Zatz reports cablecard 2.0 – which is two way if you’ve been tracking will be ready for deployment next year. Cablecard delivers a superior picture (no cable box compression) and the 2.0 version will give you two-way control so you won’t need a box for VOD or enhanced services if your provider supports this function. It’s also good news for third party DVR makers like TIVO and will hopefully be the path to HDTV on HTPC’s like MCE.
If nothing else this is confirmation that any major HDTV purchase planned should include cablecard support so you (OK, I) can be ready for the near future…
Technorati Tags: DVR, HDTV, MediaCenter, cablecard, TV
Keep in mind, though, that Cablecard 2.0 is not backwards compatible. That is, if you currently have a nice new Plasma TV that supports Cablecard now, it will not work with Cablecard 2.0.
“If you’re thinking of buying a CableCard-ready TV now in anticipation of the time when two-way cards become available, think again. CableLabs, which developed the CableCard spec, says today’s CableCard sets will not be compatible with those cards. And no one is speculating on when two-way cards will happen.” http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,117587,00.asp
Thanks Cablecard. Fuck you.
gf
Gary –
I was pretty sure what I had read when I posted this was that it was no backwards compatible… at least with one way services, which I took to mean the existing spec.
JG
Here is an interesting article on Wired.com about CableCard 2.0
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71682-0.html?tw=wn_technology_6
Customer Service at Sharp USA just told me that they do not have a version 2.0 CableCard and, thus, they cannot test it in any of their models and they cannot engineer CableCard 2.0 capability without a CableCard 2.0. I wonder if the CableCard Generation 2.0 actually exists as I write this? FWIW I will wait for CableCard 2.0 capability before I purchase an HDTV.