tru2way
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Motorola gets official with its tru2way toolkit
Although everyone isn't on board the tru2way train, those that are excited about it, are pushing forward. Today Motorola officially announced its tru2way toolkit. The kit will includes software to run on Windows XP, as well as a Motorola tru2way STB for real world testing. So whether you work for a cable company that's ramping up for deployment, or just an independent developer hoping to break into a walled garden near you, you'll be able to test your application without all the normally insanely expensive equipment like a your own personal headend. The exact price wasn't included in the release, but whatever it costs, Motorola assures you there won't be any 3rd party licensing fees as the kit is based on open source tools.
Verizon to the FCC: We're not down with tru2way
Finally, a multi-system operator that see this whole two-way CableCARD problem the same way we do. Don't get us wrong, we want to get rid of our providers STB as much as the next, but the way we see it is tru2way isn't that great, but is better than nothing. Just like Verizon, we'd like to see "a cable-centric approach to interactive connectivity [that] does not inhibit technological innovation... or disadvantage other segments of the video marketplace." Or in other words, having the choice of what hardware that we may use on our provider's network isn't good enough, we want to choose the software too. While the rest of the cable industry thinks tru2way is open, we think it is about as open as AOL Internet access was-- so yeah, it's a walled garden. The other thing that really hit home with us about Verizon's statement, was that it thinks the approved solution should be an "all-provider" solution, meaning it should be the same no matter if the provider uses coax, fiber, copper or satellite to deliver services. We couldn't agree more, and would love nothing more than to be able to use an HD TiVo (for example) on any provider we wanted without being forced to give up any features such as HD or VOD.
LG, Funai officially jump on the tru2way bandwagon
tru2way might not be entirely without issues, but add one more major ally to CableLabs' two-way technology, as LG (and Funai) both signed onto the same Memorandum of Understanding ratified by the six largest cable operators and a slew of consumer electronics manufacturers. Ideally, this means tru2way rollout will be speedy, and there will be plenty of hardware on shelves over the next year. LG prez Woo Paik expects HDTVs planned for '09 and beyond to include tru2way support, hopefully their compatibility testing will go a little bit better than Panasonic's.
Switched On: Net-enabled movies pit a blue ray versus a true way
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.
