Ed Bott's Media Central

Last month, CableLabs had another wave of product testing. (They’re now up to eight waves a year.) I missed this press release when it first came around, but I saw it today while searching for something else, and I was surprised that it really didn’t get any notice from the digital video community. Dated August 23, 2005, the release notes that Samsung Electronics has gained CableLabs certification for a two-way digital television:

In a major milestone for cable’s interactive digital evolution, Samsung Electronics has achieved Certification status for an OCAP-enabled interactive digital television set in a recently concluded test wave held at CableLabs.

“This is a significant accomplishment. The Samsung digital television (DTV) is a very innovative retail device that can connect directly to the cable system, and receive current advanced and premium cable services, as well as future interactive applications to come…,” said Glenn A. Britt, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable and Chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors.

This is indeed a big deal. If you read the release, you see that this is set can receive HDTV, interactive program guides, and video-on-demand without requiring another box. The biggest knock against CableCARD devices for some time now is that they don’t have a path to return data to the cable operator, so you need to keep a set-top box if you want access to any kind of interactive programming such as pay-per-view movies.

Samsung’s set supports Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) 1.0. That’s the software portion of interactive cable. The hardware portion, which presumably will be a part of this new TV, is the CableCard. (For a technical overview of OCAP 1.0, see this large PDF document. Pay special attention to section 7.2.1.5.1.3.1. Seriously.)

That’s right – two-way interactive devices based on CableCard technology. In an interview on Ian Dixon’s Media Center Show last month, analyst Rob Enderle suggested such a thing wasn’t going to appear on Windows Media Center anytime soon:

Even when it gets CableCARD, in the Vista timeframe, it looks like it’s going to be hobbled CableCARD. … It authorizes you to see things, so you can watch HBO and ShowTime … but if you want to request a pay-per-view, there is no way to do that right now.

Samsung just proved that isn’t true anymore. And it looks like LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Digeo are liecensed to produce similar sets as well. Two-way CableCARD technology is right around the corner.

I was hoping that some CableCARD-compatible devices for Media Center Edition 2005 would be approved in this latest wave of testing, but it appears that isn’t going to happen. One reason, apparently, is that OCAP deployment on the part of cable companies is taking some time. An excellent overview of OCAP at Sun’s Web site (the platform is Java-based) says Time-Warner, the second largest cable company, is still testing OCAP deployments, with wider rollouts expected in 2006. Even if CableCard-enabled capture devices were ready now, they wouldn’t necessarily work for everyone. By this time next year, the video delivery chain should be more complete.

So, you want a CableCARD device to free you from the need for a set-top box? It’s on the way. Now that we know two-way digital devices based on CableCARD technology are not only technically possible but have already been approved by CableLabs, we can expect some very cool developments by the time Windows Vista comes out. It should be an interesting year.

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