17 thoughts on “Desperately Seeking a CableCARD Replacement”
I can’t believe that the issues standing in the way are actually technology issues. There have got to be software developers out there that are smart enough to come up with a suitable recommendation. My (pessimistic) belief is that it’s just the industry, yet again, trying to prevent progress. Can’t really tell who (what company) is actually the most resistant, but hopefully this can be solved in a month.
Yeah, it’s more philisophical than technological…
There’s no technological barrier; something like AllVid would be easy to implement with a standard gateway specification – basically all you’d need is a tuning adapter on steroids that can decode several QAM channels into encrypted MPEG streams simultaneously. Really it’d no more complex on the software side than something like PyTivo.
It’s all about Cablecos wanting to control the UX for their customers versus hardware/software vendors controlling it.
“There’s no technological barrier; something like AllVid would be easy to implement with a standard gateway specification”
Well, even if we set aside the fact that AllVid was the dictionary definition of FUD, and that the problem with AllVid was not technological, but categorical, that really has nothing to do with why the monetary reasons MSO’s are trying to stall on a CableCARD replacement…
As a recent purchaser of Tivo (from their refurb sale earlier in July) – am I hitching my wagon (and $) to a doomed technology? I know things move extra slow in the telecom/cable space, but it’s going to take me about 18 months to hit break-even on Tivo vs. renting DVRs from FIOS. Do you forward looking folks think it’s a mistake to go the Roamio route right now (I still have about 20 days to return Tivo)?
Thanks all for your thoughts.
“As a recent purchaser of Tivo (from their refurb sale earlier in July) – am I hitching my wagon (and $) to a doomed technology? I know things move extra slow in the telecom/cable space, but it’s going to take me about 18 months to hit break-even on Tivo vs. renting DVRs from FIOS. Do you forward looking folks think it’s a mistake to go the Roamio route right now”
I’ve been following this process only intermittently, so take my conclusions with that caveat.
So, yes, you are hitched to a doomed technology, as is generally the case, though a bit more doomed than normal in this case. However, no, I wouldn’t return, as I think you’ll still be getting CableCARD service from FIOS in 18 months. The loss of the integration mandate means the eventual death of CableCARD, but the service mandate isn’t going to disappear for a while.
Agree with Chucky. Think we’re all safe in the short term – surely 18 months, probably much more. And hopefully whatever successor is agreed upon, it can be done purely in software… hopefully allowing TiVo to retrofit our hardware, if they so choose.
Props to Amazon’s Chaboud for calling BS on the service providers insistence that basic pay TV service includes EPG and on screen tickers. They sure will pull every trick to avoid being reduced to a dumb pipe. but at the end of the day their fate is inevitable.
“Amazon’s Chaboud suggested that the inclusion of a headline ticker as part of the basic TV tuning function was ridiculous, calling it “way off the path” from what the group should be examining. Adding a little more color to the argument, Chaboud said the group might as well “put a baked potato” on the list.”
I think the perfect solution is SIM cards. They are cheap, secure, and proven.
Don’t get me started here, It takes a legacy technology to decrypt a show On Tuesday night, and that same show is then offered via OTT on the Same STB the next night with a downloadable DRM. Either it be CAL or a new box with embedded security or downloadable. It’s all a circus. I’d rather get on a route of an all IP Line-up with some sort of DRM.
Cable Cards should have died many years ago….
Cable Cards work great w/ Tivo, it’s those stupid tuning adapters required for SDV that cause problems.
Force cable to move to MPEG-4 & drop SDV.
The writing was on the wall a while ago, sadly. I’ve been prepping to ditch cable shortly for a variety of other reasons, and have basically spent the last month trying to figure out if there’s a way to reasonably capture local OTA channels and integrate it into our current setup (Plex) or, if that’s not possible, what the alternative is (Emby looks most promising). If I work it out, even if it’s a temporary hack using something like WMC2Plex, it’ll be time to cut the cord. Really, I’m only after the local BBC News simulcast on WETA.
I think the most promising option to capture local OTA and integrate into Plex is SiliconDust’s DVR that they started through Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1275320038/hdhomerun-dvr-the-dvr-re-imagined/description). It’s supposed to go public in about September, but I think it’s in Beta for Kickstarter backers. In order to accommodate the most platforms, SiliconDust partnered with Plex so users could get to their DVR content and schedule programs through Plex. HD content won’t be supported in the first release, but if it goes well I’m sure they’ll add it.
Another option is to use PlayOn/PlayLater (playon.tv). PlayOn allows you to record content that is provided on network/cable web sites. It even allows you to automatically skip commercials when playing back on some devices (if using the PlayOn app). And you can record Amazon, HBO, Hulu, … if you have a subscription of course. Really the only drawback is that you might have to manually move files once they’re recorded so the shows are picked up by Plex. Renaming is sometimes needed too, in order to get the correct episode, but most network shows tend to match what’s in TheTVDB.
I did back it, and am waiting to see if it pans out, but it seems the focus initially at least is on Kodi (nee XBMC) integration, with Plex support down the pike. I’m aware of PlayOn but the issue is that there’s no (legal) way to get BBC News in the US sans cable subscription, except for the one or two simulcasts a day. If we go down the “who cares” approach, then hell, you could easily use one or more of the browser add-ons that’ll fiddle with the IP address reporting to iPlayer.
The other thing I’ve seen is Tablo – with an officially supported channel. The issue is that I’m not willing to shell out $180+ to test it and find out it doesn’t work.
Regarding HDHomeRun DVR stuff… It seems prudent to reserve judgement until all or most features are in and the product is available to the masses. It’s certainly an interesting and promising solution, but execution is TBD.
Our very own contributor Adam has owned a 2-tuner and 4-tuner Tablo and is quite enamored. Varun’s concern is probably true of ANY hardware purchase (versus something like Sling TV or the former Aereo, which you can flip on/off). Fortunately, everyone has excellent return policies – although that might require some effort to ship back.
PlayOn/Later is pretty useful for PC households (vs Mac) and there may be some leg work in terms of clean up or presentation as Mike said.
For me, Verizon charges *more* for 50/50 Internet-only at my location than my current FiOS TV+Broadband bundle (with 50/50 Internet) and my TiVos are sunk costs (although I could recoup via ebay). So I’ll continue to stay put.
Agreed, definitely good to reserve judgment until it’s available to the masses. I think they met a stretch goal that included Plex by day 1 release, but anything could happen from now until release.
Verizon was charging me a reasonable price, but just noticed that if I renewed my contract now the price would go up another $30 a month. Hopefully I can negotiate that down, but if not I might have to switch to the “packages” option just to keep the cost the same. Or, it might actually be worth it to cut the cord if I can get 50/50 Internet-only cheaper than the bundle (which is probably unlikely).
Varun, I did check with PlayOn about BBC and apparently while PlayOn does have a BBC News channel, it’s blocked outside of the UK. Bummer, cause that might have actually been a solution.
“Regarding HDHomeRun DVR stuff… It seems prudent to reserve judgement until all or most features are in the product is available to the masses. It’s certainly an interesting and promising solution, but execution is TBD.”
This is extremely poor journalism. It’s either an excellent or execrable product. All you need to judge are press releases.
I can’t believe that the issues standing in the way are actually technology issues. There have got to be software developers out there that are smart enough to come up with a suitable recommendation. My (pessimistic) belief is that it’s just the industry, yet again, trying to prevent progress. Can’t really tell who (what company) is actually the most resistant, but hopefully this can be solved in a month.
Yeah, it’s more philisophical than technological…
There’s no technological barrier; something like AllVid would be easy to implement with a standard gateway specification – basically all you’d need is a tuning adapter on steroids that can decode several QAM channels into encrypted MPEG streams simultaneously. Really it’d no more complex on the software side than something like PyTivo.
It’s all about Cablecos wanting to control the UX for their customers versus hardware/software vendors controlling it.
“There’s no technological barrier; something like AllVid would be easy to implement with a standard gateway specification”
Well, even if we set aside the fact that AllVid was the dictionary definition of FUD, and that the problem with AllVid was not technological, but categorical, that really has nothing to do with why the monetary reasons MSO’s are trying to stall on a CableCARD replacement…
As a recent purchaser of Tivo (from their refurb sale earlier in July) – am I hitching my wagon (and $) to a doomed technology? I know things move extra slow in the telecom/cable space, but it’s going to take me about 18 months to hit break-even on Tivo vs. renting DVRs from FIOS. Do you forward looking folks think it’s a mistake to go the Roamio route right now (I still have about 20 days to return Tivo)?
Thanks all for your thoughts.
“As a recent purchaser of Tivo (from their refurb sale earlier in July) – am I hitching my wagon (and $) to a doomed technology? I know things move extra slow in the telecom/cable space, but it’s going to take me about 18 months to hit break-even on Tivo vs. renting DVRs from FIOS. Do you forward looking folks think it’s a mistake to go the Roamio route right now”
I’ve been following this process only intermittently, so take my conclusions with that caveat.
So, yes, you are hitched to a doomed technology, as is generally the case, though a bit more doomed than normal in this case. However, no, I wouldn’t return, as I think you’ll still be getting CableCARD service from FIOS in 18 months. The loss of the integration mandate means the eventual death of CableCARD, but the service mandate isn’t going to disappear for a while.
Agree with Chucky. Think we’re all safe in the short term – surely 18 months, probably much more. And hopefully whatever successor is agreed upon, it can be done purely in software… hopefully allowing TiVo to retrofit our hardware, if they so choose.
Props to Amazon’s Chaboud for calling BS on the service providers insistence that basic pay TV service includes EPG and on screen tickers. They sure will pull every trick to avoid being reduced to a dumb pipe. but at the end of the day their fate is inevitable.
“Amazon’s Chaboud suggested that the inclusion of a headline ticker as part of the basic TV tuning function was ridiculous, calling it “way off the path” from what the group should be examining. Adding a little more color to the argument, Chaboud said the group might as well “put a baked potato” on the list.”
I think the perfect solution is SIM cards. They are cheap, secure, and proven.
Don’t get me started here, It takes a legacy technology to decrypt a show On Tuesday night, and that same show is then offered via OTT on the Same STB the next night with a downloadable DRM. Either it be CAL or a new box with embedded security or downloadable. It’s all a circus. I’d rather get on a route of an all IP Line-up with some sort of DRM.
Cable Cards should have died many years ago….
Cable Cards work great w/ Tivo, it’s those stupid tuning adapters required for SDV that cause problems.
Force cable to move to MPEG-4 & drop SDV.
The writing was on the wall a while ago, sadly. I’ve been prepping to ditch cable shortly for a variety of other reasons, and have basically spent the last month trying to figure out if there’s a way to reasonably capture local OTA channels and integrate it into our current setup (Plex) or, if that’s not possible, what the alternative is (Emby looks most promising). If I work it out, even if it’s a temporary hack using something like WMC2Plex, it’ll be time to cut the cord. Really, I’m only after the local BBC News simulcast on WETA.
I think the most promising option to capture local OTA and integrate into Plex is SiliconDust’s DVR that they started through Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1275320038/hdhomerun-dvr-the-dvr-re-imagined/description). It’s supposed to go public in about September, but I think it’s in Beta for Kickstarter backers. In order to accommodate the most platforms, SiliconDust partnered with Plex so users could get to their DVR content and schedule programs through Plex. HD content won’t be supported in the first release, but if it goes well I’m sure they’ll add it.
Another option is to use PlayOn/PlayLater (playon.tv). PlayOn allows you to record content that is provided on network/cable web sites. It even allows you to automatically skip commercials when playing back on some devices (if using the PlayOn app). And you can record Amazon, HBO, Hulu, … if you have a subscription of course. Really the only drawback is that you might have to manually move files once they’re recorded so the shows are picked up by Plex. Renaming is sometimes needed too, in order to get the correct episode, but most network shows tend to match what’s in TheTVDB.
I did back it, and am waiting to see if it pans out, but it seems the focus initially at least is on Kodi (nee XBMC) integration, with Plex support down the pike. I’m aware of PlayOn but the issue is that there’s no (legal) way to get BBC News in the US sans cable subscription, except for the one or two simulcasts a day. If we go down the “who cares” approach, then hell, you could easily use one or more of the browser add-ons that’ll fiddle with the IP address reporting to iPlayer.
The other thing I’ve seen is Tablo – with an officially supported channel. The issue is that I’m not willing to shell out $180+ to test it and find out it doesn’t work.
Regarding HDHomeRun DVR stuff… It seems prudent to reserve judgement until all or most features are in and the product is available to the masses. It’s certainly an interesting and promising solution, but execution is TBD.
Our very own contributor Adam has owned a 2-tuner and 4-tuner Tablo and is quite enamored. Varun’s concern is probably true of ANY hardware purchase (versus something like Sling TV or the former Aereo, which you can flip on/off). Fortunately, everyone has excellent return policies – although that might require some effort to ship back.
https://zatznotfunny.com/2014-04/tablo-tv-review/
PlayOn/Later is pretty useful for PC households (vs Mac) and there may be some leg work in terms of clean up or presentation as Mike said.
For me, Verizon charges *more* for 50/50 Internet-only at my location than my current FiOS TV+Broadband bundle (with 50/50 Internet) and my TiVos are sunk costs (although I could recoup via ebay). So I’ll continue to stay put.
Agreed, definitely good to reserve judgment until it’s available to the masses. I think they met a stretch goal that included Plex by day 1 release, but anything could happen from now until release.
Verizon was charging me a reasonable price, but just noticed that if I renewed my contract now the price would go up another $30 a month. Hopefully I can negotiate that down, but if not I might have to switch to the “packages” option just to keep the cost the same. Or, it might actually be worth it to cut the cord if I can get 50/50 Internet-only cheaper than the bundle (which is probably unlikely).
Varun, I did check with PlayOn about BBC and apparently while PlayOn does have a BBC News channel, it’s blocked outside of the UK. Bummer, cause that might have actually been a solution.
“Regarding HDHomeRun DVR stuff… It seems prudent to reserve judgement until all or most features are in the product is available to the masses. It’s certainly an interesting and promising solution, but execution is TBD.”
This is extremely poor journalism. It’s either an excellent or execrable product. All you need to judge are press releases.