Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 - 02:50 pm:

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Time Warner Cable thanks you for choosing us as your video provider. We are writing to our valued CableCARD customers to provide advance notice of important upcoming changes that will affect your ability to watch certain channels if you use a CableCARD-equipped retail device that only provides one way service. These one way devices are also called a "UDCP".

Time Warner Cable is rolling out a new two way interactive technology known as Switch Digital Video [sic] (SDV). SDV is a particularly exciting bandwidth breakthrough that makes it possible for us to offer many additional services, including new HD channels and HD versions of popular existing channels, to our customers. SDV allows us to provide these additional services, while at the same time continuing to offer existing services, because channels delivered using SDV are only transmitted over the cable system on an as-needed basis. As a result, SDV uses system capacity more efficiently than the traditional, always-on method.

The current CableCARD compatible devices sold at retail can only access one way services. They were not designed to be compatible with SDV, which is a two way service. On July 28, 2008 Time Warner Cable will begin providing a number of our existing, less-viewed channels via SDV. Please see the reverse side of this letter for a list of these channels. This means that beginning July 28 you will not be able to view these channels on your one way CableCARD device.

We recognize the frustration this may cause you so Time Warner Cable has worked with the rest of the cable industry and TiVo Inc. to develop an external device called a Tuning Adapter that will allow certain UDCPs, including TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD digital video recorders, to access channels delivered using SDV.

We expect to be able to offer Tuning Adapters to customers with compatible UDCP's later this year. At that time we will provide you with additional information on availability and device compatibility. It is currently contemplated that the Tuning Adapter will be provided at no additional charge. In the meantime until the Tuning Adapter becomes available, a Time Warner Cable digital cable set-top box will be required to view channels migrated to SDV. In addition, certain non-TiVo UDCP models may not work with the Tuning Adapter.

We have created a special offer to help you during the transition. Please contact us at (800) 782-6516 if you would like to learn about the offer or have other questions. Either way, we will contact you when the Tuning Adapter is available.

We thank you again for choosing Time Warner Cable San Diego.

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East Coast Premiums (West coast channels still available with CableCARD)

HBO East

Showtime East

Starz East

International Premiums

The Filipino Channel

Saigon Broadcast TV

Movie Package

Encore East	Encore Action East	Encore Mystery East
Encore True Stories East	Encore Westerns East	Encore Love Stories East

Spanish Language Package

Cine Latino	Sopresa	Fox Sports en Espanol
MUN2	MTV Tr3s	Video Rola
Canal Sur	CNN en Espanol	Discovery Espanol
Boomerang Espanol	Toon Disney Espanol	EWTN Espanol
ESPN Deportes	Gol TV

Sports Package

ESPNU	ESPNEWS	ESPN Classic	SPEED
SPEED	Fox Soccer Channel	FCS Pacific
FCS Central	FCS Atlantic	HorseRacing TV
Tennis Channels	GSN	NBA TV
Fuel	CBS College Sports Network

High Definition Channels

Universal HD	MOJO HD	HD Net
HD Net Movies	NBA TV HD

Posted on Thursday, July 03, 2008 - 01:26 pm:

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Would the SDV roll-out mean that we might see HD Tennis Channel soon?

That's the one I'm really, really wanting to have...

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Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 - 01:32 am:

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Even so, SDV systems are an attractive alternative to replacing fiber-optic and coaxial cables with higher capacity lines.

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Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 - 01:11 pm:

I have two of them in my TiVo S3 and it's not even capable of using them in M-Mode. I started with two S-Cards, one of which failed multiple times and on the third trip out the guy replaced both with M-Cards.

TiVo S3 was designed to be able to use a single M-Card in M-Mode to service both tuners, but they decided to launch the product before the M-Card spec was complete and they could get prototypes to test with. After M-Cards hit the scene, they found out that it doesn't work as planned, so it only uses them in S-Card compatibility mode. They claim to have analyzed the problem and found that they can make it work with a software mod, but it's a risky one that they haven't chosen to push. The more recent TiVo HD model was release post M-Card launch and works properly with a single M-Card.

I know, but I only watch Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi recently and it is presented in HD. I'll be watching the prequel, Caprica, if it gets picked up after its premiere.

Posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 - 06:59 am:

Your question that I responded to was, "Will they provide a 2.0 capable card to users NOT renting boxes from them?" My answer was that they've provided two of them to me for use in my TiVo. While it's not a <tru2way> device, it doesn't make much difference. I'm fairly certain that they no longer buy S-Cards, since they have to buy a ton of M-Cards for use in their leased boxes (a few orders of magnitude more M-Cards than they ever needed S-Cards) and M-Cards are interchangeable with S-Cards in single-stream only devices. I doubt that they ever cost much more in any case and probably cost less, given the much greater quantity that they have to purchase.

The cable companies are ruled by FCC regulations. One such regulation requires that they stock CableCARDs and distribute them to their customers who have CableCARD compliant equipment. Specifically, Code of Federal Regulation Title 47, §76.640(b)(3):

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(3) Cable operators shall ensure, as to all digital cable systems, an adequate supply of PODs that comply with the standards specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section to ensure convenient access to such PODS by customers. Without limiting the foregoing, cable operators may provide more advanced PODs ( i.e. , PODs that are based on successor standards to those specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section) to customers whose unidirectional digital cable products are compatible with the more advanced PODs.

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"POD" is an acronym for "Point Of Deployment"--POD cards was what they called CableCARDs before they came up with the trade name. M-Cards would fall under that "more advanced PODs" designation and unfortunately they used the phrase "may supply", which could be interpreted as giving the cable providers an option. I'm certain that any cable service provider who tried to deny an M-Card to a customer with compatible equipment under that interpretation would be scolded by the FCC, who would just fix the wording of the regulation.

In the end, the cable providers want to sell you service and <tru2way> is their scheme--CableLabs is a non-profit organization created and jointly funded by a group of major cable MSOs; one of its first missions was to develop a standard solution to the Congress' separable security mandate (CableCARD is one such solution). <tru2way> gives the FCC what they want: equipment capable of tuning conditional access cable services--including interactive ones--which can be purchased by consumers and moved from system to system at will. <tru2way> gives the cable providers what they want: near total control of the user interface of the equipment that you use to tune cable, whether it's equipment that you purchased or something that you lease from them.

Some of the consumer electronics OEMs are unhappy with the <tru2way> solution, since it's expensive to manufacture, requiring a substantial processor on which to run the OCP Java VM and a ton of memory--it's difficult to fit that into the BOM for a $200 20" television or low-end recording device. (It also minimizes their ability to differentiate themselves from their competitors with user interface, since most of what consumers interact with when using their products will be UI provided by the cable system, identical on every product regardless of manufacturer). Cable's concession to the price concern is the Tuning Adapter; low-end products can be manufactured to be compatible with it for very little additonal cost. The Tuning Adapter doesn't give access to VOD or IPPV, but cable would argue that those high-end services aren't particularly compelling in the low-end equipment space.

So, though it's possibly that they could legally refuse to lease an M-Card to you, they have no motive to do so and the FCC wouldn't let them get away with it for long (nor would the FCC be amused). The cable industry invented <tru2way>, the cable industry certifies product compliance with <tru2way> and the cable industry is publicly committed to supporting <tru2way> products.

Posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 - 11:18 am:

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Glenn Britt, President of Time Warner Cable said, "Tru2way technology will allow the industry to continually enhance the customer experience, ensuring that the latest features and technology are available to our customers nation-wide. Time Warner Cable has already distributed nearly a million tru2way devices, and this agreement further supports the industry's efforts."

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Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 04:35 pm:

That's your fantasy. Cable is moving to use switched broadcast because they're being forced to add more HD content by competition from DBS (DirecTV's "up 150 HD channels" campaign). There's no other feasible way for them to do this--switched broadcast is the cheapest and fastest way for them to realize the bandwidth that they need.

Actually, TWC has apparently created a 2 year commitment plan with discounted pricing (see the "Special TW pricing if you lock in a 2-year contract" thread in this forum). In any case, they don't have DirecTV's minor market-share--they don't need to jump through quite so many hoops for the customer. They do need to make some effort in order to keep their lion's share of the market from eroding (luckily for them, many of their customers couldn't switch to DBS if they wanted to, living in situations where they have no private access to a spot on which to mount a dish--too many tall trees around their house or the balcony of their apartment faces the wrong direction; the telcos are a threat, but a threat that's not moving very quickly). There's demand for more HD cable service, hence switched broadcast.

I find it difficult to believe that STB lease is a major profit center for them. For one thing, they don't get them for free and often what they charge for an install is less than the install cost them, so ROI is realized very slowly. Cable box rental may be a not-insubstantial revenue stream, but's it's also a cost center, requiring that they eat a lot of the cost of sending people out to diagnose and fix problems with faulty boxes. Long ago, the telephone companies realized that the FCC's forcing them to support user-owned equipment with modular phone jacks was one of the best things that could happen. There's very little money in leasing equipment, unless you can demand a fairly substantial price to compensate for the cost of maintenance, and they really can't, for cable boxes.

In the beginning of HDTV on cable, cable providers in many places around the country were encrypting their rebroadcasts of local DTV channels (such that people with clear QAM tuning equipment couldn't access them without leasing an STB) and sometimes charging extra for them. Both things break FCC regs--any rebroadcast of a local transmission must be carried as part of the core basic cable tier and nothing in the core basic cable tier can be scrambled or otherwise encrypted. (Cable providers aren't forced to carry both the digital and analog transmissions of a local broadcaster, but if they choose to carry either or both, they have to be provided as core basic cable). At AVS Forum I followed several cases of people fighting cable companies doing this. In every case, the person carefully documented their ignored complaint to a cable provider of FCC reg violation and penned an objection to the FCC (sending a copy to cable company management); the FCC fairly promptly responded (within 2 or 3 months), forcing the cable provider to comply with regs. (It also helps to complain to the local franchising authority as well). As I recall, that happened here with Cox.

The speed with which the FCC responds to complaints seems to be proportionate to how important compliance with a regulation is to them. They're dead bang serious about enforcing the regulations created to support the Plug-and-Play-DTV-Over-Cable initiative, which they see as vital to a smooth transition from analog to digital television. The requirement to separate conditional access security mechanisms from leased boxes so that it can be built into equipment for retail market sale to consumers was part of Congress' Telecommunication Act of 1996. It took cable many years begin to satisfy that requirement (with the original S-Cards) and the FCC's patience with the issue has been thoroughly exhausted. In an effort to improve support for CableCARDs in subscriber-owned equipment, the FCC drafted a regulation requiring the cable industry to start using CableCARDs in their own equipment by 1 July 2005, but gave them a requested two year extension (much to the disgust of the electronics industry) to allow completion of the OCAP spec and multi-stream. When the new deadline came up, they tried to get another extension to finish DCAS, but were denied, so they had to roll out boxes with M-Cards.

When the FCC accepted unidirectional CableCARD as an initial temporary plug-and-play solution, the cable industry committed to complete the work necessary to eventually deliver a plug-and-play solution that would work with their interactive services. <tru2way> is that solution. As previously stated, many of the CE OEMs aren't crazy about <tru2way> and have formally complained to the FCC that it's too expensive for inclusion in low-end products (cable had presented implementing it as the only way to get switched broadcast tuning into products for sale to consumers). The cable industry responded to that complaint with the Tuning Adapter and has been romancing the OEMs, recently getting some of them to sign a commitment to support <tru2way>, including Sony (see this). As also stated before, TWC has been partnered with Samsung for a while, and Samsung has been coming to tech shows and setting up demos of prototype Samsung televisions running TWC's OCAP Navigator sans STB, for 2 or 3 years now (at least three--a cursory search reveals this PR from early 2005).

They know that they may lose some box rentals, but whether those loses will add up to much is questionable. Back in this post, Tom Wellman said:

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Personally I wouldn't buy an STB due to the fact there will be some better STB or DVR out there and would rather lease it. Also due to the fact if it breaks down, I can get a new one no charge.

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I think that the vast majority of TWC's STB-using subs would agree with him. I know that I'd never have bought TiVo Series3 if I hadn't moved from Del Mar to Oceanside (TWC to Cox) and experienced the truly unbearable SARA IPG. A month of using that and $900 for TiVo Series with 3 years service seemed cheap. What we're talking about here is paying for a box so that the cable company can load any arbitrary POS IPG into it, like TWC's horrendously buggy Navigator.

So, I don't think there's gonna be any big rush to run out and buy <tru2way> STBs so as to avoid the high cost of leasing a box. As mid- to high-end <tru2way>-compliant televisions filter into the market, some subs who purchase these will realize that they don't need an STB and return any STB they were using with the television they replaced. I imagine that some televisions will become DVRs as well, if you plug an external HDD into them (some will have drives built-in); my Mits Diamond Series panel can do this with an external Firewire drive, using TV Guide On Screen for scheduling recordings.

Your expectation that cable providers will try to use switched broadcast to force people to lease STBs is the purest FUD, based on nothing more than paranoia and distrust.

Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 01:49 pm:

Okay--I'll agree with that. However, if you read the letter at the top of the thread, they're being apologetic and contrite about it. They're also giving away six months lease of either a cable STB or up-to-2 CableCARDs to current CableCARD users, by the end of which period we'll presumably be able to either obtain a Tuning Adapter or buy <tru2way> equipment .

And for the record, you did say, "Sure it does, if they are hell bent on increasing STB rentals due to SDV", implying that they were going to use switched broadcast to increase their equipment lease revenues, whether they originally intended to use it for that purpose or not. You've been openly arguing that they might refuse to lease M-Cards to people who buy <tru2way> products, in order to force them to lease STBs.

We won't complain any more than we complain about not being able to access VOD and IPPV (particularly since no one will be able to access that without new equipment). The complaint about switched broadcast is that it was taking access to services that we already had away from us, and denying us access to new HD broadcast video services we had every right to believe we'd be able to tune. After the 28th, I won't be able to access some 45 channels with my TiVo until the Tuning Adapter becomes available; thankfully, they were considerately chosen and I was only using three of them.

BTW, TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD use two different Broadcom chipsets, both of which are capable of H.264/AVC and VC-1 decoding. An upcoming update will start using this capability, for a YouTube browser that they're adding (it might be the first feature added to TiVo Series3 that won't work on TiVo Series2). They already have a large variety of TiVoCast programs to which users can subscribe (see this), and I'm sure that they're exploring the potential of TiVo to become an IPTV client.

Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 01:19 am:

Nowhere in my posts have I ever said or implied that you said that they "instituted SDV for the sole purpose of increased STB leasing", nor did I ever think that you were saying that.

It was unavoidable--DirecTV has been advertising "up to 150 HD channels" for a few years now and have gotten almost 100 HD channel up. To remain competitive, cable needs to get a lot more HD channels up ASAP. Though they're expected in the Fall, it could be Spring or longer before <tru2way> devices become available. I doubt that many people would be interested in upgrading their pricey CableCARD equipment just to buy new stuff that can tune switched broadcasts anyway.

Note that they gave a choice of one or two free CableCARDs OR one free leased STB for 6 months, for people who just have to have access to those channels. (By reflex I chose the free CableCARDs, but there are two STBs on our bill and it would have saved more money to have them suspend the charge for one of them for six months--oh, well. I don't pay for the STBs, so no skin off mine ).

In any case, my TiVo has hardly been "obsoleted" by the loss of access to 45 out of hundreds of channels, only 3 of which I ever used. What will piss me off a little is if they add Sci Fi HD to the list before the TA becomes available.

Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 03:23 pm:

True, but many of us have lost very little. I said, as you did quote, "my TiVo". I can only speak for my TiVo and it has in no way been obsoleted by TWC's initial deployment of SDV.

I mean Sci Fi "Always HD During the Couple of Programs I Watch". I don't give a damn what they do the rest of the time--it's worth the price of admission for HD Battlestar Galactica. Every last one of these HD simulcast channels has begun the same way, with a handful of programs shown in HD and rest in upconverted SD. Slowly over time there's more and more HD. I don't know if it's possible for a channel to launch a HD version of its SD channel with everything in HD from the beginning, but so far, no one has done it.

I watch television for the sake of the programming and there is no HD programming that I watch that I wouldn't still be watching if it wasn't in HD. I continue to watch what little I watch on Sci Fi now, in SD; when those programs are available in HD, all the better.

There are only a handful of HD-all-the-time channels and some of those are of no use to me (MOJO, for instance).

Posted on Monday, July 28, 2008 - 03:39 pm:

"On July 28, 2008 Time Warner Cable will begin providing a number of our existing, less-viewed channels via SDV. Please see the reverse side of this letter for a list of these channels. This means that beginning July 28 you will not be able to view these channels on your one way CableCARD device."

Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 10:07 am:

"I've lost access to the HD VIP Pak and all of the Sports Pak except for Tennis (the only one that I regularly watch )."

Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008 - 10:32 pm:

JimboG: "They also decided it would be a good idea to drop the one HD channel they carry from both Starz and their own Cinemax channel. How can it possibly benefit TWC to lose the local revenue from these two premium channels and to lose the pass-through revenue from Cinemax that goes to their corporate parent?? This whole thing makes no sense"

Posted on Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 05:47 pm:

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• Open Cable Products are two-way capable just like Time Warner Cable’s leased set top boxes and allow access to ALL of Time Warner Cable’s one-way and two-way services. We expect Open Cable Products to be available at retail in 2008.

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Posted on Monday, October 27, 2008 - 11:39 am:

holl_ands: "Ch723 MOJO-HD and CH724 UNIV-HD are now SDV, joining
HDNET, HDMOV, TLC-HD, DIS-HD, APL-HD and SCI-HD"