What's important to note here is that these 1st generation CableCARD-capable sets are very basic in their functionality. They will TUNE a digital cable channel that you subscribe to, but that's pretty much it. There's no on-screen program guide (as part of the standard) and there is only one-way communication, so no Pay Per View or Video On Demand capability.

So yeah, you can watch digital cable channels without a seperate set-top, but you lose a lot of the nice 'luxuries' that come along with that.

When full 2-way capability exists, THEN you'll get all that nice stuff, but this is still a year or more away and you can't upgrade a 1-way set to a 2-way set.

 

[LewB]

I read some documentation from the Scientific Atlanta web site that said about the same thing. Doooohhhh

 

[Harold Southard]

I personaly did not buy my tv because it has a cablecard, it was just a plus. I don't do any PPV. I would like to get some of the prem channels, minus the stb. So it's fine that mine is just one way. I can see the plus of the other, but I can get that when I upgrade (got to have a good reason to sale the wife on it. LOL).

 

[JohnnyG]

Lew, it's not going to be quite so bad in many cases, because a lot of manufacuters will be including the TV Guide EPG and similar offerings. The TV Guide software is actually pretty slick stuff.