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(Credit: CableLabs)

Update: Subsequent to the publication of this story, Panasonic has released a more detailed statement on the status of its Tru2way TVs.

CableLabs' Tru2way got a big boost last month when Sony signed on with a pledge to design and deliver TVs that incorporate the standard, bolstering an already impressive list of backers. The Web was flooded with optimistic reports of a post-cable box Valhalla where you could simply buy a Tru2way TV, screw in your coaxial cable, and have plug-and-play access to your 1,000-channel universe. Before those miracle TVs hit the market, however, they need to be certified by CableLabs--and there are rumors that the initial trials aren't going well. According to IP Democracy, the initial certification tests for Panasonic Tru2way TVs were unsuccessful--to say the least. The post cites "folks close to Tru2way" as calling the Panasonic tests a "'disaster of spectacular proportions'" that resulted in "'dozens and dozens' of bugs."

In an attempt to verify those dire--but anonymous--quotes, we contacted Panasonic and CableLabs for their responses. ... Read more

When I was a kid, I usually found myself doing one of two things: playing video games at home or trying as best as I could to attract every girl I saw. Was I a video game addict? Probably. Was a socialite? Yep. And you know what? I wasn't alone.

According to a report from Reuters, Daniel Loton, an Australian graduate student found that "15 percent of 621 adult respondents to an online survey were identified as "problem gamers" who spend more than 50 hours a week playing games."

But only 1 percent of those respondents had poor social skills and shyness, suggesting the cheerleaders in school were wrong: video game addicts are cool too.

Sweet, sweet justice.

The beauty of this new study isn't that it tells us something we didn't already know--I was known as the cool dude on campus for a reason, you know--but it helps us combat the fools who insist that video games are bad for children and hinder their ability to interact in the real world.

If the industry press is to be believed, Tuesday's announcement that Sony would be producing TVs with Tru2way compatibility was a watershed event--the electronics world equivalent of the Magna Carta or the Treaty of Versailles. But let's step back a bit and examine what this really means.

Tru2way is a digital cable technology developed by CableLabs that's designed to be built directly into TVs, eliminating the need for an outboard set-top box. In theory, you'd be able to buy a Tru2way-compatible TV, bring it home, connect it to your coaxial cable, and instantly be able to receive your entire lineup of digital cable and high-def channels--including all the interactive video-on-demand and pay-per-view channels that currently require a cable box.

(Credit: CableLabs)

If this sounds familiar, it's because many of the same promises were made several years ago with a technology called CableCard. TVs that shipped with a CableCard slot were called "Digital Cable Ready" (DCR); they required a smart card, provided by your local cable operator, to receive digital and HD channels. The problem with CableCard was that it was an interim solution that satisfied nobody. Everyone--cable companies, hardware manufacturers, government regulators, and consumers--found CableCard technology lacking. Among the problems:

• CableCard was effectively a one-way technology, so it was incompatible with any interactive services, including video-on-demand and pay-per-view services that customers have grown to like, and cable companies depend on as a major revenue stream.
• CableCard was incompatible with Switched Digital Video (SDV) technology, which more cable providers are--or will soon be--utilizing to deliver more HD channels despite bandwidth limitations. As a result, CableCard devices such as the TiVo HD DVR need an outboard tuner (basically, a second cable box) to receive those channels, which often include the newest and most desirable HD stations.
• The CableCard installation and setup still required the cable companies to "roll a truck" to the customer's home--so it didn't save the company any time or money versus a cable box setup.
• Original CableCard setups were limited to just one tuner, so dual-tuner applications--such as picture in picture and the ability to record one show while watching another--were unavailable. (This issue was addressed with dual slots on the TiVo HD, as well as the multi-stream "M-card," which allowed for dual tuning--it was rarely deployed by cable operators.)
• CableCard setups are notoriously finicky, and often require one or more follow-up visits from the cable technician.
• The electronic programming guide (EPG) interface on most CableCard TVs was either bare bones or nonexistent. That was bad for users who've grown used to increasingly sophisticated EPGs (on TiVo and satellite DVRs). It also frustrated cable providers who were used to controlling that interface on their own boxes, where--for better or worse--they could add advertisements, customized graphics, and other "branding" that so excites multimillion dollar corporations.
• TVs with CableCard support often charged a slight premium over their non-CableCard counterparts--meaning that consumers were often paying more, but (as evidenced by the laundry list of issues above) getting less.

Not surprisingly, there was an immediate clamor for "CableCard 2.0" to address all of those issues. And that's effectively what Tru2way is: the next-gen CableCard, without the physical card. (You may have heard it mentioned during its years of development, when it was alternately referred to as "OpenCable" or "Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP)".) And--on paper, at least--it seems as if CableLabs and its partners finally got it right this time.

Tru2way is designed from the ground up to be interactive, customizable (for the cable provider), and plug-and-play. Switched digital video, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, HD channels, dual-tuner support--it should all work without a hitch, and deliver an identical experience on your local cable system, no matter which Tru2way TV you're buying.

There are plenty of other potential advantages. Tru2way TVs should be able to offer additional functionality, such as built-in DVRs. (A handful of CableCard DVR/TV combos were released, but they never took off, thanks largely to the problems outlined above.) And including the tuner inside the TV would offer the potential for better picture quality, since a TV signal native to the TV would no longer be reliant on the so-so video processing found on most set-top boxes.

Beyond the TV, Tru2way functionality could be built in to third-party DVRs (TiVo is already said to be working on a "Series4" DVR that utilizes the technology) and accessories. Among the other possibilities: a Tru2way Slingbox with a built-in tuner; an adapter that turns the Xbox 360 or PS3 into a cable-ready DVR; true home theater PCs; and portable TV viewers (such as the Comcast/Panasonic player shown in January).

So what's not to like? Nothing--except that none of this yet exists in the real world. Until you can actually buy one of these Tru2way products at Best Buy, Circuit City, or Amazon.com, it's all theoretical.

Sony joins Panasonic, Samsung, and RCA on the Tru2way roadmap, but whether any of these companies will actually deliver a real world Tru2way product before the end of the year remains to be seen. And even if they do, there are plenty of other questions. How much will cable companies charge you for the privilege of connecting a Tru2way product to their pipe? (Our guess: exactly the same fee they charge for renting the box you have now.)

And why will companies like TiVo bother developing Tru2way boxes if the consumer will be forced to use the drab cable company interface versus the far superior TiVo UI? Just imagine, for instance, if a future Apple TV offers Tru2way compatibility, but instead of its slick Apple home screen, you're stuck with a Comcast/Time Warner/Cox EPG the minute you toggle to live TV. For most users, that would eliminate the whole reason for upgrading in the first place.

Color us skeptical
The bottom line is this: Tru2way certainly looks to offer the potential for cable customers to return to the simple, halcyon days of "cable ready" TVs--just one wire, just one remote. But until we see the products hit stores in the real world, and see how--or if--they work as advertised on cable systems around the country, color us skeptical. In the meantime, we'll be waiting patiently in the downstairs rec room, sitting on hold with tech support, trying to get the CableCard PC up and running.

What do you think: Will Tru2way make for a better cable TV experience? Or will it be the latest consumer electronics scheme to overpromise and underdeliver?

Update (5/29/2008): Be sure to read the detailed comment below from reader MegaZone (who runs the Gizmolovers website). He offers some important corrections and expansions to my CableCard/Tru2way analysis.

YouTube and Picasa services are available right from the TV in Panasonic's flagship TH-PZ850U.

(Credit: Masa Fukata, Panasonic)

We detailed Panasonic's full plasma lineup earlier this year, but having just returned from a press event devoted to the flagship TH-PZ850U series, it feels incumbent to reiterate some of the cool new features of these expensive sets.

The coolest? A demo at the event proved that the 850Us can stream YouTube videos, right on the TV screen with no PC required. The TV's "Viera Cast" interface allows you to search YouTube by keyword, sort videos by popularity, or access your own list of favorite videos, for example. During the demo we were treated to a video of a laughing baby, the (no-surprise) current champ of the popularity list. According to Panasonic, the entire catalog of YouTube videos is available on the TV, although it may take a day or two for a new one on the site to appear on Viera Cast. The TV can also access Picasa, Google's photo sharing site, so you can view digital photos stored at your (or someone else's) Picasa account directly on the big screen.

... Read more

Voom's channels are no longer available on Dish Network.

(Credit: Voom.tv)

Just two days after it launched 22 relatively high-interest HD channels, Dish Network has stopped broadcasting the 15 specialty Voom HD channels. The channels, which Dish has long been interested in dropping to make way for more popular channels, include names like GamePlay HD, Treasure HD, Kung Fu HD, and Monsters HD, and programming most viewers have never heard of.

... Read more

SciFi HD is among the 22 new HD channels launched by Dish Network.

(Credit: CNET)

Ever since DirecTV launched a slew of national high-definition channels last October and November, it's been the only place most Americans can get their Cartoon Network, Sci-Fi, and Bravo networks in high-def. On Monday, Dish network caught up somewhat, announcing the activation of a total of 22 new high-def channels, including those three and many other national, high-interest channels--as well as a few lower-interest ones, including World Fishing Network HD. Twenty of the channels are supposed to go live Monday, and the last two, the regional sports networks (RSNs) Comcast Sports Network Bay Area HD and Comcast Sports Network New England HD, will be activated Wednesday, according to the company. Check out the full list of new channels on the official press release.

... Read more

TiVo users have been able to rent and buy movies from Amazon.com's Unbox service for over a year now, but lately the service has felt a little outdated compared with competitors like Vudu and Apple TV, which offer HD downloads. Well, thanks to a comment by TiVo's VP of product marketing, Jim Denney, it seems like that's going to change soon. In an article on TV Week, Denney claims TiVo and Amazon will announce HD capabilities "in the not too distant future."

While the upgrade from SD to HD would be nice for any service, it may seem like an even larger upgrade for Unbox on TiVo users, since our initial hands-on testing with the service revealed that movies were letterboxed, instead of true anamorphic widescreen. We'd also like to see HD movies get a bump from the standard stereo soundtrack to at least a 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS--although Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio would be even better. And while Denney's comment only referred to HD content coming to the Unbox on TiVo service, we see no reason why HD movies shouldn't be available to PC users as well.

Via Zatz Not Funny

Belkin FlyWire: A wireless HDMI product that's due later in 2008.

(Credit: Belkin)

HDMI has certainly had its growing pains, but the connection is finally beginning to deliver on its original promise: a single-cable solution for delivering high-bandwidth, all-digital HD video and multichannel audio. HDMI is nearly universal in the home video market, present on all current HDTVs and Blu-ray players, as well as nearly all HD-capable cable and satellite set-top boxes; DVRs; game consoles; AV receivers; upscaling DVD players and recorders; and network video streamers such as the Apple TV. In fact, you realize just how convenient HDMI is when you come across a product without it--I'm looking at you, Nintendo Wii--and then have five cables (three component video wires plus two-channel stereo) instead of one crowding the back of your home entertainment system.

But one aspect of the HDMI promise remains unfulfilled: wireless HDMI. It's an attractive idea, especially for anybody with a wall-mounted flat-panel TV or a ceiling-mounted projector: have all of your HDMI-capable gear running into an AV receiver or HDMI switcher with a wireless HDMI transmitter, and have the TV equipped with a matching receiver--thus allowing you to have all your AV sources across the room from the actual display. We've been hearing about it for years, but to date, there are few--if any--products that you can actually buy. Here's a quick update on the wireless HDMI products we've heard about to date--including when (or whether) we can expect to see them:

A Verizon commercial implies CNET reviewed the Fios TV service, but we did not.

Verizon is running an ad implying that CNET gave its Fios TV service's picture quality a positive review, calling it "near-flawless." The reality is that a CNET Networks property did use that phrasing in a news story, not a review, and the words are taken out of context.

Adding to the confusion, CNET itself bears some of the blame.

Here's the all-important context: a series of Fios TV spots running in the New York metropolitan area and possibly elsewhere uses a couple of words clipped from a June 21, 2007, CNET News.com piece on Verizon's Fios service. The commercial flashes a quote on the screen that says "near-flawless" along with the CNET logo, while a voiceover proclaims: "Your HDTV doesn't want cable. Give it Verizon Fios, for picture quality the experts call 'near-flawless.'" Another, more-recent ad is also running with a slightly expanded logo-backed quote that reads: "A near-flawless TV experience." Check out the video, which CNET uploaded to YouTube, for the original spot.

Those words did appear on a News.com story (News.com and CNET Reviews are sister sites published by CNET Networks). But the context of the original News.com piece, titled "Verizon's fiber-optic payoff," reads quite differently from how Verizon is using it:

... Read more