Panasonic holds live tru2way demonstration on TH-50PZ80Q plasma

They said they were going to do it, and do it they did. While Samsung's tru2way "demonstration" was barely more than a hack job used to show off what the technology was about, Panasonic demoed the real deal at its CEDIA booth. The 50-inch TH-50PZ80Q plasma contained a real CableCARD (yes, we checked) and was receiving a live signal from Comcast. Denver is just one of a few markets where tru2way is theoretically ready to rock, and according to a Panny rep, the set we saw today is a production unit that will ship sometime "later this year." The idea here is to provide buyers with the ability to insert any CableCARD from any carrier (if you move, for example) into an HDTV, thus eliminating the cable company's stranglehold (best known as a "carrier-issued set-top-box") on you. The demo we saw went over very well -- everything was responsive and image quality was excellent. See for yourself in the gallery at Engadget HD.

[Baz Anderson @ Sep 5th 2008 5:04PM]

Now if they could make an HDTV that could be paid for with my frail, bedraggled credit card.




http://www.popcultureofdestruction.com

[ah @ Sep 5th 2008 5:00PM]

Well I dont know about you guys, but I sure am relieved.

[The Dude @ Sep 5th 2008 5:24PM]

I don't know about you, but "Deep Rising" sounds like a porno.

[Esat Dedezade @ Sep 5th 2008 5:56PM]

Like a porno gone wrong.

[thecodeman @ Sep 5th 2008 5:15PM]

That's pretty cool.

[Vesh @ Sep 5th 2008 5:15PM]

Am I the only one that cringes every time Panasonic is referred to as Panny?

[wyatt @ Sep 5th 2008 6:14PM]

no, so do i. but not as badly as when someone says "lappie" for a notebook.

[Unbiased @ Sep 5th 2008 9:58PM]

I thought I was the only one! I also cringe when Samsung is referred to as Sammy.

[Jason Hansen @ Sep 5th 2008 5:16PM]

Most cable companies still require you to use their CableCards which are rented as well.

[MastrCake @ Sep 5th 2008 5:17PM]

Add a Hard Drive for DVR, and I'm sold!

Panasonic already makes awesome TV's,

[David S @ Sep 5th 2008 5:29PM]

So now I get the crappy Comcast guide without the box. Joy.

[Andy @ Sep 5th 2008 5:48PM]

Now just make that guide actually widescreen and we are in business. Whats with the hour and a half guide for a few channels, give me 3-4 hours and 8-10 channels per page like they demoed last year.

What difference will it make if we still have to use the same crap software guide that Comcast has on their boxes.

[Jon Acheson @ Sep 5th 2008 6:08PM]

The picture was excellent? Are you sure it was Comcast?

[Jeff @ Sep 5th 2008 8:09PM]

I can't believe that cable companies in Canada weren't forced into using cable cards.

[allenvanhellen @ Sep 6th 2008 2:17AM]

I hope this catches on. Last night, my cable box rebooted when I tried to "start-over" the Colbert Report; ten minutes later, I was finally watching it. Ironically, I'd originally only missed the first 10 seconds and thought I'd try out the "feature". Nice one, Scientific Atlanta!

[Mark M @ Sep 6th 2008 5:50AM]

I'm just happy to see CableCARD capitalized correctly! I would expect that most CableCos will still require you to use their card - which is vaguely (very very vaguely) like a GSM cell-phone SIM card from AT&T or T-Mobile (or like one of those cards you slip into a satellite receiver) in that it contains an ID number that identifies your account. I was hoping to see them switch over to a smaller "smart card" format, since in theory the smarts inside the CableCARD are supposed to be transferred to the new tru2way hardware/software built into the TVs themselves; at least that was implied in the early days of OCAP.

What I wonder is if the CableCos will still require an (expensive for them) on-site visit from a tech for the install.

Note that enabling tru2way presumably requires changes to the CableCos head-end equipment, so its not just like flipping a switch. Complicates things for them a bit, since they are also supposed to be working on the changeover to support DOCSIS3.

CableCARDs are strictly a U.S. phenomenon; they are the response of the U.S. CableCos to U.S. federal government mandates (which they've been trying to weasel out of for the past decade).

[Nate @ Sep 6th 2008 10:23AM]

Excellent...any chance this will work in a current gen HTPC?

[Date @ Oct 15th 2008 5:38PM]

Really why not just add wifi and add the capability to save directly onto a external source instead of using the TV's data space. While your at it add usb hard drive and flash drive support there is no reason this TV shouldn't be able to play an episode of Bleach from a flash drive. If you have to use codec's lol I'm sure that would take nvidia or any other company in a whole new direction with its decoder's.