The eagerly anticipated (by some) Motorola and Cisco SDV tuning adapters have just been blessed by CableLabs. Originally promised in Q2, there’s still no telling when you’ll actually be able to pick one up and at what cost:
Tuning adapters are expected to become available to consumers sometime in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Cisco and Motorola, which were not immediately available for comment Friday morning, have not disclosed unit pricing for the new device. A Time Warner Cable spokesman noted in an email this morning that “it is a little too early” to say how the MSO plans to distribute tuning adapters.
A stop-gap solution is better than none and an SDV adapter will allow TiVo customers access to switched programming (see photo). However, I seriously doubt the large number of existing CableCARD-capable HDTVs will receive firmware updates required to support the SDV appendage. Yet another early adopter penality…
Dave,
It seems like forever ago, but Time Warner Austin finally made the SDV Tuning Adapter available for S3 customers! I did a quick writ-up on my blog with a photo unboxing.
Rob
http://robgtx.blogspot.com/2008/12/tivo-s3-sdv-tuning-adapter-installation.html