TW - Box Required?

[picopir8]

Contemplating getting basic cable this fall so I can be sure to be able to get the Packer games.  Are the locals encrypted thus forcing customers into also renting a box or if I can use my own QAM capable decoder?

[borghe]

the bad news is that the TWC is in fact encrypted.. So no way you can get it without a cable box.

The good news is that as of Thursday, cable companies are required to provide OpenCable plug and play compatibility. So if you have one of the few TVs out there that are OpenCable compatible (recognized by the smart card slot on them) you can get basic HD cable without a cable box.

[summerfun]

Originally posted by borghe
The good news is that as of Thursday, cable companies are required to provide OpenCable plug and play compatibility. So if you have one of the few TVs out there that are OpenCable compatible (recognized by the smart card slot on them) you can get basic HD cable without a cable box.

Would that also work with a cable card enabled STB/DVR box (if one exist) and use a regular HDTV that does not have a card slot?

[picopir8]

I am looking for an HD DVR as well so I guess Ill hold out for one that supports opencable.  It comes out a bit later than I want, but the Motorola HDT500R looks like it will be the perfect fit for me.  Its an 8VSB/QAM decoder w/ opencable support and DVR w/ 160 GB of storage space.   The press release says late 3rd quarter 2004.  Realisticly that probably means 4th quarter or even 1st quarter 2005.  Hopefully it will be a quality product.

[oz]

The non-HD local channels through TWC are not encrypted.

[borghe]

yes, technically TWC is supposed to, as of 7/1, support any cablecard customers out there, whether TV or STB.

[beckkl]

I have one of the TV that has a cablecard slot....  how does it work?

[mhz40]

Originally posted by beckkl
I have one of the TV that has a cablecard slot....  how does it work?

You get one installed into a cable-card ready TV by an installer and it decrypts the signals just like a digital set top would, only using your TV's own tuner and remote control.  Once installed, the card is tied to the specific TV and can not be plugged into anything else (even if the same model) without the cable company making some changes on your account first.
You can get any one-way service minus the interactive guide with a cable card.  I think the "rental" is under $2/month.

[The Law]

by "any one-way service", I take it the cable-card does not support inDemand and the like?

[borghe]

The OpenCable system will EVENTUALLY support two-way communication. Unfortunately on all current/first generation implementations it will only support one way. So yeah, this means no VOD or PPV. I imagine you still could order PPV by phone or online but probably no VOD. Though no interactive guide kind of stinks.. I thought that was a one way service...

Edit - Ok, did some looking.. apparently this is true of all cable systems.. The program guide is two way on a cable system (weird being it is one way on satellite). And three of the cable systems I checked all say no PPV. Here is more info on TWC in particular:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/corporate/products/digitalcable/cablecard.html

Two-way services are coming in future implementations though and tWC is already working on replacing the guide in SARA and Passport (SA and Pioneer) with an OCAP compliant version by MystroTV. The new version will be able to handle all two-way services and is expected to be out by late 2004 early 2005. However I imagine this new IPG will still only be compatible with OpenCable TVs when they start supporting two-way services.

[beckkl]

So what is the advantage?  Not having a set-top box?  Price?

[borghe]

the advantage is paying only $2 a TV for full digital/HD cable per TV vs. $8. With CableCard cable hardware prices are lower than satellite. Right now satellite is free for the first TV, $5 for each additional one. Cable is $8 per TV starting with the first. So 3 TVs for example would cost you $10/month with satellite, but $24/month with cable. With CableCard that fee will be down to $6/month. Four TV's would work out to $15/$32/$8. It isn't free (which it should be.. do they really get charged anywhere near $2/month/card???) but it is damn near it.

But the real payoff comes when two way OpenCable devices start hitting the market.. Most importantly DVR. Bring your DVR with you when you move across country. Keep all of your existing shows. Only pay $2/month for the card (plus DVR fee), etc.

Basically to put it simply, yes it is about money.. A lot of the price advantages we satellite subscribers have had over the years comes down directly to hardware. We have gotten most of our hardware for nothing or near nothing (and yes I consider $99 for a DVR or HD box near nothing) and pay much less for monthly activations on that hardware. Now cable subs will be in the same boat with CableCard..

[borghe]

one more thing surfing around OpenCable.com that I thought was kind of cool is apparently the ability for cable companies to reprogram your two way device's IPG. So TWC can spend all of their money working on their OCAP compliant IPG, but when you move into Comcast territory they have the ability to reprogram your box with their OCAP compliant IPG. That is pretty slick IMHO.

[mhz40]

Originally posted by borghe
[clip]The program guide is two way on a cable system (weird being it is one way on satellite). And three of the cable systems I checked all say no PPV. [/clip]

The program guide is only one-way.  The issue with no guide with the cable card is based on the fact that the client for the guide is resident in the digital set top boxes, whereas the cable card does not have the hardware or memory to support a guide in it's current state.

MHz40

[borghe]

a true OCAP compliant guide from what I've read is field upgradeable on an opencable system. So once TWC finishes implementing their new system they should technically be able to push it out to the opencable system provided your internal tuner was designed to handle such a push (much like how Tivo upgraded all of their systems with a grid guide after a while).

We'll see after this year I guess..