A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs:
CableCARD, FireWire, and FCC Mandates
The NCTA reported that the largest US cablecos have now deployed more than 21 million set-tops with embedded CableCARDs. Despite that, the FCC’s CableCARD mandate is widely considered a failure, and the agency is actively looking for potential alternatives.
3D Hastens MPEG-4 Transition
The added demands of 3D programming were bound to hasten the transition from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, and now Engadget HD is reporting that Comcast will rely solely on MPEG-4 to deliver 3D signals starting in August.
New Motorola Gateway at Best Buy
he SBG6580 comes with several premium features including DOCSIS 3.0 compatibility, an 802.11N wireless access point, and a Gigabit Ethernet 4-port switch with an advanced firewall.
Walking a Fine Line with Set-Top Data
The topic of how operators use viewing data from set-tops has long been a controversial one. Despite the widespread use of user tracking technologies online – or perhaps because of them, and the resultant privacy debates – service providers have been reluctant to pursue aggressive set-top data mining strategies.
G.hn, MoCA 2.0, and the Home Networking Landscape
The G.hn home networking standard was approved by the ITU last fall, and just this week, MoCA ratified its 2.0 spec. So which standard will win out with cable and telco providers? And where does 802.11N fit in?