Opencable debating "Firewire"...................................
multichannel.com
Where this ultimately leads is to a place where there are truly digital cable-ready TV sets, VCRs and DVD [digital-versatile-disc] players, which the cable operator simply outfits with an addressable module with security and encryption," Chiddix said. "The TV or VCR is able to access broadband assets, which cable has -- it's good for both industries."
But it won't happen without more hard labor, involved executives said.
"Over the course of the next year-and-a-half, there are really tough issues to be resolved between our industry and the consumer-electronics industry in order to get a set-top into the marketplace that is beneficial to consumers," said David Beddow, senior vice president of Tele-Communications Inc.'s TCI Technology Ventures.
At the top of the "tough-issues" list is developing the POD module and interface receptacle.
Because cable operators must stop deploying set-tops with embedded security in 2005, MSOs must work fairly quickly to devise the PODs, so that premium signals can be secured via removable POD cards by that deadline.
Beyond that, Beddow said, other snarly issues include how to address the HDTV and fire-wire situation, as well as how to define business issues so that advanced services can work within the boundaries of the set-top boxes that TCI and other MSOs have on order.
"That means issues of processing power, graphics types and capabilities and memory configurations," he explained.
Beddow added that TCI is currently favoring Sony's fire-wire approach while the OpenCable fire-wire specification gets sorted out.
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