[mythtv-users] The Death of MythTV in the US?

[Joe Votour]

Quoting Jack Trout <witmore1 at gmail.com>:

> On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 11:08 PM, Dewey Smolka <dsmolka at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> >  The idea that renting boxes to subscribers is a "revenue stream" is
>> >  very new, and not universally accepted.
<snip>

>
> CableCard was the answer to this question, although it doesnt help in
> MythTV. The Government passed a bill that said cable providers that leased
> boxes had to issue users the ability to own thier own box. Well how can you
> do this and still be able to have controll over what the box sees?
> CableCard, a card from the provider with its own controllable keys that it
> can address with a standard interface your box can expect to be there when
> it needs premium content. The problem? most companys wont install a
> cablecard for you, yet around here they are using cablecard in thier own
> boxes, with peice of voice tape over the access door.
>

In the case of the only CableCard PC-based PVR (Vista MCE), the  
streams are apparently not stored in the clear like other DVR-MS  
streams.  They are encrypted by the key of the CableCard (and possibly  
something else).

When they say "use your own box", they weren't referring to systems  
like MythTV - they were referring to boxes that are CableLabs  
certified (and part of that includes some type of tamper resistance) -  
typically non-PC boxes.  However, because most people go with the easy  
route and get the cable company box, there isn't much of a market for  
a set-top box that would retail at $300+.

A number of people with Vista MCE systems have had problems getting  
the cable company to install CableCards, but after threatening to sic  
the FCC on them, the operator usually relents.  (It's because the  
technology is so bad, and they have a moderate failure rate, so they  
want to minimize how many user interfaces they have to learn).  They  
have to use CableCards in their own new STBs as per the FCC mandate,  
but boxes manufactured prior to the deadline can be used sans-CableCard.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about CableCard yet - with operators  
moving to switched video, CableCard will be phased out as soon as the  
next broken technology to replace it comes out.

-- Joe


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