Cable industry commits to two-way pact

[Gregg Lengling]

http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6288333.html
After more than two years of protracted negotiations, there are signs that the pending two-way agreement between the cable and consumer electronics industries may be on the move.

The cable industry today filed a set of voluntary regulatory commitments with the Federal Communications Commission, potentially setting a roadmap for consumer electronics manufacturers to field interactive digital cable TVs and other devices without the need for a set-top box. A proposed FCC regulation includes voluntary benchmarks - agreed to by the cable industry - that call for larger cable operators to roll out the OpenCable Applications Platform in cable headends by July 1, 2009.

[msofan]

WOW!!! This is great! I just bought a set that is CableCARD ready. Do you know if I would just need a different card for the two-way communication or is the TV (Sony KDLV40XBR1) pre-programmed to accept these new devices? I would like to use the CableCARD to reduce the extra A/D conversions especially for the SD tier but will keep my SA 8300 for the time being to retain the interactive features, TVGuide and of course the DVR capability. Any inkling as to whether the new cards might have a DVR type of capability? Sorry for the questions but there is so much pent-up anticipation. Hopefully we don't have to wait the full time limit (2009) before the cards hit the market!

[Gregg Lengling]

WOW!!! This is great! I just bought a set that is CableCARD ready. Do you know if I would just need a different card for the two-way communication or is the TV (Sony KDLV40XBR1) pre-programmed to accept these new devices? I would like to use the CableCARD to reduce the extra A/D conversions especially for the SD tier but will keep my SA 8300 for the time being to retain the interactive features, TVGuide and of course the DVR capability. Any inkling as to whether the new cards might have a DVR type of capability? Sorry for the questions but there is so much pent-up anticipation. Hopefully we don't have to wait the full time limit (2009) before the cards hit the market!

Chances are the TV will not support 2-way..there may be some models out there that can have a firmware upgrade to support it....but we'll have to wait and see.  Looking at how long the first Cable Cards took to get support, I wouldn't hold my breath for a quick adoption of 2-way by the Cable Companies.