TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Streamlined Cable TV in a Card

Streamlined Cable TV in a Card

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Mon, 3 Jan 2005 08:53:13 -0500

By DAVID POGUE

WHAT if I told you about a new product that could improve your TV
picture, eliminate one of your remote controls, simplify your
home-theater setup and save you money every month?

And then what if I told you that your local distributor wished, in its
heart of hearts, that nobody even knew about it?

The brilliant invention really exists. It's the CableCard, a small
metal card (a so-called PC card, actually, like the ones designed for
laptops) that slides into a slot on the back of many new
high-definition TV sets from nearly every manufacturer. The
CableCard's simple mission is to eliminate your cable box. The card
stores all the account information that used to be monitored by the
box, like descramblers for your movie channels -- a bit of circuitry
miniaturization that's about 15 years overdue.

Life without a cable box is blissfully simple. The cable-TV cable from
the wall plugs directly into the TV. You change channels using the
TV's own remote control. (Both the box and its remote go back to the
mother ship. Incidentally, getting rid of the box makes an especially
big difference when it comes to smaller screens, like kitchen-counter
TV's.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30stat.html?ex=1262408400&en=a106f9952bf3cddb&ei=5090

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