[mythtv-users] CableCards to Become Useless ???

Joe Votour vulturej at vulturesnest.net
Sun Apr 20 16:38:44 UTC 2008


Quoting Brian Wood <beww at beww.org>:

>
> On Apr 20, 2008, at 8:49 AM, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
>> On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 08:07:38AM -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
>>> Perhaps a little OT, but probably of interest to a lot of Myth users:
>>>
>>> http://hdguru.com/how-the-cable-industry-plans-to-cheat-10-million-hdtv-owners/233/
>>
>> I'm going to put that "investigative report" in the "consider the
>> grammar capabilities of the writer" file:
>>
>>> supplied by either Cisco (formally know as Scientific Atlanta)
>>
>> Um, does he mean "formerly known"?
>>
>> And those boxes still *say* SciAt, so far as I know; Cisco bought the
>> company, they didn't merge with it.
>>
>> So, large grains of sodium chloride here...
>
> Yeah, a little more research shows that the writer seems to have a
> personal agenda, and is not terribly concerned with facts. Looks like
> he was running a little close to his deadline.
>
>

<snip>

If this person's accusations are true (that there is as two-tier  
class, one CableCard, one with the rented STBs), then the FCC should  
be coming down hard on the cable companies.  The reason that I say  
this is that newly manufactured STBs, as per the FCC, must use  
CableCard, and the newer Motorola boxes that I've seen all have the  
slots, with cards in them (locked up to prevent removal, of course).   
These new boxes are supposed to provide the same functionality, at  
least according to my understanding of things.  At the same time,  
however, I've also heard reports of (and seen with my own eyes when I  
visited a cable operator) older STBs, which are exempt from the FCC  
regulations, being horded for deployment, as a backup in case of  
CableCard problems.

We all know that Switched Digital Video is coming, although I hope  
that it's rollout in my area is delayed long enough to have an open  
specification of how to use it with non-cable operator provided box  
(i.e. HDHomeRun).  Having worked (and still so) in the cable industry,  
I know that CableLabs generally drops the ball, but I can't see this  
issue not being fixed.  I have a feeling that the STBs the cable  
company rents out, even with CableCard, will continue to work, becsuse  
there is a bi-directional protocol available now.  It is, however, up  
to the manufacturers' to provide updates to their products to support  
it (which cable operators will, TV manufacturers' likely won't).

I really wish that the cable industry would have adopted a CAM  
interface, like what is used for DVB.  This would solve a bunch of  
problems - SDV could be done via a SmartCard update, and there would  
be a single API to use it.  Of course, that would mean that the FCC  
would have to have the forethought to demand such features.

One should also note that the FCC does not mandate CableCard per se -  
they mandate an open solution where the hardware can be configured to  
operate with many different cable networks.  CableCard works for this  
because the (de/en)cryption algorithm is actually run in software on  
the CableCard.  Any other hardware solution that accomplishes this in  
the same way (i.e. can run the same (de/en)cryption code, but is not  
CableCard) is also acceptable by the FCC.  The key is that the  
security is separate from the receiving/decoding hardware.

Granted, I speak from the position of hoping that the company that I  
work for, and our partners will gain some traction (of course).  There  
are already a number of smaller cable operators who are so throughly  
disgusted with CableCards due to implementation costs, unsuitability  
for use, etc., that they are investigating the FCC-compliant  
alternatives.

As for the point of updating lineups to STBs - when Comcast setup my  
cable the box they provided pulled down a completely incorrect channel  
list, preventing me from watching an analog channel.  It was at that  
point that, with the installer present (because he was clueless), I  
unplugged the box and connected the cable straight to the TV.  So,  
even with the proprietary solution, I hardly trust them to get that  
correct on the first dozen or so tries.

-- Joe


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