Zatz Not Funny!

TiVo’s Pause Menu Spam Hits S3/HD Units

TiVo’s newest form of advertising, which debuted a few months back on Series 2 units, has now begun to encroach on the Series 3/TiVoHD platform. As TiVo proclaimed in December: Using the TiVo Pause Menu, advertisers can, for the first time, reach audiences with targeted product messages displayed within the pause screen of a Live … Read more

AT&T Wireless Bans Slingboxes

AT&T Wireless has pretty explicitly dropped the hammer on Slingbox owners, amongst others, via their revised terms of service:

customer initiated redirection of television […] to a mobile device […] is prohibited

Some speculate this language is in response to oversized and unintentional roaming fees. Others believe AT&T has “oversold” or is approaching their network capacity and this is a way free up bandwidth. I have a more pessimistic, Net non-Neutrality theory in that AT&T would prefer we subscribe to their limited selection of MobiTV television content in lieu of streaming home video (which I’ve already paid for). Regardless of the reason(s), I’m not a happy AT&T customer today.

tru2way at The Cable Show

After a pretty big splash at CES 2008, there’s been relatively little movement on the tru2way retail front (other than a limited release of Panasonic’s tru2way-capable HDTVs in Comcast’s Chicago and Denver markets last fall). As a refresher, tru2way is the evolution of OCAP and designed to provide a common framework (middleware) for MSOs, their partners, and retail manufacturers alike to efficiently develop and deploy cable products.

From a general consumer’s standpoint, it’s the retail angle that makes tru2way interesting. While the current crop of retail CableCARD devices enable access to digital cable tuning, any services that require two-way communication, such as video-on-demand and switched digital video (SDV) access, has been out of reach. Enter tru2way. It’s best to think of CableCARD as an authentication mechanism (separable security hardware) and tru2way as an operating system that interfaces with the cable company mothership (head end).

In fact, the current implementation essentially channels the cable company interface. Walking around The Cable Show, all sorts of tru2way hardware was running the same guides/interfaces. However, I did see a few DVRs with compelling applications riding shotgun… including Motorola’s Pandora app and Intel/Samsung with Yahoo’s Widget bar.

Cable and Wireless

Even though most of the wireless action is out at CTIA this week, there is a presence at The Cable Show as well. From the live WiMAX network (I scored a loaner USB dongle in the Motorola booth) to the Clearwire van driving through Broadband Nation, cable wants to make it clear that it’s not … Read more

The Cable Show Tweets

cable-show9 The Cable Show runs through the end of the week. And while Mari’s riding it out, I’ve seen what I need to. I’ve got at least two more posts in me, maybe more, that I hope to get up… starting tomorrow. For those of you who haven’t yet picked up the Twitter habit, here’s a compilation of our event tweets today. Below that, some random pics.

davezatz: Hitting The Cable Show today… ping me with coverage requests. Things like TWC/Moto’s tru2way multi-room DVR won’t photograph well, tho.
davezatz: @CableShow Heading out shortly… May not be 8:30AM exactly, but I’ll find my way over. Once Starbucks has collected their daily toll.
msilbey: Heading to Cable Show shortly. In addition to blogging, will be helping out with this: http://sharetheexperience.motorola.com/
msilbey: @CableShow It’s an online thing. Includes blog and twitter feeds, videos from Cable Show & CTIA, and “Ask an Expert” feature
davezatz: Twitpic is down, so ZNF is hosting my Cable Show Blogger Summit breakfast pic: http://bit.ly/46m2ve
msilbey: Finally met @blankbaby. Corporate bloggers unite! http://twurl.nl/howlxx
msilbey: @cypherstream Time Warner/Motorola tru2way multiroom DVR deployment: http://twurl.nl/0n7ocm
davezatz: Twitpic still down, but check out my SEXY 3D glasses (with @pjrodriguez snapping pic in the reflection). http://bit.ly/2Kqs7y
msilbey: First Cable Show general session about to start, and I’m parked right next to an outlet with a strong wi-fi hook-up
Read more

EchoStar at The Cable Show

Back at CES, EchoStar came clean with their Sling Media acquisition intentions in announcing the “SlingLoaded” platform – part DVR, part Slingbox. The first model is headed to DISH Network as the DISH VIP 922 and now Echo has unveiled digital cable-enabled tru2way SlingLoaded hardware. Unlike the previously demo-ed satellite version, these tru2way devices would … Read more

TiVo at The Cable Show

While most geek bloggers are in Vegas for CTIA, Mari and I are roaming (and Tweeting) around The Cable Show in DC today. One of my first stops, of course, was TiVo’s booth. I tried to pry any additional info from them on future Cox, Comcast, and DirecTV deployments… but came up largely empty. Which … Read more

Digital Media Bytes: Last100 Edition

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our friends at Last100: Yahoo’s Widget Channel debuts on new Samsung Internet-connected TVs Compatible Samsung TVs start at $3,000 for a 46-inch screen and the feature enables users to install mini-apps referred to as “widgets” that offer access to a range of Yahoo services — news, stock quotes, … Read more