We’ve also initiated a key component of our next generation TV strategy with our TiVo pilot underway in Texas. Early pilot participants have responded favorably to the overall service, particularly the improved recommendations, user interface and search capabilities, all of which enhance the customer experience and should increase usage of our on-demand library.

We will complete a full production launch in Texas and conduct pilots in a few additional markets later this year with a full production launch enterprise wide in the first half of 2012. As you can see we are making great strides in improving our video offering and we believe that these enhance our competitive position in video.

And now Charter has their TiVo page up, and it says TiVo is coming soon to Ft. Worth, TX. And coming soon to other markets after that. Since they plan to have it launched ‘enterprise wide’ in the first half of 2012 it seems like it should happen fairly rapidly.

Charter also has a quick demo video up to promote their TiVo service:

They have a good deal of support information up as well, including a Viewer’s Guide, Quick Guide, and Quick Tips. The materials strongly promote Charter’s OnDemand, YouTube, and Pandora. Interestingly they also make a point to promote TiVo Desktop and the ability to transfer shows via TiVoToGo. But, as a Charter customer myself, they copy protect nearly all of their content. Unless they’re planning to change their practices it seems like their customers are in for a disappointment.

It looks like the only video services supported will be Charter OnDemand, YouTube, and web videos. No Netflix, Hulu Plus, Blockbuster OnDemand, Music Choice, or Amazon Instant Video for Charter TiVo customers. That’s interesting since just last week they announced an initiative to integrate Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video content into search results on Charter.net. Perhaps down the road they’ll enable these same services on their TiVo units. It sounds like Charter wants to do so, but their hands are tied by rights issues. From an article last week in FierceCable about the announcement:

Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont told FierceCable that the MSO would like to allow subscribers to search for Web video content from Hulu, Amazon and Netflix through their cable set-tops, but that rights issues prevent it from offering that fuction. “Right now, that functionality is essentially disabled on leased boxes due to programming rights issues. This is disappointing to us, and our customers, but we believe that it should and will change over time,” Lamont said. “This is all very fluid, and we anticipate that the rights equation will change over time,” she added.

On the music side in addition to Pandora they will have Rhapsody and Live365 support.

Charter customers will have Multi-Room Streaming (MRS), and they will be getting the TiVo Preview as well, if the Viewer’s Guide is anything to go by. From Page 57:

Streaming from another TiVo Box

Movies and programs stored on a TiVo Premiere DVR can be streamed to another TiVo device (either another TiVo Premiere DVR or a TiVo Preview HD-STB) using Multi-Room Streaming (MRS). (Streaming means playing a video as it downloads, without having to wait for the download to finish.)

I’m happy to see TiVo is using the same Multi-Room Streaming “MRS” abbreviation I’ve been using. (I swear, I didn’t know. It just made sense vs. MRV for Multi-Room Viewing.) I take issue with the description though. Streaming is not downloading, there is nothing to wait for, no ‘finish’. And no, it isn’t confused with the MRV copying – that’s the previous entry in the manual. I think this is a case of a confused tech writer who didn’t really understand the subject matter. TiVo, you might want to get that corrected.

Streaming means, well, streaming the content directly from the other unit for display via the local unit, with no local copy being made. That’s as opposed to MRV which is a copying process and allows you to begin viewing the local copy while it is still transferring.

There is one item I found very, very interesting. On Page 75 of the Viewer’s Guide:

Tuning adapter

This setting is not applicable to your setup.

As I said, I’m a Charter customer. Charter is heavily invested in using Switched Digital Video (SDV), and as such I need to use a Tuning Adapter with my retail TiVo. Could this mean that Charter is using the same IP back channel used for OnDemand for SDV? If so, that’s the one thing that would kind of tempt me to use a Charter TiVo box instead of a retail unit. I’d love to get rid of my TA. It is the weakest link in my setup. Every once in a while it resets or locks up and I lose recordings until I power cycle it. And I sometimes have recordings fail with the reported reason being the video signal was not available, but my cable wasn’t out – sometimes the other tuner recorded a different program at the same time. I suspect the TA failed to tune the SDV channel.

TiVo, Charter, I’m begging you. If you have developed this software for the Charter-distributed units, please find a way to bring it to retail units! Cox and Comcast are planning to support OnDemand on retail units, surely it can be done. For that matter, give us OnDemand – all it can do is increase your business!

When Charter brings this to my service area (Worcester, MA) I may get a unit to try it out. But I’m still more interested in the retail TiVo Elite’s four tuners and broad support for OTT content. Being able to handle SDV without a Tuning Adapter is tempting, given the TA issues I’ve had, but it isn’t enough to convince me. I really don’t understand why MSOs like Charter, RCN, Suddenlink, and Grande Communication don’t allow retail TiVo units to access their OnDemand content, etc. They have the infrastructure in place and the software exists, why keep customers locked out of services they’d be happy to pay for?

Speaking of the TiVo Premiere Elite, I’ve received one of the few review units TiVo is sent out to bloggers & press. It just arrived late this week, I’m planning to get it set up tomorrow.

A new raft of FCC regulations, originally published October 14, 2010, go into effect August 1st, 2011. One of those new requirements is that MSOs provide their cable subscribers with tuning adapters that support a minimum of four content streams:

To address the problems with tuning adapters identified by commenters, the satisfactory access standard will require cable operators to ensure that retail devices are able to tune at least as many switched digital channels as that operator’s most sophisticated operator-supplied set-top box or four simultaneous channels, whichever is greater.

Multi-stream CableCARDs (M-Cards) support up to six content streams, but this doesn’t help users of the Ceton InfiniTV 4 Digital Cable Quad-tuner Card or the Moxi 3-Tuner DVR, and it wouldn’t be good news for the pending TiVo Premiere Elite 4-tuner DVR, for users with Switched Digital Video and tuning adapters that limit them to two streams.

You didn’t know? Even though M-Cards support six streams, tuning adapters first shipped with support for only two. A while back Motorola updated their tuning adapter firmware to support six streams, but Cisco has been dragging their feet. But it seems, with just two weeks left before the deadline, their finally rolling out new firmware for their STA1520.

There are more goodies from the FCC:

• If the MSO allows consumers to self-install anything, such as cable modem or cable box, then they must also allow CableCARD self-installs on 8/1/2011. No more truck rolls! (If they don’t allow any self-installs, they still must begin allowing CableCARD self-installs on 11/1/2011.)
• MSO’s must provide M-Cards starting 8/1/2011 – they cannot provide S-Cards unless specifically requested.
• If the cable company is doing the CableCARD install the installer must show up with at least the number of cards in the order, and they must be working cards.
• The same fee must be charged for a CableCARD whether it is used in a consumer provided host (such as a TiVo) or an MSO provided STB, starting 8/1/2011.

There is more in the FCC document.

Hopefully the new rules will lead to improvements for consumers, and lower costs – no more need to pay for an installer to stick a card in your TiVo and call in the numbers.

Cisco TA Firmware news spotted via EngadgetHD.

Yesterday Hank, a reader from Spencer, MA, contacted me to let me know that he’d received a notice in the mail from Charter that they will be switching to SDV on February 2, 2008 and that, as a TiVo user, he could claim a free Tuning Adapter on or after January 5th. Spencer is very close to my home in Worcester, MA, where I also have Charter. I haven’t received the notice yet, but it may well be waiting for me when I return from CES next week. I’m kind of hoping it is, I’d like to get some hands-on experience with the Tuning Adapter to see if it works as well as promised.

And today TVBarn.com is reporting that Time Warner has begun deploying Tuning Adapters in Austin, TX.

It is about time, but it is nice to see this finally getting into the hands of TiVo users to allow them to tune SDV content.

As a result Time Warner Cable Oceanic of Oahu and Kauai, HI and Cox in Fairfax County, VA were fined $40,000 and $20,000, respectively. I don’t think this is really going to change anything in the big picture. Cable MSOs aren’t going to back away from SDV, they’re not going to stop deploying it, let alone roll back existing deployments. Perhaps it may spur a quicker pace to Tuning Adapter deployments, but as those deployments, or plans for deployment, are already underway I suspect there won’t be any real world impact.

So the end result is maybe a little karmic payback for MSOs who rushed out SDV without consideration for the FCCs rules or their CableCARD users, and perhaps next time around they’ll give it more consideration. But even that would depend on the FCC levying fines in more territories, in my opinion. The current fines are just too small to have any real impact on the MSOs, the FCC needs to slap the MSOs for all the territories in which they deployed SDV before making Tuning Adapters available.

It does make me wonder, since Tuning Adapters don’t work with all CableCARD UDCP devices (either because they lack a USB port or the firmware to support a TA), is simply offering the TA enough to be compliant with the requirement to provide video to CableCARD devices? Personally I think the effort is there and it should be, it is up to CableCARD device makers to support the TA. Yes, it does mean some early adopters are out of luck, but with CableCARD in use in a very small number of 3rd party devices overall, and many of them capable of supporting a TA (like TiVo), it isn’t going to be a large number of users who are affected.

So, in the end, I don’t think these fines will really change anything, certainly not for end users today.

Is anyone else seeing Time Warner offer Tuning Adapter pre-orders in their area?

The irony is that it seems Comcast is deploying Tuning Adapters in areas where they haven’t started using SDV yet, but will be using it soon. I know, an MSO preparing for a switch before it happens? Shocking! Meanwhile users of Time Warner and other systems that have been using SDV for a long time are still waiting for the TA to be available.

Picked up via EngadgetHD.

That is, of course, if the numbers are true – and they may not be. See the table below and especially the first footnote¹. Comcast’s numbers for September are estimated to be 10-15% lower than actual due to an internal error. We could be looking at an increase of more than 34,000 users instead of only 2,000!

While 34,000 would certainly be better than 2,000, it still isn’t really setting the world on fire. Maybe the M-Card is a ray of hope in those numbers – if customers who previously used two S-Cards are trading them in for a single M-Card on devices like the TiVo HD, it would result in a lower cumulative number. Still, I don’t expect that’s a huge number either.

This is not to say that the total number of CableCARDs in use is that small, not at all. Since the FCC’s ‘integration ban’ went into effect on July 1, 2007, forcing cable MSOs to begin using CableCARDs in their own STBs, those same ten MSOs have deployed over 7,800,000 CableCARDs in their STBs. So in less than fifteen months they’ve deployed more than twenty times the number of CableCARDs as have been issued for 3rd party UDCPs in the four years they’ve been available.

The integration ban was supposed to force cable MSOs to ‘eat their own dog food’ and thereby improve support for CableCARDs. The idea was that this would help foster the overall CableCARD market. Better support from MSOs would lead to more products, which would mean more 3rd party UDCPs in the field. For the most part, this hasn’t happened.

Why not? Well, I think I can sum it up in one brand name: tru2way. Starting late last year, and getting an official launch at CES in January, OCAP became tru2way and marked a push to get consumer electronics companies on board. Then starting with Samsung in May, followed by a larger push by Sony later that month, CE vendors started jumping on the tru2way bandwagon.

What does this have to do with slow CableCARD adoption? Well, these same CE vendors have held off on releasing UDCPs while they work on tru2way-enabled devices. Why invest in developing and marketing a unidirectional product when you’re going to obsolete it with a two-way product in a year? The first tru2way products are starting to trickle out, and there will probably be a bunch of them on display at CES in January. So I think the push for tru2way was a major contributor to lax CableCARD pick up. Vendors just haven’t been releasing CableCARD-enabled products so there aren’t many options for consumers, which naturally means not many cards are being deployed. Really the only major CableCARD product out there right now is TiVo. CableCARD TVs are thin on the ground. CableCARD-enabled Media Center PCs have had anemic sales. And Digeo outright canceled their Moxi CableCARD HD DVR.

CableCARD was slow out of the gate, and by the time MSOs had the infrastructure worked out vendors were already looking toward round two with tru2way and they just decided to sit round one with UDCPs out entirely. The deployment of SDV and the need to develop a Tuning Adapter, and to support it, was very likely a factor in that as well. I don’t expect to see any real pick-up in CableCARD utilization until a sufficient number of tru2way devices are available to consumers, and then I do expect to see a real uptick.

The filing also has information from several MSOs on their CableCARD pricing and install practices. To compare June to September:

¹Comcast states that their September number may by low by 10-15% due to internal reporting errors.

The count for this reporting period of CableCARDs installed in one way retail devices in active customer homes is estimated to be 10-15% lower than the actual number due to internal Comcast reporting errors that are the result of an internal Division reorganization during the reporting period. The next quarterly report will more accurately reflect the actual count.

Since Comcast has such a large installed base this could be the reason for the seemingly small total uptick. The other four combined yield an increase of 3,429. Comcast’s apparent drop of 1,383 drags it down. But if they’re short just 10% they would actually have an increase of 20,334 users. And 15% would mean an increase of 31,192! So we’d be looking at a total increase of 23,763 to 34,621 – rather more than around 2,000. And that’s just from these five MSOs.

²Comcast allows self-installs in at least some areas – 68% used truck rolls, 32% were self-installs.

³First card is free, fee for additional cards.

⁴$10.43 if install is included with other services, $25.14 if purpose visit.

⁵0.2% of Time Warner installs are self-install, which is negligible.

⁶The average is $2.26, but they report most divisions are $1.75 – which must mean the remaining divisions are rather higher to bring the average up.

Microsoft recognizes the impact of this technology on our customers and partners. We are working to enable support for the CableLabs SDV Tuning Adaptor for Windows Media Center Digital Cable Tuners, ensuring that Windows Media Center users will be able to access switched content.

While we have no further details at this time, we will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

While it is good news that MCPC users will be getting SDV support, I’m sure the users with cable systems using SDV would like to see it sooner rather than later.

As recently revealed, the new 9.4 TiVo update includes Tuning Adapter support, so TiVo users will be ready for the TAs as soon as the cable MSOs make them available. As Bright House, Cox, Time Warner, and others all implementing SDV, the TAs will be increasingly important. Pricing for customers is not yet known, except for Cox which announced plans to provide the TAs to their customers free of charge.

9.4 enables native H.264 decoding on the S3 & HD, required for YouTube support. What is not known is if there decoding support has been extended to other areas as well, such as video podcasts. If so, it could eliminate transcoding on a PC via TiVo Web Video, at least for video podcasts in H.264 – which is many, if not most, of them. I’m hoping the H.264 support does apply to other video sources, it would make life much easier. TiVo Web Video is OK, but not ideal.

Speaking of, allow me a small digression…

I realize I never did pull together a review of TiVo Desktop 2.6 as I’d said I would. I’ve been pretty busy and it got away from me. And, honestly, I’ve had so many problems with it that each time I think about writing it up I just get upset again. I recently had TiVo Web Video forget all of the podcasts I’d subscribed to, twice in two days! I noticed it wasn’t transferring anything after a couple of days, and when I checked the config file it was back to default – all the subscriptions gone. So I restored them and it started transferring again, so I went to bed. The next day it had stopped, and the file was wiped out, again! I wiped everything and started from scratch and it has been working for over a week now. And this isn’t the first time this happened, early on it lost all the subscriptions too. Of course, since TiVo Web Video, unlike TiVoCast, doesn’t just start with the most recent recording and move forward, but insists on downloading and transcoding back episodes as well (default is 5), it would re-download and re-transfer everything. It literally takes a few days for my PC to suck down all the backlog (I subscribe to a number of podcasts) and transfer it. So when this happens it is a major pain in the posterior.

And it doesn’t clean up after itself, I found over ten gigabytes of abandoned downloaded recordings sitting the the Downloads directory. Recordings it should’ve deleted after transferring to the TiVo. It just slowly uses up the drive. The leaking seems to vary – right now there are two files from back on 7/8 totally about 50MB. But all it takes is a few long-form HD podcasts to be missed and it adds up fast. Those are just a couple of the problems with it. Don’t get me wrong, having it is better than not having it at all, but it is far from a stable solution, let alone ideal. But I digress, I really should make myself write up all the issues and such.

Back to the topic at hand..,

So anyway, I would really love to see TiVo allow the S3/HD to download H.264 podcasts directly, bypassing the PC. Heck, as an interim even if they downloaded to the PC but skipped transcoding and just transferred to the TiVo as-is it would speed things up a great deal. Transcoding really slows things down.

Dave got a look at what is apparently a pre-release version of the software, so the final release could vary, but probably won’t. YouTube is added as another option under the TiVo Central -> Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video menu item. It looks like the screen has been retitled from ‘Video Downloads’ to ‘Broadband Video’, which may be a reflection of the fact that TiVo is now streaming video and not just downloading it. The ‘Movies & TiVo from Amazon Unbox’ link has been changed to ‘Amazon Unbox TV & Movies’, which I think sounds better. And just below that, slotting in above ‘Brows Other Videos’ is a new link entitled, simply, ‘YouTube’.

The only sub-option at this time is ‘Watch YouTube Videos’, and once you select that you get into the YouTube HME application interface proper. The color scheme reminds me of the current Music Choice application. Within the application you can select Featured Videos, Most Recent, Search, Top Favorites, Most Viewed, or Top Rated. Each selection then has sub-selections. The interface looks pretty good, and you can even rate the videos 1-5 stars, just as you can online.

From Dave’s video I don’t see a way to link this application with your YouTube account, which would be nice. I’d like to be able to pull up the subscriptions I have on YouTube from my TiVo. And to have ratings from one location be reflected in the other. Being able to subscribe or favorite a video on the TiVo and having it show up online would be nice. But this is the first release, and from what I can see it looks good. This could always be a future enhancement.

UPDATE: Shortly after I posted this I was looking over some other blogs and over at Gizmodo I saw that TiVo will indeed be adding the ability to login to your YouTube account, in an update due eight weeks out.

Dave also tacked a quick look at the Tuning Adapter and Network Remote Control screens at the end of the video. He says we can expect the official press release later today, and the application may start showing up on TiVos with 9.4 as early as today (Thursday) as well. TiVo has a new page on their site as well: http://www.tivo.com/youtube

Now that TiVo has support for H.264 and streaming video, I’m hopeful we’ll see more features using them. Aside from the aforementioned video podcast support, TiVo could support Amazon’s upcoming video streaming service, HD video downloads (most HD downloads use H.264), perhaps even streaming video between TiVo units, or from a PC to a TiVo.

I’m still waiting to receive 9.4 myself, can’t wait to play with this.

(And no Dave, you’re not the only one still waiting for Tekzilla. )

This looks like a great update, and it brings a number of features to the TiVo – some of which have been requested for years. According to LoREvanescence at TiVoCommunity, the updates notice is as follows:

Subject: You have a new service update!
From: The TiVo Team
Date: Tue 7/15

Congrats! You’ve just received the Summer 2008 TiVo Service Update for TiVo HD and Series 3 DVRs, including these new enhancements to your TiVo Experience:

*Play or Delete a Folder
Play or delete an entire folder of programs with a single button press (including kids shows, music videos ext). Highlight a folder and press PLAY to play all the shows in sequence. Pres CLEAR to delete the entire folder.

*Browse the Guide Any Time
Press the GUIDE button to display the program guide over what you’re watching: live TV, a previously recorded program, or even a video download.

*Jump Forward in the Guide
When the Guide is on-screen, press the ADVANCE to jump 24 hours ahead. Press INSTANT REPLAY to go back 24 hours.

*Find a Station in the Guide
Now you can search for a station “call sign” within the Guide, e.g. KQED, WPIX, MSNBC. When viewing the program guide, press ENTER to bring up Guide Options, then SELECT Find by call sign.

*Toggle Closed Captioning On and Off
The Closed Captioning icon in the Channel Banner now toggles closed captioning on and off.

*Review Thumb Ratings
To display a list of all programs that you have rated, select Find Programs, then TiVo Suggestions. Press ENTER to bring up the Review Thumbs screen

Enjoy!

-The TiVo Team

Playing or deleting an entire folder has been requested since the first day folders were introduced – probably before that during the beta for that matter. Being able to view the guide without jumping to Live TV is something that has probably been requested since the earliest days of TiVo. I know people have been asking for it since I first starting using TiVo in 2002. Being able to jump forward and back in the guide is something we just heard about as coming for the Comcast TiVo software, and in that post I said I hoped TiVo would add that to the standalone boxes too – and here it is.

Being able to find channels by call sign is interesting too, I’d never thought of that, but it sounds neat. Controlling Closed Captions from the channel banner, without having to go down in menus, has been requested since the S3 first shipped. So it is nice to see it added.

Reviewing the Thumb Ratings reminds me of the old hidden feature, Teach TiVo. Most of you probably don’t remember it, since it was a hidden feature and pretty much went away with the release of 3.2. But in the early days of TiVo there used to be backdoor features that could be enabled by entering the right phrase on the right screen. These were generally incomplete features that TiVo was working on developing but were not yet ready for release. So they’d still be in the code, just disabled by default. If you knew the right codes you could enable these features, at your own risk of course, and play with them. After 3.2 you could still access some of them for a while by hacking the software, but eventually most of them seem to have been completely removed, or well hidden. IIRC, Teach TiVo went away completely with 4.0.

So what was Teach TiVo? Well, early on TiVo wasn’t really sure how people would use TiVo. One of the concepts they had, to help with Suggestions, was to provide an interface in which users could edit their thumb ratings for not just programs, but actors, directors, etc. Basically it exposed the underlying thumb rating data system – when you rate a program you’re also influencing the ratings for any associated actors, directories, etc. Teach TiVo gave power users a way to fine tune their ratings. Say you hated a program, but happened to like one actor in it. You could rate the show down, but go in an adjust the actor’s rating up. Or vice-versa. But it did make for a bit of a complex interface and since it didn’t fit with TiVo’s philosophy of keeping the UI simple it was never completed and released.

So, anyway, this new ability to see your program thumb ratings and edit them sounds like a new, simplified approach to at least a subset of what Teach TiVo provided.

But that’s not all, exploring the menus has revealed some additional features. First and foremost, support for the Switched Digital Video (SDV) Tuning Adapter is here! Both Motorola and Cisco/Scientific Atlanta has their TAs scheduled for certification testing by CableLabs at the end of June. So if they passed testing we could see cable MSOs making them available soon, and it looks like TiVo users will be ready with 9.4.

And remember when the network remote control functionality was discovered in May? Since it is always on and has no security at all, at the time I said TiVo should really do something to protect that before someone writes malware designed to probe networks for a TiVo and send random commands to it. Well, it looks like TiVo has taken a step in that direction with 9.4 There is now a menu item for Network Remote Control and it is disabled by default:

“The network remote control feature allows your TiVo Digital Media Recorder to be integrated with home automation and entertainment control devices on your network. These device include touch panel remotes and other devices that are configured to work with TiVo’s network based remote control protocol. This setting will be enabled by your home entertainment or home automation installer.”

That’s certainly safer for the majority of users who will never use this feature, and the power users who will can easily enable it. It sounds like it is just an on/off toggle currently. I’d still like to see TiVo make it on/off/secure, with the secure option forcing some kind of authentication. But just being able to turn it off is a big step in the right direction and I’m glad TiVo did it. I just wish they’d officially publish the network remote protocol.

There is also a report that the Live TV buffer has been extended from 30 minutes to one hour. Looks like this was a false alarm, unfortunately.

Note that 9.4 is only for S3 & HD users, but I suspect there will be a 9.4.1 for S2 units to follow. We saw that with the last updates, with 9.3 for the S3 & HD, and then 9.3.1 for the S2. Since the TiVo HD is the current flagship and the focus for TiVo it isn’t surprising they’re now getting the updates first. Staggering the S3/HD and the S2 helps avoid overloading the engineering and beta teams by trying to do it all at once.

No word if this release includes updates under the covers to support H.264 decoding to handle the forthcoming YouTube support, or if that will be delivered in yet another update. I’d say it is a toss up. TiVo has certainly done that before, slipping features in an update deactivated and only enabling them later when the new feature launches.

The priority page hasn’t been updated yet for 9.4, but it probably will be soon.

Thanks to Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny for the heads up.

The current generation of CableCARD-compatible devices sold at retail are only capable of accessing our one-way services. They were not designed to be compatible with SDV, which is a two-way service. As a result, once the channels listed above are migrated to SDV, they no longer will be available to UDCPs. However, Time Warner Cable has worked with the rest of the cable industry and TiVo Inc. to develop an external device called a Tuning Adapter that will allow certain UDCPs, including TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD digital video recorders, to access channels delivered using SDV.

We expect to be able to offer Tuning Adapters to customers with compatible UDCPs later this year. At that time we will provide you with additional information on availability and device compatibility. It is currently contemplated that the Tuning Adapter will be provided at no additional charge. Until the Tuning Adapter becomes available, however, a Time Warner Cable digital cable set-top box will be required to view channels migrated to SDV – even if you own a Tuning Adapter-compatible UDCP. In addition, certain non-TiVo UDCP models may not work with the Tuning Adapter.

Since The Tuning Adapter is expected to be available starting in July, perhaps they’ll have them available before the August 20th SDV migration. Though one has to wonder, with the Tuning Adapter planned to be available soon, why not just wait to perform the SDV migration until they have them available? Why risk inconveniencing and possibly alienating customers? Corporations move in mysterious ways.

Expect to see more and more of these letters over he coming months as more cable MSOs turn to SDV to add capacity for the growing volume of HD content, as well as additional channels.

Notice to TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD owners: Cox, along with others in the cable industry, has worked with TiVo lnc to develop an external device called a Tuning Adapter that will allow TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD devices using CableCARDs to access channels delivered via SDV. Availability of the Tuning Adapter is expected later this year. At that time additional information will be sent to you. The Tuning Adapter will be provided by Cox at no charge. In the interim, continued access to channels delivered via SDV is available with a Cox digital set top receiver.

I have to say that Cox’s letter is very clear overall and explains the issues around SDV clearly and without unnecessary drama, and other cable MSOs could take a lesson from this. There is no FUD, no attempt to spook customers into jumping onto a Cox STB – quite the opposite really. I think the letter is clear and concise, I wish more companies communicated in this fashion.

So, it sounds like there will be a period of time between July 1, 2008, when Cox begins using SDV, and a point later in the year when they begin offering the Tuning Adapter, where users may lose access to some of their channels, unless they get a Cox STB for the interim. Since the Tuning Adapters are scheduled to be certified by CableLabs at the end of June, hopefully the gap will be a short one. But in any case it is nice to know they’ll be offering the TA for free. Hopefully this will be across all of Cox’s systems and not limited to Phoenix.

Since this is a critical issue and of interest to a lot of readers, the full press release is below.

May 19, 2008 08:00 ET

NCTA and TiVo Announce Progress on Switched Digital Adapter for TiVo DVRs

SDV solutions from TiVo, Motorola and Cisco currently undergoing CableLabs® testing

Cisco and Motorola tuning adapters on display at the 2008 Cable Show

TiVo HD DVRs with tuning adapter support on display at the CableNET and Motorola booths at the 2008 Cable Show

NEW ORLEANS, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO) , today announced that after a series of successful informal interoperability tests TiVo and several manufacturers of switched digital external tuning adapters have submitted products for formal testing at CableLabs. The tuning adapter will enable TiVo Series3™, TiVo HD DVRs, and certain other one-way digital cable ready consumer electronic devices that utilize CableCARDs™ to access digital cable channels delivered using switched digital technology.

“The ability to turn concept into reality this quickly is a testament to how closely cable operators, CableLabs, TiVo and other cable vendors have worked over the last several months to develop this first-of-its-kind marketplace solution,” said Kyle McSlarrow, NCTA President & CEO. “We are extremely grateful to TiVo for the critical role it has played throughout and are confident that customers will benefit from this solution enabling full access to switched digital channels.”

Motorola and Cisco have both developed external tuning adapters and are seeking qualification by CableLabs® before being delivered to cable operators for deployment. The tuning adapters are expected to be offered in the coming months by cable operators including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Cablevision in areas where switched digital technology is being deployed. The cable operators and TiVo plan to work cooperatively to alert TiVo subscribers about the availability or need of the new external adapter and to ensure that installation of the adapter and CableCARDs will be easy and seamless for the consumer.

TiVo has modified its software for its TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs to communicate with the external Tuning Adapter. TiVo announced that the modified software has been submitted to CableLabs for verification testing. Upon verification, the software upgrade will be made available to TiVo subscribers via a regularly scheduled update.

Switched digital technology enables cable operators to transmit individual channels to customers on an as-needed basis rather than broadcasting all channels to all subscribers all the time. Switched digital technology provides more flexibility for cable operators to utilize network capacity to deliver interactive digital services, high-definition (HD) channels, broadband Internet and digital phone service. The Tuning Adapter is intended to work on any Unidirectional Digital Cable Ready Product (UDCP) that has a USB connector and necessary firmware.

“We are pleased with the focus and cooperation that CableLabs and the cable industry has exhibited from the outset and are eager to see this solution through to fruition so that customers can enjoy access to all switched digital cable channels,” said TiVo CEO & President Tom Rogers. “This undertaking is a significant step forward in our ongoing relationship with the cable industry to develop technology and provide solutions that improve the television experience of cable subscribers.”

“Cisco continues to develop innovative video technology that allows cable operators to provide a broad range of video entertainment options, including high definition and niche content,” said Michael Harney, senior vice president, Cisco, Service Provider Video Technology Group. “As part of our portfolio of advanced technology, Cisco will have on display the STA1520 Switched Tuning Adapter, which was developed in conjunction with CableLabs, our cable operator customers and TiVo.”

“Motorola is committed to accelerating the delivery of personalized media experiences,” commented John Burke, senior vice president and general manager for Motorola’s Digital Video Solutions group. “Working collaboratively, we have developed a solution that extends the reach of innovative interactive services to TiVo users and we are pleased to be able to showcase this solution at the Cable Show.”

TiVo HD DVRs attached to Motorola external adapters are currently on display in both the CableNET and Motorola booths at the 2008 Cable Show in New Orleans. The 2008 Cable Show, which runs May 18 – 20, is the largest cable and telecommunications exhibition in the United States.

About TiVo Inc.

Founded in 1997, TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) pioneered a brand new category of products with the development of the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). Sold through leading consumer electronic retailers and our website, TiVo has developed a brand which resonates boldly with consumers as providing a superior television experience. Through agreements with leading satellite and cable providers, TiVo also integrates its DVR service features into the set-top boxes of mass distributors. TiVo’s DVR functionality and ease of use, with such features as Season Pass™ recordings and WishList® searches and TiVo KidZone, have elevated its popularity among consumers and have created a whole new way for viewers to watch television. With a continued investment in its patented technologies, TiVo is revolutionizing the way consumers watch and access home entertainment. Rapidly becoming the focal point of the digital living room, TiVo’s DVR is at the center of experiencing new forms of content on the TV, such as broadband delivered video, music and photos. With innovative features, such as TiVoToGo™ transfers and online scheduling, TiVo is expanding the notion of consumers experiencing “TiVo, TV your way.®” The TiVo® service is also at the forefront of providing innovative marketing solutions for the television industry, including a unique platform for advertisers and audience research measurement.

TiVo, ‘TiVo, TV your way.’, Season Pass, WishList, TiVoToGo, Stop||Watch, and the TiVo Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide. (C) 2008 TiVo Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About NCTA:

NCTA is the principal trade association for the U.S. cable industry, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s cable television households and more than 200 cable program networks. The cable industry is the nation’s largest broadband provider of high-speed Internet access after investing more than $130 billion to build a two-way interactive network with fiber optic technology. Cable companies also provide state-of-the-art digital telephone service to millions of American consumers.

Source: TiVo Inc.

CONTACT: Michael Boccio, +1-212-446-1867, mboccio@sloanepr.com, for TiVo
Inc.; or Brian Dietz of NCTA, +1-202-222-2350, bdietz@ncta.com

Web site: http://www.tivo.com/

Still, progress is being made. Be patient a little while longer all you folks with SDV issues.

As we’ve known for a while, the Motorola TA looks just like their DCT700 cable box. It is a very simple device with only five connections – coax in, coax out, USB, a diagnostics port, and power. In the demo it is connected in series with the TiVo HD cable into the MTR700, then out of the TA into the TiVo, and the USB connection to the TiVo. Ben reports that it works perfectly, tuning SDV channels transparently with no apparent delay compared to linear channels. He also says it should be available to cable MSOs in July, as I previously predicted, but no firm details on consumer availability or pricing yet.

All in all it sounds like good news. Maybe Ben can see if Cisco has their STA1520 on display as well.

Our records indicate that you have a Motorola Cable Card(s) that will no longer be compatible with our upgraded cable network as of May 31, 2008. Exchange your Motorola Cable Card(s) into an office today and we’ll give you HBO free and a converter free for 3 months.

I would bet good money that this means they’re implementing Switched Digital Video (SDV). But instead of explaining that, they’re trying to scare CableCARD users into returning them and switching to a cable STB. Another, far less likely, possibility is that they’re switching the head end to Cisco/Scientific Atlanta, or something incompatible with Motorola CableCARDs, but even if that were the case they’d be able, and required, to issue cards compatible with the new head end.

Either way, I think this is a nasty trick on the part of Comcast. They’re required by FCC mandate to support CableCARD, but they’ve phrased things in a way that is designed to make CableCARD customers think they’re out of luck and must switch to a cable STB. That’s bullshit. If they are switching channels to SDV, then what it would mean is those channels would no longer be available to users of UDCPs, like TiVo – at least until the Tuning Resolver is available later this year. But it does not mean the device, and the cards, are ‘no longer compatible’. Dirty tricks like these are why people have such low opinions of the cable industry. If you’re a TiVo (or any other CableCARD device) user and you got this flier from Comcast, don’t be scared into giving up your CableCARDs. And if anyone can scan it and send me a copy, or even fax or snail me a copy, let me know. I’d love to post it.

Thanks to Zatz Not Funny for the heads up.

EDIT: Reader Joseph Moran left a comment at Zatz Not Funny stating that this is in fact the issue I felt was less likely – they’re switching head ends:

I’m a Comcast Customer in SWFL and got one of those notices. Evidently, it’s not related to SDV; they’re switching from Motorola hardware to Scientific Atlanta equipment. This is supposedly because the Comcast sub-region I’m in used to be operated by Time Warner, so it needs to sync up with the other Comcast regions in the area (what they call “Classic” Comcast).

Which really changes very little – it is still a dirty trick, making it sound like CableCARD customers must convert to a cable STB. If Joseph is correct, then it does mean existing Motorola CableCARDs will stop working, but users should not have to give up CableCARD completely, but rather swap the Motorola cards for SciAtl cards.

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.

I did miss a couple of minutes in the middle of their presentation when my cell phone dropped the call. I quickly switched to Skype for the rest of the call, lesson learned – use Skype for this kind of thing in the future. I don’t think I missed much though, when I got back in they were still covering the history and I’ve been following that since early days. I’ll listen to the recording to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. (Nope.)

One interesting thing, the NCTA repeatedly praised or mentioned TiVo when talking about CE companies that have worked with the cable industry to work out issues with CableCARDs and to develop the Tuning Resolver.

From my point of view there really wasn’t any new ground covered, but then I’ve been following OpenCable, OCAP, tru2way, etc, pretty closely for a long time. So I’d be a little surprised if they did cover something I’d missed. But it was a good overview of the situation and their arguments do make sense. They pointed out that there are only roughly 380,000 consumer electronic devices using CableCARD – that’s TVs, TiVos, PCs, etc. And the cable industry overall has over 65 million video customers in the US. So the total percentage if people using UDCPs who will have issues with SDV is pretty small. And all of those using CableCARD TiVos will be able to use the Tuning Resolver, and likely all of those with a PC using CableCARD. The big question will be those using CableCARD-enabled TVs – many of them do not have USB ports, which means no Tuning Resolver. Those units that do have USB ports will require a firmware update, so it comes down to vendor support.

Gary Merson of HD Guru asked why cable companies don’t remove the analog channels to free bandwidth for digital channels instead of using SDV. This would inconvenience those using analog cable without a STB, for example connecting it directly to an old TV. Well, I think those numbers really help explain it. While Gary made the argument that CableCARD customers are likely to be premium customers paying for higher service tiers, there are a lot fewer of them than there are subscribers using analog cable. Cutting off analog channels would inconvenience many more users than implementing SDV does. On top of that, cable MSOs would have to provide STBs to all of their customers, which would be an enormous expense. And basic cable customers don’t like STBs any more than premium customers do.

Also, under an agreement with Congress and the FCC, it is an all-or-nothing proposition. Cable MSOs are required to continue offering an analog basic tier, unless they eliminate all analog channels. Going 100% digital is an exception to the requirement. But that would be a radical change to many MSOs, and again a great cost.

There are other business reasons not to take that approach. With the digital conversion coming to broadcast TV in February 2009, providing analog service is a business opportunity for cable. Antenna users are faced with adding a converter box or other device (such as a TiVo) with a digital tuner, buying a new TV with a digital tuner, or switching to a new service – analog cable. Analog cable would allow them to connect directly to their existing TV without adding another device.

Gary also asked for some assurance that consumers who invest in new tru2way TVs and devices will not be faced with another upgrade in 3-4 years, as those who invested in UDCP CableCARD devices are facing. I think the NCTA’s response was reasonable. Cable MSOs are deploying tru2way-enabled STBs now, with Time Warner in the lead and Comcast currently in second place. Over the next couple of years this will be an investment in millions of STBs and hundreds of millions of dollars. So the cable MSOs are not going to be eager to make that investment obsolete. But they really can’t state “Tru2way will not be replaced in the next five years” or anything like that. Predicting the future in a technical field is risky business. And despite what some might think, the cable industry isn’t one large conspiracy and each MSO is free to adopt different technology and services, within the regulatory framework.

However, I guarantee that tru2way will be replaced, someday. Probably not in the next 5 years, maybe not even 10, but it will happen. That’s just how technology works. Something bigger, better, faster will come along and the industry will shift. The cable industry tried to bypass CableCARD by going straight to DCAS, but when they lost that fight they were forced to invest hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, in CableCARD infrastructure. That will discourage any immediate push for DCAS, as they’ll want to recoup their investment. But DCAS, or something like it, seems to be the next logical step down the road. And when that happens it is likely there will be some new features that are not accessible to CableCard/tru2way devices. However, as more devices are upgradeable in software and firmware it is hard to say. Perhaps there will be a generic DCAS module that could plug into a CableCARD slot and add DCAS support to those devices. I wouldn’t rule it out, especially as the cable industry would probably like that to keep their CableCARD STBs compatible. But I wouldn’t worry about any of this in the near term.

They did say that the Tuning Resolver is a high priority for the cable industry and that development is still on track for summer availability. As I reported recently, it looks like early July will be the earliest possible availability date.

Ben Drawbaugh of Engadget shared his horror story of having his cable MSO try to talk him out of using CableCARD and the installers not knowing how to handle the install, and I have to second that. While Charter didn’t try to talk me out of using CableCARD, and the installers who have come to my home has been polite and courteous, they clearly didn’t have enough training and experience installing CableCARD. When I had my first install, as a TiVo Series3 reviewer, I could understand it as I was the first person in the territory to have CableCARDs installed in a TiVo and there weren’t even many CableCARD TVs installed. But over a year later the experience wasn’t much different. And when I’ve had trouble and needed support, the support techs are also woefully confused by CableCARD. As of the last time I called the automated system still didn’t have an option for CableCARD in the menus. Fortunately I’m fairly educated on the technology and determined (aka stubborn), and I was able to make a contact in my local office who has been willing to handle my issues without my dealing with the standard support system. The cable MSOs really need to do a better job on the customer service and support front with CableCARD.

I think Ben was a little confused on DCR+. My understanding of the DCR+ CE proposal pretty much agrees with how the NCTA sees it. It would be today’s DCR with the addition of limited two-way support for specific services such as SDV, PPV, and VOD. But it would not be an open platform for expansion and future services as OCAP is. Of course, specs can evolve so other features could be added to DCR+. However, at this point I personally think DCR+ is DOA. Consumer electronics vendors such as Panasonic and TiVo are already breaking ranks and developing OCAP/tru2way support, and virtually the entire cable industry is investing in OCAP/tru2way. DCR+ just doesn’t have the support to make it.

The call was recorded, and if you really want to know about the history and current situation I encourage you to listen to it, especially if you’re a blogger who covers this arena. It will be available after 15:00 EST today through May 25th (I guess they keep them for a month). Call 1-800-475-6701 and enter access code 920821.

A lot of bloggers were on the call, I know HD Guru, Engadget, Zatz Not Funny (which has already posted about the call), Multichannel News, and others were all on there, so keep watching for their posts.

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.

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.

The first is “Play nice with cable providers“, and he mentions the work with Comcast and Cox, and that TiVo shouldn’t compete with cable companies. But he doesn’t mention the development of the Tru2Way-enabled TiVo which could be offered to both consumers and cable MSOs and support all of the advanced services. So I think TiVo is already doing this quite nicely.

Next is “Be a software vendor” where he tells TiVo to focus on software and forget the hardware. This has come up repeatedly, and TiVo has repeatedly explained why they need the hardware. Controlling the hardware allows them to innovate and offer new features. Note that neither the DirecTiVo nor the Comcast OCAP software support most of the features available on the standalone boxes. TiVo would be a much, much more limited product if they only produced software for other vendors’ hardware. Having the standalone hardware allows TiVo to innovate and to drag the competition, kicking and screaming, forward. It provides competitive pressure.

Third is “Don’t just watch TV“, in which he extols TiVo to go beyond TV with more deals like Rhapsody and YouTube. I don’t think that’s a problem, since he’s basically telling TiVo to do something they’ve repeatedly stated will be a cornerstone of their plans.

And last is “Be social“. This one I think is worth partially quoting, because I have said TiVo should do the same things:

Be social. With nearly four million very engaged subscribers, TiVo has one of the most active social networks around. The company already lets users make recommendations and share videos. TiVo should evolve as a platform for members to talk about programs, create their own content, and share media.

Yes, please! I started suggesting similar things a few years ago. Let friends setup TiVo-based social networks to share recordings. And if that’s too daring to start, how about letting us share Suggestions – let me Suggest that my friend’s TiVo record a specific show. “Hey, check this out.” Setup discussion boards where users can share ratings and discuss shows. Let us upload the Thumb Ratings from our TiVos and match us with others who have similar tastes. There is really so much TiVo could do to foster community involvement that it is overwhelming – but right now they aren’t really doing anything. And that’s really frustrating.

Oh, and in case Dan reads this:

I do have an ulterior motive for writing this column. Right now, using a TiVo box—assuming I can get CableCard to work—means losing about half of my high-definition channels. That isn’t a trade-off I am willing to make. If TiVo could make nice with Cablevision, I could have my high-definition Dwell and watch it, too.

I presume that’s due to Switched Digital Video (SDV). Two words: Tuning Resolver. The solution is already in the works.

This time it looks like the complaints paid off, not only is Bright House restoring the HD channels they took away, but they’re also giving CableCARD customers access to the new HD channels added on February 1st, as well as the digital SD History and Biography channels. Bright House has started emailing those who complained:

Dear [Customer],

Thank you for getting in touch with us regarding our cable programming services. This letter is to advise you that Bright House Networks will activate for your cable service the following channels on an interim basis at no additional charge:

TBS HD Discovery HD
History HD Animal Planet HD
Food HD National Geographic HD
HGTV HD History International (SD)
Biography (SD)

When interactive Switched Digital Video (SDV), or other interactive advanced delivery technologies are deployed, Bright House Networks may need to reclaim these and other channels to create those platforms We expect the first of these new technologies, interactive Switched Digital Video to be available in our service area later this year. You will be notified thirty days in advance of this change.

If you have TiVo equipment, Bright House Networks fully supports the cable industry and TiVo initiative to design an external adapter to support Interactive Switched Digital Video. This external adapter will enable TiVo digital video recorders that use CableCards to access digital cable channels without using a set top box. Based on our understanding, the external adapter will be designed to attach to TiVo Series 3 HD DVRs. Once the external adapter is designed and made available, customers with this equipment will be able to directly access digital channels offered by Bright House Networks.

Thank you for being a Bright House Networks customer; we appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Sherrie Wrenchey
Customer Care Quality Manager
Bright House Networks Central Florida

I give Bright House credit for listening to their customers and reversing their decision to benefit their CableCARD customers until they really need the bandwidth and need to deploy SDV, by which time the Tuning Resolver should offer a more permanent solution for users.

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

The first generation of CableCARD TVs, which were all unidirectional, didn’t sell well and they’ve faded to just a few models left in the market. The hope is that the new generation of CableCARD sets, with Tru2Way, will succeed where the first generation failed. With Tru2Way the TV will have all of the functionality of a non-DVR cable STB – support for Switched Digital Video (SDV), OnDemand, PayPerView, on-screen program guide, etc. It will completely replace the cable box while providing all of the same functionality, unlike the first generation which only allowed access to linear content – no SDV, VOD, PPV, EPG, etc.

In theory, Tru2Way-enabled TVs could also offer DVR functionality, either with built-in storage or an external add-on. The cable MSO could push down OCAP-based DVR software, like TiVo’s software for Comcast, to provide the DVR functionality. But that would require support in the hardware, including encoding chips to handle the analog channels. (Note that I’m talking in general here, there is no sign of the Panasonic sets having any such features!) This would all be easier with a complete digital system. Once NTSC is phased out (less than year from now), the last obstacle will be the lingering analog cable channels. If a cable MSO went 100% digital, or at least offered digital simulcast of all their channels, it would be possible to provide DVR functionality without any encoding hardware. You’d simply need to save the signal as-received, and then play it back later – and the playback hardware is already in there, of course. (This is how satellite DVRs work today, they’re 100% digital. And there are some cable DVR models like this as well, for areas where the system is already 100% digital.)

ZatzNotFunny also covered this today.

In this regard, we are working in conjunction with CableLabs toward creating a standalone box that would be capable of providing the two way services provided by cable operators.

During the conference call Q&A he further elaborated that the Tru2Way-enabled TiVo standalone is seen as something TiVo can market to both consumers and cable MSOs. For consumers it would be marketed just like the TiVo HD, while for cable MSOs it would be offered as a STB for them to offer to their customers, just as they do today with Motorola or Scientific Atlanta boxes. This is similar to Digeo’s plans for the Moxi hardware, and it would offer a compliment and alternative to TiVo’s OCAP software for other hardware platforms.

The possibility of TiVo developing such a unit was first broached last November in an FCC filing relating to the Tuning Resolver:

In this proceeding, TiVo had expressed concerns about the cable industry’s OpenCable Application Platform (“OCAP”) specifications and license terms. In response to TiVo’s concerns, the cable industry has agreed to work with TiVo to make clarifications or adjustments to OCAP that may be necessary to enable TiVo to build what TiVo believes can be a viable retail DVR with OCAP. We explained that a TiVo DVR with OCAP would have a “TiVo mode” displaying all linear channels (including switched digital video enabled by OCAP) with the TiVo user interface and full DVR functionality as well as a “cable mode” running OCAP and displaying all cable programming services with the cable user interface without DVR functionality.

That was a strong indication that TiVo would be heading in this direction, but I believe today’s statements are the first to confirm that TiVo is indeed pursuing development of such a box. My bet would be on an evolution of the TiVo HD platform. This would most likely be mainly a software change, to provide the OCAP virtual machine platform, as well as the hand-off process for swapping between the TiVo platform and the OCAP platform. TiVo may be able to work off of their existing HME system, as they already have the ability to jump between ‘native’ and HME menus, etc. The major hardware change would be the addition of transceiver hardware to handle the bidirectional communication.

I do wonder if there is any possibility of these capabilities being introduced in the current Series3 and TiVo HD units. A Tuning Resolver could provide the bidirectional communication capability. If the existing hardware has the power to run the OCAP code, and I think it does, it could be a software update. But I’m not willing to bet on it, at least not until we have more details on the development effort.