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.

TiVo announced today that they will be bringing YouTube videos to the TV via the TiVo interface – but only on the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD:

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced an agreement with YouTube™ that will offer access to YouTube videos directly from the TV via a TiVo DVR. The service will be available later this year to broadband-connected subscribers with TiVo Series3™ DVRs, including the new TiVo HD.

Every day hundreds of millions of videos are viewed on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of videos are uploaded. Upon launch of the TiVo-YouTube service, TiVo users will be able to search, browse and watch these videos directly on their television sets through their broadband connected TiVo DVRs. The combination of having the YouTube experience with the convenience and familiarity of TiVo’s intuitive user interface will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to discover and enjoy the most shared and most discussed web videos in the world on their televisions. Importantly, users will be able to log into their YouTube accounts directly from their TiVo boxes and access their favorite YouTube channels and playlists.

“We’re delighted to be working with the world’s leading online video community so that TiVo subscribers can access YouTube’s popular content on the TV via the TiVo DVR,” said Tara Maitra, Vice President and GM of Content Services at TiVo Inc. “Being able to make available YouTube videos to the TiVo subscriber base using one device, one remote and one user interface is another major step in our commitment to combine all of your television and web video viewing options in one easy to use service.”

Now, before Series2 & Series2DT owners break out the pitchforks and torches, this was pretty much inevitable. It is a hardware issue, the Series2 platform is just behind the times. The Series3 family (which covers the box generally known as the Series3 and the TiVo HD) has hardware that can decode MPEG-2, MPEG-4/H.264, and WMV/VC-1 – while the older Series2 platform only decodes MPEG-2. That means the S3 platform can support more services than the S2, and that’s just how it is – technology moves ever forward.

Interestingly, TiVo may owe a major debt to Apple. YouTube long encoded all of their video in FLV, or Flash Video, format. But the Apple iPhone does not support Flash. In order to get YouTube on the iPhone, YouTube has re-encoded all of their videos into H.264, which is playable in QuickTime – and, coincidentally, in the decoders in the TiVo S3 platform. (Adobe also added H.264 support to the most recent versions of Flash, due to demand, so content providers can use H.264 for all their needs.)

Which leads me to the next point. This implies TiVo is enabling at least H.264 decoding. Today the hardware is there, but the software support is not. The S3 is limited to decoding MPEG-2 just like the S2. But this announcement certainly means they’ll be enabling MPEG-4/H.264 decoding, and I’m hoping it means they’ll also be enabling WMV/VC-1 decoding at the same time, but I won’t count on that. In any case, this little implied nugget is probably the biggest news of all,

Why? Because H.264 is a highly efficient codec which is widely used to encode video blogs and video downloads, including high-def video. (H.264, also known as AVC, is the most widely used codec on Blu-ray Disc, for example.) So this decoding capability would allow for much more than just YouTube (not that YouTube support isn’t big news, of course), such as wide support for video blogs – without the PC-based transcoding announced for TiVo Desktop 2.6, high-def movie downloads from Amazon Unbox (though Amazon Unbox uses WMV/VC-1 for their PC & portable downloads, which is why enabling that support on the TiVo could be good – same HD file could be played on the PC or TiVo), support for PC-to-TiVo transfers without needing to transcode, and possibly other services.

Back when the Series2DT launched I remarked that I was surprised TiVo didn’t include advanced codec support in the hardware, as they did with the Series3. I foresaw that online content would be increasingly important, and had genuinely expected TiVo to including H.264/VC-1 decoding in all of their new hardware at that point. I felt that keeping the S2DT restricted to MPEG-2 would prolong the transition because it would take longer to reach a critical mass of S3 units to make it worth developing features restricted to that platform. And I think that has been the case. But it looks like we’re finally reaching the tipping point, and I hope this is just the first of many new features to take advantage of the additional capabilities in the Series3 hardware.

I know Series2 owners may not be happy (I own two S2 boxes myself, as well as my S3), but this is just how it is. At some point old platforms can no longer support all the new features. Someday there will be a Series4 and it’ll almost certainly support things the Series3 cannot, just as the Series2 has features the Series1 lacked.

The factory renewed 80-hour TiVo Series2DT is back as a web special for just $49.99. You can get the 80-hour S2DT with a one-year monthly commitment at $12.95/month, or pre-pay one-year at $129, for a total of $178.99.

TiVo also has web specials on factory renewed TiVo HDs, at $249.99, and factory renewed Series3s, at $449.99.

Of course, you don’t want that TiVo HD offer – since you can get a factory renewed TiVo HD for $199.99, if you know where to look.

TiVo’s promotion wherein you purchase a TiVo HD and receive three months of service free expires on February 17, 2008. You buy the TiVo HD for $299.99, commit to one year of TiVo service @ $12.95/month, and the first three months of that year are free.

And this reminds me, the ability for any existing TiVo owner to pick up product lifetime on any new TiVo activation for $399 expires on February 13, 2008. So if you’re thinking of getting the soon to be gone TiVo Series3 with lifetime, this is probably your last chance.

Though you’ll still be able to get the TiVo HD with product lifetime bundle for $698.99 through April 1, 2008, along with the TiVo HD, WiFi Adapter, and $100 Service Gift Card bundle for $399.99.

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 past weekend my friend Jer pointed me to an ‘Ask The Readers’ post on Lifehacker in which Gina Trapani put out the call to TiVo users for their favorite TiVo tips and tricks. It seems Gina, sorry, ‘a friend’ of hers, recently picked up a TiVo Series3. A slew of reader responses flowed in, and I put in my two cents as well. I’ve been meaning to post about it here since Sunday, but this week has been a little crazy and I’m just finally getting to it. If you have any tips and tricks that haven’t been posted, I encourage you to drop a comment at Lifehacker.

One of the suggestions was on using the free Videora TiVo Converter to convert video downloaded from the Internet for transfer to the TiVo (via TiVoToGo/TiVoToComeBack). Gina turned this into a Lifehacker feature article, providing step-by-step instructions for Windows users on how to use the Videora TiVo Converter in this way.

After yesterday’s announcement that the TiVo Series3 is being EOL’d, I had a few questions about the future of the S3, and the heir-apparent, the TiVo HD.

- Will work continue on the Series3 to enable M-Card CableCARDs, or will it remain S-Card-only now?

- One of the lesser known features of the S3 is support for Crestron home control systems. In the past I’ve been told this is an S3-only feature, not available on the TiVo HD. Now that the S3 is being EOL’d, will this software support be brought over to the TiVo HD?

- Will the S3 ‘Glo’ remote continue to be produced and offered for users who prefer it?

- Are there any plans for additional TiVo HD models, say with 250GB drives?

I sent these off to my contact at TiVo and I’ll see what TiVo has to say about these issues. Are there any questions on your mind in light of the EOL announcement?

If you want to get an original TiVo Series3 TCD648250B, you’d better act soon, because they’re going away. TiVo is end-of-lifing the TCD648250B, the original Series3 with the OLED display, etc, and will focus on the TiVo HD, TCD652160. Lou Jacob of DVRupgrade just forwarded me this news from TiVo:

I wanted to give an update on our plans with the TiVo Series3 HD DVR. A successful implementation of the $200 rebate through the holidays has drained supply at a faster rate than anticipated. This has caused a continued component shortage that cannot be rectified for several months (4-6). Due to this parts supply situation, we have made the difficult decision to accelerate the EOL of this SKU and focus all efforts on the recently launched, lower cost TiVo HD DVR (TCD652160). Our sincere apologies for the short notice on this decision. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I’m not surprised. I’ve said a few times now that I expected TiVo to discontinue the original Series3 and likely the Series2DT, to focus solely on the TiVo HD platform going forward. Hopefully, with the demise of the S3, we may see some additional models in the TiVo HD line – large drives perhaps? So if, for some reason, you’re set on getting the original S3 with the OLED display, bundled Glo remote, and THX certification, you’d better find one before they’re gone. DVRupgrade still has some expanded units in stock.

EDIT: I emailed TiVo earlier today with a few questions about this news, and they sent me the following statement:

We are nearing the end of production on this particular model of the Series3 hardware. However, we are not ‘End Of Lifing’ the product (EOL). Development continues on new features and capabilities for all Series3 platforms, including this specific model. There is no impact to current or future customers of this model, they can continue to expect and enjoy the TiVo Service on their DVR. Availability of the 250G model will vary from retailer to retailer throughout the year, and as a result we are currently recommending the TiVo HD model as an alternative solution for their customers.

EDIT: See questions raised by the Series3 EOL.

A new TiVo 2008 Spring Rebate kicked in yesterday, 1/27/08, and runs through 4/5/08. The new rebate offers $150 back on Series2 and Series2DT units (TSNs starting with 264, 275, 540, 565, 590, 595, and 649) and $200 back on Series3 units (TSNs starting with 648). You need to purchase the unit by April 5th, 2008 and activate it by May 5th, 2008. See the rebate for full terms and conditions, also in PDF.

WeaKnees announced via their blog that they’re now offering 2TB upgrade kits for the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD. The kits include one internal drive, to replace the factory drive, and one external eSATA drive. This capacity doesn’t come cheap, the kits are priced at $799.