Cable set-top box doomed
THE CABLE BOX is about to go the way of the dodo and Scottish Prime Minister Gordon Brown's lead in the opinion polls.
Sony and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) have agreed that viewers should be able to rid themselves of set-top boxes and still receive advanced 'two-way' cable services.
The deal buries a row that has existed between the two entities for the best part of a decade.
It will see Sony putting the cable industry's technology directly into television sets soon. It will work with the US's six largest cable companies that look after more than 82 percent of cable subscribers.
Cable services will also undergo a change as a result of the move. After Congress commanded the cable industry to allow outside electronics makers to compete for the boxes, the industry developed the 'cable card'. These could be inserted into competing boxes, televisions or other devices to unscramble the cable signal.
However these days punters want 'two-way' features such as video on demand, on-screen channel guides and cable company-provided digital video recorders, which is impossible with the old style cards.
Soon punters will be able to buy a cable card from their provider with two way services and no need for an extra box.
All this depends on other electronics manufacturers agreeing to use the same technology. But they will be interested in avoiding the FCC coming down on them like a ton of bricks to impose a two-way standard on the industry. µ
L'Inq
Seattle
Times
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"Will the new cable card have a new ridiculous DRM scheme?"

-=+Signs point to yes+=-
So, the next time I need to buy a TV, probably in 2020, it will need to have a card slot.

Somehow I can't see the various TV makers managing to make a world standard slot for this and then persuading us any time soon to go out and buy a new TV just to get this cable service.

And until the vast majority of Cable companies customers have one of these, then they'll just supply a box.

Chicken and Egg story all over again.


This is attempt to avoid F.C.C. standards in industry ordered by US congress to allow private cable boxes with interactive features, thus Kbul CARD was born & NOt adopted by Many. Sony hopes to continue to thwart F.C.C. & US Congress with this new agreement with major Cable Providers, However agreement only affects SONY equipment, if & when SONY makes such equipment. NO OTHERS ARE INVOLVED.
Thomas drashek
a standard slot on the back of a tv . . . . . its for top-up tv, but I bet it could still be used in other ways.
I have an HD tv with cable card slot. The cable company tried to convince me I didn't want a cable card and then wouldn't support what they provided. It had lots of problems and Time Warner did absolutely nothing to resolve the problems. They admitted they only had cable cards because the FCC mandated them. 

They make lots of money with box rentals. They will never go away until the next device makes them even more money.
OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver was the V.1 undirectional spec. It should be noted that you cannot buy a OCUR receiver for a computer although they make boxes/cards; you have to buy a complete DRM locked down computer from OEMs and then run MS Windows to get digital cable direct to your computer. This must be a definition of "open" I am not aware of.
Which would enslave me to Time Warner Cable abuse Again after over or near 20 years of NOT knowing HOW much I Lurve my DirecTV.
STBs are not that big an issue once you settle for Not being able to DO logically what you'd want to do. Maybe, HTPCs with media center and http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/01/08/directv-pc-tuner-details/
the HDPC-20 may finally be the answer.
My biggest complaint is: why can't BBC America be HD, and programme more current shows as the UK has today. I'm mad about the sitcoms! There really needs to be more UK channels available for US. The one channel has to give such a mixed bag, that overall appeal is sparser than it could be. I for one would rather not have to watch 3 days of kitchen nightmares, to one of comedy, albeit old-hat and smelly like a python circus! Come ON! Give us a Peep Show! skads. Top that off: 
It looks as if BBC America near-do-wells the website updates.

If STB tech is integrated into the TV, then won't consumers be encouraged to buy new TVs just to get the new features that upgrading firmware can't provide? You can just feed a current STB into any regular ol' TV and replace only the STB instead of the whole, expensive, profitable shebang.