TheCableShow2008
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The Cable Show 2008 roundup
This was the first time The Cable Show was back in the Big Easy since Katrina, and the first we've attended, too. For those unfamiliar, it's the cable industry's biggest event, and we certainly left with a new perspective on Big Cable. In case you missed what's coming down the coax in the next year, here's a rundown of our coverage.Hands-on and on location Hands-on with the Motorola Tuning Adapter MTR700 Hands-on with the Cisco Tuning Adapter STA1520 The Cable Show 2008 floor tour The CableNET Booth tour at The Cable Show Up close and personal with the new Pace HD STBs Samsung shows off SMT-3090 tru2way DVR Cable has big plans for tru2way Announcements Motorola study finds millennials hungry for VOD Tuning adapters hit CableLabs testing lair, still not ready for public consumption ADB shows off tru2way STB to MSOs ESPN unveils The Ultimate Remote, is WiFi worth $300? ESPN ratings 43% higher in HD homes than SD abodes in April Motorola's SmartStream remote diagnostics to replace truck rolls Comcast claims more HD than anyone, anywhere Time Warner Cable signs up MGM HD QVCHD launches on SES AMERICOM satellites
Cable has big plans for tru2way
We first heard about tru2way just before CES and at first we were confused, then after checking out all the tru2way HDTVs at CES, we realized it as a way for us access VOD and other interactive services on our non-cable issued HDTVs or TiVo DVRs. But now that we had the chance to sit in a on a few tru2way developers sessions, and walk the floor at this year's Cable Show, we are starting to get the big picture. You see there really wasn't that many mentions of third-party tru2way devices at the show. Instead everyone was more interested in the cable companies deploy schedule for their own tru2way STBs. Developers want to know how to get their applications onto customer's TVs, and cable companies hope to spawn new growth by providing interactive services while at the same time eliminating its dependency on a single STB manufacturer.
ADB shows off tru2way STB to MSOs
Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) showed off the first fully certified tru2way STB at The Cable Show. While we're eager to get tru2way capabilities wrapped into our TVs, this is the next best thing. With a name like ADB-4820C, though, you know this device is aimed at multiple system operators (MSOs) only. The unit certainly looks friendly enough, though -- it's slim and designed to be mounted on the back of a TV and has a good-sized selection of outputs: RF, S-Video, composite and HDMI (with CEC) should make it suitable for deployment on just about every TV. Likewise, all the cable format bases are covered: MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC-1. Pricing and availability will depend, of course, on your cable provider; but it's available to them now.[Via Asia Business News]Read - ADB-4820C Press release [PDF]Read - ADB-4820C Spec sheet [PDF]
Up close and personal with the new Pace HD STBs
It's tough to get too excited about new cable STBs, but the latest crop do have some pretty cool features. The coolest new feature we noticed -- other than tru2way of course -- was the fact that the new line of Pace HD STBs have a built in DOCSIS modem. This will allow the STB to access the Internet, but also via the included Ethernet port on the back, you can say goodbye to your dedicated cable modem. Anytime we can get rid of yet another box and accompanying wall-wart, we're happy.%Gallery-23245%
The Cable Show 2008 floor tour
The Cable Show is all about bringing the members of the cable TV industry together, and unlike the Consumer Electronics Show, everything is all about business to business. But this doesn't mean the big players don't have big booths, and just like any other show, everyone wants to be on the main aisle. So while we strolled through, we snapped some pics so you could get an idea of what it was like. Also like any other show, some booths were packed like Motorola's and Cisco's, but others were like a ghost town -- we almost felt sorry for the Aljazeera booth folks who were talking amongst themselves. The one thing that seemed to hold true wherever we went, was that everyone is excited about tru2way, and not for the reasons you think. Cable really thinks it has a chance to take interactivity to the next level, and we hope they're right.%Gallery-23240%
The CableNET Booth tour at The Cable Show
All of the coolest stuff at The Cable Show was on display at the CableNet booth. The Motorola Tuning Adapter was there, but it was only one of about 30 small demos. The rest were from a entire range of companies showing off how cable can be the center of the connected home. There were software vendors showing off their tru2way award winning games -- which made us wonder if they were the only one -- Moxi's had its long overdue DVR for MSOs, GE and Next Alarm were hoping to help big cable get into the monitoring business, Sigma Designs had a triple HD tuner chipset, and finally Samsung was showing off its tru2way DVR and software called SeeNSearch which adds Internet links to the program guide and lets you access web pages directly from the guide for display on your TV, but interestingly, isn't tru2way.%Gallery-23233%
Hands-on with the Cisco Tuning Adapter STA1520
Unlike Motorola's Tuning Adapter demo, Cisco's wasn't a functional demo, but basically the two boxes do the same thing. The Cisco version is considerably bigger (the box on the top is a basic digital converter, not the TA), but includes the same exact connections. While Moto claims its adapter will be available in July, Cisco is saying it'll come sometime during the 3rd quarter, which could mean the same thing. Like Moto, Cisco is reusing an existing STB form factor so although it appears the box has a CableCARD slot, it doesn't.%Gallery-23218%
Hands-on with the Motorola Tuning Adapter MTR700
The highlight of The Cable Show for us was actually to be able to see the Motorola Tuning Adapter in action. Sure it isn't that exciting of a product, but just the idea that our beloved TiVo won't be useless because of the fact that all latest HD channels are being deployed with SDV (Switched Digital Video) is enough to get us going. The MTR700 was named before CableLabs renamed the class of product from Tuning Resolver to Tuning Adapter, and should be available to cable companies in July. Unfortunately there's really no way to tell how long it'll take before your provider makes it available to you, or for how much. For the most part, there's no change from a user's perspective, so much so that for the demo the channels were relabeled so we could tell which were SDV, and which weren't. In fact the only way you can even tell this thing is connected, is because the TiVo's Devices menu has a new option with a whole slew of troubleshooting options for the cable guy. Changing channels was just as fast -- or slow depending on your perspective -- as a TiVo HD tuning standard HD broadcast channels. Click on through to the gallery to see all the pictures of it in action.%Gallery-23175%
tru2way demonstrations to dominate The Cable Show
The Cable Show '08 is shaping up to be quite the event. Not only will Motorola's forthcoming MTR700 tuning resolver be on display and strutting its stuff, but the much anticipated tru2way technology will be impossible to miss. Companies such as Samsung, Sigma Designs, and Zodiac Interactive will be in New Orleans showing off tru2way tech, while advanced video demonstrations are promised to come from Digeo, Motorola, Pixel3, and Symmetricom. More specifically, Sigma Designs will be demoing an "integrated tru2way-based set-top-box that features four narrow band tuners which can display three video channels -- HD as well as SD," while Zodiac Interactive trumpets its Zidget framework, which "utilizes its plug-in architecture to support applications such as local search, weather, traffic, sports scores, and local news without disrupting the TV viewing experience." Needless to say, May can't come soon enough.
