That said, purchasing is easy and fast, and we had no problems streaming in the highest-available quality on our 10Mbps cable connection -- Max Payne didn't look super-awesome in SD, but it was certainly watchable.
In her majority opinion, Judge Judith Rogers said the programmers' case faltered because they couldn't cite an example of a cable operator who isn't either already using all-digital operations or moving in that direction.
Don't confuse high-definition TV with digital cable or digital satellite systems.
The truth is that CableCARDs have been capable of authorizing two-way communications for some time, but there wasn't a way for 3rd party cable devices to be certified by CableLabs -- like the latest cable deployed STBs -- for two-way communication.
ENGADGET: Time Warner Cable deploys 150k OpenCable STBs, aka CableCARD 2.0
Chan saw great potential in China, where a two-way cable infrastructure hadn't been built, and invested.
Time Warner Cable isn't the only one who thinks tiered broadband is the future -- so does the American Cable Association (ACA).
ENGADGET: Surprise! The American Cable Association favors tiered broadband pricing
If we had to guess, we'd say that HBO's oh-so-friendly cable partners aren't going to be inclined to let such a solid idea actually happen.
And now we have a period where, because of the choice to let the sequester take effect, we are not now in a countdown clock situation -- the cable nets don't have the clock.
In an unfortunate twist of fate, however, the reference model wasn't able to charge -- despite an adapter cable being flown in especially from Europe -- so we were unable to see that docking mechanism (or that Haswell chip) in action.
Not everyone agrees that a pro-Brand X ruling would seriously damage the cable industry, since phone companies haven't been crippled by line-sharing.
Only 6131 users can opt for FOTA right now -- the remainder require a PC and cable -- but we're guessing we won't be hearing many complaints from Nseries owners now happily humming along on the latest cuts.
ENGADGET: Nokia offering firmware upgrades direct to users Mobile
Besides obviously needing a CableCard-ready TV set (most new digital HDTVs have to have CableCard slots), there are a few downsides, like you can't access your cable company's onscreen programming guide and you can't order pay-per-view or video-on-demand programming (at least not using your remote), but the real deal killer for us is that you won't be able to use it with a digital video recorder.
The competition's heating up--especially with telecom vendors elbowing for space--but the cable guys aren't giving up.
Still, cutting deals with companies like CBS, that doesn't want to jeopardize its cable and satellite TV-based revenue, could be difficult.
ENGADGET: Sony may be preparing an internet-based cable TV alternative
It's not really clear why the old CableCARD hasn't taken off as expected -- consumers blame their cable providers, who blame the card manufacturers, who blame device makers -- but nonetheless, the technology is far from dead, and now it looks like those long-awaited multi-stream CARDS could be available before the end of the year.
ENGADGET: CableLabs approves Motorola's multi-stream CableCARD
These folks come in with their big tractor-trailers full of music gear and stage equipment and all that other stuff--this is some thing I didn't learn in the cable business.
It is rare to see Internet video that isn't just "repurposing" audio and video made for cable or closed-circuit TV.
But despite billions of dollars of investment, most consumers who haven't already switched to satellite are still stuck with the same monopoly-like cable company they've always had.
Secondly, it's said that it'll do 1080p video playback via HDMI, but the collection of leaked images shows the phone connected to a composite RCA cable, which isn't gonna cut it for 1080p -- and we're not buying that the display itself is going to be capable of that kind of resolution.
ENGADGET: Is this Motorola's Android-powered Touch ZINE HD? Mobile
But while ad-supported cable continues to soar, the broadcast nets haven't fared so well.
The single biggest reason people don't switch to TiVo is the lack of cable company on demand and pay-per-view content, and tru2way will put an end to it.
"You can't separate markets anymore by service provider, Internet, wireless, cable, home--they will all transform together, " he says.
Just being slightly better than the cable company's garbage won't cut it for much longer -- again, the Media Center PC kicks your ass right now, and the high-end customer on which you're currently relying is going to figure that out soon.
Clickfree's remarkably useful Transformer Cable isn't the only new gear being announced from the outfit today -- far from it, actually.
ENGADGET: Clickfree gone wild at CES: 1TB drive, Mac support and online backup
The flight to cable hasn't been as pronounced in sitcoms as it has been in hour-long dramas, but the trend is going that way.
And within a year, even consumers who aren't interested in upgrading from analog to cable won't have a choice if they're buying a new set--the law requires retailers to only carry digital-capable sets by March 1, 2007.
This isn't clever booth wiring, the HW-F750 has Bluetooth and works with SoundShare, which should keep cable-haters happy.
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