Original Article Link
The write-up says that somesort of support for SDV has been mandated.
Upon further investigation of the actual PDF the FCC only says that both the IP “backchannel” method and the typical Tuning Adapter method are both supported, and the industry is encouraged to find which method works best. So there is no specific mandate about getting rid of TA’s. Just that if SDV is used that the MSO’s have to support a method for CableCARD owners to get the channels.
It also has the mandate about TA’s must be able to resolve 4 channels at once which we saw from the firmware updates that were talked about last week.
Also for traditional set-top boxes, the mandate of having an IP based interface (Ethernet, MoCA, etc.) for home networking is pretty darn cool. It makes the availability of “Any Room DVR” type of services mandatory, of course that’s by 2012… and I’d bet most big provider will have their solutions rolled out by then. The other question is it possible for HTPCs to somehow get in on the IP interface? you’d still need an STB from the cable company, but the HTPC could have direct access to the box, something like Dish Network was rumored to be doing with Media Center a couple of years ago.
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