In the past couple of days I’ve had a couple of press releases cross my (virtual) desk relating to some new interactive TV technologies tied to advertising, which sound like they’re targeting the same market as TiVo’s interactive ad platform. The first to land was Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet technology which is being tested by LIN TV Corp., a local television and digital media company, on the Hartford-New Haven stations WTNH-TV ABC 8 and WCTX-TV MyTV 9 starting in November.

The technology works by allowing viewers to press a button on their remote when a small icon appears on the bottom of the screen. This ‘bookmarks’ the content, or offer, which is then forwarded to a personal website which is incorporated into WTNH.com. I think this is an interesting approach, one I’ve suggested TiVo use for advanced content in the past. Some content is simply better presented on a computer. And this could allow less sophisticated platforms, like a non-DVR cable box, to provide a level of interactive content by offloading it to the website.

Generically, being able to bookmark things on a website would be useful in other ways. For example, a number of Discovery channel shows will say things like “Visit our website for more content/behind the scenes/etc”, and it would be great to be able to push a button on the remote at that point and have a link to the content waiting for you on the PC.

The second press release announced that Time Warner Cable has licensed elements of an Enhanced TV (ETV) platform from Broadband Interactive Applications (BIAP). BAIP’s ETV User Agent will be incorporated into Time Warner Cable’s advanced advertising platform. It will allow TWC’s STB’s to run Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) applications, both created by TWC and third parties, such as the TV networks.

EBIF is a multimedia content format standard developed by the OpenCable project within CableLabs, which also developed OCAP/tru2way. EBIF is a core element of Canoe, a cable industry effort to develop an advanced advertising platform for all MSOs. Both the cable and broadcast industries will use EBIF to deliver advanced features to cable STBs.

The press releases are below:
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CableLabs has certified two tru2way-enabled CableCARD HDTVs from Panasonic, paving the way for them to be available to consumers this holiday season. The two models sport 42″ and 50″ HD displays. This is an important turn around from June, when Panasonic reportedly failed in their first tru2way certification attempt.

However, even if consumers can get their hands on the sets, there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to access tru2way content immediately. The cable industry has pledged to implement tru2way across their networks by July 1, 2009 - except for Charter which has until July 1, 2010. So early adopters may wish to check with their local MSO to see if tru2way support is available before jumping on these sets, or they may find themselves stuck with unidirectional CableCARD features until tru2way support is rolled out.

From Light Reading’s Cable Digital News.

CableLabs has created a new, streamlined approval process for consumer electronics companies that wish to produce tru2way capable devices for interactive cable services. Part of the new agreement allows CE vendors to ’self-certify’ tru2way two-way cable products. Formerly CableLabs required all two-way devices to be submitted for testing and certification by CableLabs itself. Samsung is the first CE vendor to sign the new agreement.

The agreement also allows CE vendors to formally participate in CableLabs processes and includes a license to use the tru2way trademark. The new agreement consolidates and simplifies two separate licenses, the CableCARD Host Licensing Agreement (Chila) and the OpenCable Application Platform Implementer Agreement. Formerly both were required for any CE vendor who wished to implement tru2way in their devices.

Via Multichannel News and Light Reading’s Cable Digital News.

Following quickly after Motorola unveiled their MTR700 Tuning Resolver, Cisco has unveiled their tuning resolver as well, the STA1520, which looks like their RTG100 cable box. (Remember, Cisco purchased Scientific Atlanta, and they’re starting to use their own branding on products that formerly would’ve has the SA branding.) Cisco is calling it a ‘tuning adapter’ instead of tuning resolver, which I also noticed the NCTA reps doing during today’s conference call, perhaps that’s the new industry term? I wish they’d just pick a name and stick with it, I don’t think ‘tuning adapter’ is any better than ‘tuning resolver’, and at least the latter has been used for a while.

Like Motorola’s MTR700, Cisco’s STA1520 will be demo’d at the upcoming Cable Show, and it will be part of the Wave 60 certification process with CableLabs, so it too could be available by early July.

Via Light Reading’s Cable Digital News.

When I spoke with Digeo’s then-COO Greg Gudorf back in January, following their cancellation of nearly all of their previously announced product plans, he told me one of the projects that would be continuing was the Moxi HD DVR for Cable, which was then targeted for release by the end of 1Q08. When the end of Q1 came and went with no further word from Digeo, it looked like that box might’ve met an untimely end as well.

However, it seems it was just delayed a bit. Jeff Baumgartner at Light Reading has a sharp eye and he caught something in a press release from CableLabs about the upcoming Cable Show. (I see something about Sling Media in there too…) One of the products they announced that will be on display is the Digeo Moxi HD DVR 3012. CableLabs says:

Digeo will showcase its latest DVR for cable, the Moxi HD DVR 3012. Digeo will be showing the Emmy Award-winning user interface, dual digital tuning capability, and integrated CableCARD. This new DVR includes a streamlined processor and increased hard drive.

Over at Zatz Not Funny, reader ‘cableric’ left a comment with some industry insider information on the new box, which doesn’t sound all that encouraging really.

Oh, and this is what I spotted about Sling:

EchoStar Technologies LLC will demonstrate SlingModem™, the first DOCSIS® cable modem that fully integrates the place-shifting capabilities pioneered in the original Slingbox™. With the SlingModem, customers can easily watch and control their TV programming on any Internet-connected computing device just as they would in front of the living room television. The SlingModem provides the cable customer with both a broadband connection as well as the place-shifting functionality made famous by the Slingbox.

I’ve covered the SlingModem before, most recently from CES in January.

And they also mention Motorola’s SDV Tuning Resolver, the MTR700, which will be demo’d using a TiVo:

Motorola will demonstrate its MTR700 Tuning Adapter which connects unidirectional UDCPs (including a TiVo device, in specific) to a cable network, accessing multimedia content in the cable network’s switched digital video (SDV) tier. Seamless tuning of the TiVo device across both broadcast and SDV tiers will be shown. Motorola will also demonstrate its Integrated CMTS (I-CMTS) and SURFboard® cable modems, in a DOCSIS 3.0 setting using the traditional Motorola 2:8 DS/US Module and new TX32 high-density Decoupled Downstream Module.

That’s very good news, as it means TiVo must have their software well along, which means a summer release will probably happen as planned.

It sounds like there will be a lot of SDV & tru2way demos at The Cable Show, I wish I was going.

Picked up via Zatz Not Funny.

Wow, in the past couple of days there has been an interesting flurry of online activity about CableCARD, Switched Digital Video (SDV), and the Tuning Resolver. HD GURU posted an ‘investigative report’ entitled “How The Cable Industry Plans to Cheat 10+ Million HDTV Owners”, so you might guess at the tone. Unfortunately, there are a few factual errors in the post - for example, all CableCARDs are two-way capable and always have been. Mike Schwartz from CableLabs responded with an extensive comment that I recommend reading if you read the post. (I’d link to it but the blog doesn’t appear to support comment links, just scroll down a bit.)

The HDTiVo Blog picked it up from there (which is where I found the link to the HD GURU post). Gizmodo also picked up the story, though I have a nit to pick: “Our friend Gary Merson, the HD Guru, has uncovered an issue that may soon piss you off.” Uncovered? Gizmodo hasn’t been paying attention, blogs such as this one, Zatz Not Funny, and others have mentioned the SDV issue and Tuning Resolver repeatedly for quite a while now. Just one example, the issue with Bright House cable pulling channels, and then returning them. This is hardly a surprise issue if you’ve been paying attention. And, unfortunately, Gizmodo repeated the errors from the original post.

Anyway, CableLabs responded to Gizmodo’s original post, and Gizmodo shared the information in a follow-up post. I’m glad a statement came out of it to help clarify things a bit, and correct the misconceptions.

Over at Zatz Not Funny, Dave Zatz chimed in on the SDV Tuning resolver issue as well. Including a link to the most solid, and best, news to come out of the whole thing, at Media Experiences 2 Go. Mari Silbey of Motorola reports that Motorola’s Tuning Resolver implementation, now officially the MTR700, has sailed through CableLabs interoperability testing ‘with flying colors’. The next step is CableLabs certification testing with product submission in April in preparation for the certification board meeting in June. So, presuming the device gets certified, it will be ready at the end of June. Which means it would be very unlikely to make the 2Q2008 release schedule, but will probably be available in early 3Q08. Motorola will be exhibiting the MTR700 at The Cable Show in New Orleans in May. While it may not seem that way to those awaiting a solution, the development of the Tuning Resolver has been extremely fast for a new piece of hardware. The cable industry is really fast-tracking development to get the Tuning Resolver out there as fast as possible. Now it is up to the consumer electronics industry to provide compatible firmware for CableCARD devices with USB ports. (TiVo is, of course, already on board.)

Back in November when the Motorola Tuning Resolver was first revealed, it was noted that it strongly resembled their DCT700 cable box. The MTR700 model number seems to indicate the commonality is more than cosmetic.

Switched Digital Video (SDV) has been the bane of CableCARD users, notably owners of the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD. SDV channels cannot be tuned by UDCP (unidirectional digital cable products) CableCARD devices, such as TiVo, as SDV requires bidirectional communication with the head end.

Enter the Tuning Resolver. As previously reported, the Tuning Resolver is a bidirectional communications terminal which is designed to connect to a UDCP via USB, to enable SDV support. Of course, the UDCP most people refer to when discussing the Tuning Resolver is TiVo. Release is expected in 2Q08, and it is eagerly anticipated by many users.

Now Multichannel News is reporting that CableLabs has received the first version of a PC-based testing tool which will allow them to test the Tuning Resolver’s functionality. The tool was developed by Solekai Systems in Boulder, CO and is known as the Tuning Resolver Interface Simulator (TRIS).

“We at CableLabs are encouraged by the flexibility this tool offers to allow us to validate the interfaces between UDCP [unidirectional digital cable products] and tuning resolver devices, and ultimately provide UDCP devices with the ability to access switched digital video services in the field,” CableLabs vice president of advanced media platforms So Vang said, in a prepared statement.

This brings the Tuning Resolver one step closer to release. Development was only agreed upon last August, so getting the box to market in 2Q08 is really a fast-track development cycle for the cable industry. Charter isn’t using SDV in my area (yet?), but I know there are a lot of TiVo users out there for whom the Tuning Resolver can’t arrive fast enough.

This feels like something out of Idiocracy. I guess CableLabs has decided that their current names don’t have that Web 2.0 zing, or something like that. What started out as the OpenCable Applications Platform, or OCAP, was renamed as just the OpenCable Platform in July. I suppose they dropped the ‘Applications’ because it really refers to the whole platform, not just the applications and the interface that runs them. Most of the industry seems to have shrugged and gone on using ‘OCAP’ (since you can actually say that - Oh-Cap - and ‘OCP’ doesn’t roll off the tongue) or just ‘OpenCable’.

Well, I guess that’s not catchy enough as a brand, because CED Magazine is reporting that the name is going to change again. They expect CableLabs to announce later this week that OpenCable Platform is being bumped off in favor of Tru2Way. The emphasis is on the cable platforms two-way communications capability. While that is something they have over satellite, FiOS and U-Verse also utilize two-way communication. Heck, FiOS is using many cable standards directly.

Whether the rumor is true or not, I’m just going to keep calling it OCAP. Just like I don’t use ‘Bonus View‘ when talking about Blu-ray Profile 1.1. I won’t feel like a moron that way.

Picked up from MediaExperiences2Go.