[mythtv-users] CableCards to Become Useless ???

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 20, 2008, at 8:49 AM, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 08:07:38AM -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
>> Perhaps a little OT, but probably of interest to a lot of Myth users:
>>
>> http://hdguru.com/how-the-cable-industry-plans-to-cheat-10-million-hdtv-owners/233/
>
> I'm going to put that "investigative report" in the "consider the
> grammar capabilities of the writer" file:
>
>> supplied by either Cisco (formally know as Scientific Atlanta)
>
> Um, does he mean "formerly known"?
>
> And those boxes still *say* SciAt, so far as I know; Cisco bought the
> company, they didn't merge with it.
>
> So, large grains of sodium chloride here...

Yeah, a little more research shows that the writer seems to have a  
personal agenda, and is not terribly concerned with facts. Looks like  
he was running a little close to his deadline.

Still, any changes in the way cable companies deliver programming is  
of interest here.

Obviously they will do everything they can to coerce subscribers into  
using the company-supplied STBs, both as a revenue stream and for the  
"control" it allows.

There are some "good" reasons for this. If they have to make lineup  
changes it's a real help if they can simply dump a new channel map to  
all the boxes, as opposed to having to send a truck out to homes.

Recent posts here about problems caused by channel lineup changes show  
that this is a significant factor.

But I guess the chances of a Linux-based CableCard implementation  
remain at zero.

beww