CableCard OEM Restriction Lifted!!!

[Greg]

Clift,

Thanks for the instructions..............I'll give it a shot.

Greg

[Greg]

I contacted Comcast today for some Cablecard information and general information about the transistion..........this for the suburban Chicago area.

1. Me: do you have the Tru-2way Cablecards?
- Comcast: NO, and don't know when.
- Me: Panasonic came out with a Tru-2way Cablecard and the card was supplied by Comcast.
- Comcast: that was strictly the city of Chicago.

2. We discussed On Demand, etc..
- Comcast: you need a STB for any 2-way communication, ie On Demand, Pay per View, ordering movies.
- Me: the Tru-2way cards should do this.......that's their purpose
- Comcast: I don't know, we usually here about this from our customers


3. Me: even though the cards aren't available yet do you have an idea about pricing?
- Comcast: probably priced siimilar to the S-card pricing ($1.50 for the first card and $1.99 for each additional card).

4. Me: so, if I want to keep HD with the Cablecard all I have to do is return the $8.99/month HD STB and replace it with the $1.50/month Cablecard (or whatever the price is)?
- Comcast: YES

Other transistion information:

5. Channels 2 - 99 will be need a DTA box. Unless the post card that I received mentioned the cutoff date then it the date TBD.........it's TBD for me.

6. I already have an HD STB from Comcast, so I'll be able to get 2 DTA's for free for the length of my service and $1.99/month for each additional box. I mentioned this because I ran into a Direct TV sales guy in Sams's Club who said that after 6 months Comcast will start charging for the free boxes. Not so says Comcast.

7. Comcast says the DTA box will be the same box regardless if you have an analog or digital TV and that there is only 1 output on the box........ OK, you guys probably already knew that!

8. Me: I asked if Comcast will be coming out with a DVR similar to U-Verse........watching recordings in multiple rooms.
- Comcast: all that the U-Verse system does is allow all rooms to watch the same show.
Me: I was under the impression that different rooms can watch different recorded shows simultaneously.
-Comcast: Not true.

So maybe you guys know the answer to that one!

Well, that's info for my area.........as usual, Comcast isn't well versed in the Cablecard situation.

Greg

[MitchSchaft]

We're a ways off from being able to use Cablecard. If at all.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

We're a ways off from being able to use Cablecard. If at all.

I know!
There's a plug-in that was developed for Sage, but I don't really know were that stands or what limitations it will have compared to a WMC solution.

Greg

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by cat6man

wouldn't a sigma 864x based chipset in a media extender solve this problem?

No it wouldn't because the problem is the SageTV software doesn't support DRM. SageTV doesn't have a Cablelabs approved DRM system so they can't record CC content. In order to utilize DRM'd cablecard recordings, Sage needs to support the DRM used (or get their own version approved). There's no way around that.

drm support is built in, if i'm not mistaken.

The HD100 and HD200 have security processors for DRM as well, but they're not implemented.

any reason why the extender solution (there, i'm sure, would be a sdk fee of some sort to enable drm in the 864x chipset but it wouldn't require sage to support drm in sagetv software) wouldn't work?

Depending on how the DRM works, I don't know if it's possible to stream the content to the extender without the server understanding the DRM. Of course Sage would have to implement extender support, just like they would for the PC side too (where they could also license WM DRM10). But regardless, the 864x won't be a magic fix because it doesn't support DRM any more or less than the current extenders. It's capable of processing DRM, but so are the current extenders (the MVP could be a problem though) but that support is not implemented.

[Fuzzy]

The cablecard specs DO allow streaming among devices in the same locale, it would just have to be in a protected manner, so, as you said, the HD200 would have to be CableLabs certified, as well as the sagetv recording software. It is possible within the structure of the specs, just a matter of the cost and ease of working with CableLabs...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

...just a matter of the cost and ease of working with CableLabs...

Hence the pessimism.

[paullinator]

Clearly there is significant cost in getting Cablelabs certified, and if I were CEO of a company like Sage, the big question I would have is... Can we recoup the development cost in added sales?

I for one would pay a hefty premium for Sage with Cablelabs support. Upward of $200-300 on top of the Sage license just for cablecard support. If other users would chime in on their thoughts, maybe we could put together a petition which could prove to Sage execs that their investment in this project WILL reap financial rewards.

I'll be the first vote and say yes, I will pay $300 for a Cablelabs licensed SageTV. Better than paying the cableco $10/month for a junk DVR.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by paullinator

Clearly there is significant cost in getting Cablelabs certified, and if I were CEO of a company like Sage, the big question I would have is... Can we recoup the development cost in added sales?

If they're going to recoup the costs (assuming it is non-trivial) I think they'd need to break into the CE, "box sold at Worst Buy" market. I don't think there's any way a DIY solution could do it.

I for one would pay a hefty premium for Sage with Cablelabs support. Upward of $200-300 on top of the Sage license just for cablecard support. If other users would chime in on their thoughts, maybe we could put together a petition which could prove to Sage execs that their investment in this project WILL reap financial rewards.

I'll be the first vote and say yes, I will pay $300 for a Cablelabs licensed SageTV. Better than paying the cableco $10/month for a junk DVR.

That's going to be a tough sell. That's getting up there on a $600 investment just in Sage and CableCard tuner (plus $500-1000 in other stuff), and that's more than a Tivo, and about what a Moxi costs.

[SageJunkie]

Microsoft lifted OEM requirement at CEDIA (http://hd.engadget.com/2009/09/09/me...m-requirement/) so one no longer has to hack the BIOS to appear OCUR-ready (http://hd.engadget.com/2009/05/12/ho...-media-center/). Now Sage just needs to see the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner as an encoding device...

* moved from very old thread *

[Fuzzy]

Considering the money I've spent on R-5000 mods, I would have rather spent that on CableCard licensing to Sage. Not sure I'd switch now though (since I've already spent my money).

[PSUAviator]

FYI...Here's a recent email exchange I had with Hauppauge:

Subject: RE: Cablecard
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 14:49:11 -0500

Probably, but not in the immediate future.

Regards,
Hauppauge Sales Team
_____

Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 12:03 AM
To: Sales1
Subject: Cablecard

Hauppauge,

Is Hauppauge going to offer a tuner that incorporates Cablecard?

Thanks

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

If Hauppauge plans to sell CableCard tuners -
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/09/haupp...blecard_tu.php

Will they include a WinTV version of software to record from it?
Do they sell any tuners without WinTV?

If WinTV could do it SageTV probably could.

****Pure Speculation****

[hemicuda]

AVS Forums had an interesting article today...

FCC admits that CableCard is a failure and is soliciting options for its replacement.

[stanger89]

Not exactly going to motivate people to make CableCard hardware....

[hemicuda]

Could that be why the restrictions were laxed? Fear of just such a statement? <--wishful thinking.

[reggie14]

I'm still not convinced the hardware capabilities or licensing requirements were the primary reasons cable card failed. I think most people just don't really care about their STB. If most people don't care about the capabilities of their STBs, then most people aren't going to go out of their way (or pay extra out of their pocket) to get a third party STB.

There are ways you can make people care, but I'm not sure that would be an improvement. If people had to buy STBs, as opposed to being able to rent them from providers, then people would probably start caring a lot more. It would sort of be like cell phones. But, then either you'd have people paying large amounts of money for STBs, or you'd have all the fun of contracts and ETFs that you have with cell phones.

If you were to somehow start a movement toward getting people to care about the capabilities of their STBs, by the time the movement would pick up enough steam I think its likely we'll be well on our way to the next big thing (probably streaming video).

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

Could that be why the restrictions were laxed? Fear of just such a statement? <--wishful thinking.

I'd lean more toward CableLabs realizing the end is near and deciding to stop caring.

[kwaugh]

I just read that it should be available early next year.

http://www.cetoncorp.com/ProductsWMC.php

Now, as a rookie to this stuff, this would seem to be a good thing, but I've learned that to go to the experts...

Is this the sort of technology that would easily enable a central sage server to feed HD200's and pc's running the sage front end?

Thanks,

K

* merged *

[theguru]

Wow. Windows Media only?

http://www.cetoncorp.com/products.php

The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card is the world's first multi-tuner PC card for watching digital cable TV on the PC, including support for premium cable channels. It enables Media Center PCs to play or record up to four live channels of HDTV at once, and stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple HDTVs throughout the home, all from a single cable connection and a single CableCARD™. Replace your cable set-top boxes and their costly monthly rental fees and enjoy premium cable TV throughout the home, all from a single PC. With the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card your Media Center PC becomes a complete entertainment platform for all your media, including premium cable TV.

* merged *

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by theguru

Wow. Windows Media only?

Because only M$ can afford the license cost.