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CableCard in any of the new 52" panels?

post #1 of 2
2/4/07 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking for a new 1080p 52" LCD panel to buy sometime in 2007 (as soon as the right model is available).

Do any of the current (or soon to be released) 52" panels have a CableCard slot?

I see that some of the panels list QAM tuning along with ATSC, but I can't find any mention of CableCard...

This is a big deal to me. (Yes, I know all the pros and cons - I've been a CableCard user since they first came out in July 2005. I hate boxes, want to use the TV remote, etc. I want CableCard.)

I noticed that the Sony XBR SXRD sets (60" and 70") have both a built-in onscreen TV guide and CableCard. This would seem to solve the whole "no on-screen guide" issue with CableCard 1.0. Regardless, I can't figure out why Sony doesn't put these features in the 52" LCD XBR3 panel which is the same price as the 70" SXRD!
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post #2 of 2
2/5/07 at 1:55am
Quote:


I noticed that the Sony XBR SXRD sets (60" and 70") have both a built-in onscreen TV guide and CableCard. This would seem to solve the whole "no on-screen guide" issue with CableCard 1.0. Regardless, I can't figure out why Sony doesn't put these features in the 52" LCD XBR3 panel which is the same price as the 70" SXRD!

We'll see fewer and fewer CableCard devices in 2007. There are a lot of reasons why, but here are a few:
  1. Adding CableCard functionality is expensive.

  2. Today's CableCard functionality is inferior and far less elegant than that provided by STBs and DVRs, and the gulf between the two continues to grow. Cable companies continue to invest heavily to improve their software (ex: upcoming Tivo software upgrade for Comcast/Cox STBs) while development of the current TVGoS software used in TVs is virtually dead. It's like giving customers the option to use Windows 95 instead of the latest OSX; there's no way customers choose the former once they've seen the latter.



  3. A number of cable companies have begun to use SDV to deliver new channels, and SDV isn't compatible with the unidirectional OpenCable (i.e. the current CableCard spec). With current CableCard devices, you don't get SDV channels. Time Warner uses SDV extensively, and Comcast has indicated plans to adopt it in the next 12-24 months.

  4. Unidirectional OpenCable (i.e. current CableCard spec) isn't compatible with Video on Demand, which is become more compelling as providers add new and exclusive content, including more in high-def.

  5. Availability of the guide information for the TVGoS software is limited, and widely available only in larger markets. Moreover, availability of this information is not improving. On the contrary, guide information is no longer available in markets where it was 12-24 months ago. As adoption of the TVGoS software by TV manufacturers decreases, so too does the willingness of Gemstar to pay broadcasters to carry its guide information.
Once the hardware and software specifications for the bidirectional OpenCable 2.0 standard are ratified, you'll see television manufacturers more widely adopt CableCard with OCAP. With these next-generation displays, you'll have access to SDV channels and VOD, and you will get exactly the same guide and interface with the TV that you get with the cable-provided set-top box, rather than an inferior one like TVGoS. Samsung recently demonstrated a preproduction 56" DLP with the technology, and you can expect that functionality in many of their 2008 models.
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