FCC waives 1394 requirement in lieu of an IP interface
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted June 27th 2010 9:13PM
posted June 27th 2010 9:13PM
On Thursday July 1st it'll have been five years since the FCC mandate went into affect requiring all cable set-top boxes to have a 1394 port. Well, anyone who's ever tried to obtain and use said port knows it is neither convenient or terribly useful. The problem is that even when the port is functional, most of the content is locked down with DRM. Third party 1394 based DVRs have never been any good, and companies like Microsoft and TiVo aren't interested in supporting the interface. We can't say we blame them, in fact 1394 is on its way out and even Apple doesn't support it on the iOS line of products anymore and while 1394 used to be the de facto standard for digital camcorders, most new ones don't use 'em. So it isn't a shocker in the least bit that the FCC has granted a waiver on the mandate and now while operators are still required to make boxes with functional 1394 ports available to those who request it, the rest of the boxes can just support an IP interface instead. Of course this doesn't mean you'll actually be able to use this IP interface, but there's no reason to believe that the DRM used to lock down the content will ever be supported by anything that you'd actually want to consume content on.
Of course this doesn't mean you'll actually be able to use this IP interface
WTF then what is the pont
@Cheesus Crust point*
@Cheesus Crust
The Firewire port can also be used for controlling the box. We are long overdue for a standardized wire control mechanism for home audio and video devices.
"...even Apple doesn't support it on the i-line of products anymore..." False. Firewire 800 (IEEE 1394-B) is standard on the iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook Pros and Mac Mini. The only machine that doesn't include it right now is the MacBook.
Can you please state your sources for that quote?
-Brian
@brianbobcat
Apple has discontinued FireWire on various products such as the iPod and the newer Macs themselves have started omitting the port.
@Master of the Intangible You're only half true. Yes it's disappeared from iPods, and that happened several years ago, but as far as FireWire on Macs, the white MacBook is the only CURRENT Mac without FireWire 800. Also, keep in mind that FW800 is backwards compatible with FW400.
-Brian
how about FCC require alternate playback device compatibility?
And you want the FCC to take over the internet?
@MickBurke
FCC's not taking over the internet. That's false information.
@MickBurke And you want the companies who don't even want to put ANY means of getting content off to be in charge?
At least the FCC is requiring DVR manufacturers to provide you a method of backing up your content.