Quick technical question about CableCARD

iDriveX · 01-05-2006, 07:04 PM

So I have a DirecTV box. Are those little access cards called CableCARDs or is this something totally different?

Is those aren't (which I doubt they are cause that'd be too easy)....

Is there going to be a way for me to stay a DirecTV subscriber and pick up a new HD CableCARD TiVo and slip something inside it and just use the TiVo box without having to have the DirecTV tuner? or am I still going to have to have an IR Blaster/2 Box combo by the end of next year?

nhaigh · 01-05-2006, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iDriveX

Is there going to be a way for me to stay a DirecTV subscriber and pick up a new HD CableCARD TiVo and slip something inside it and just use the TiVo box without having to have the DirecTV tuner? or am I still going to have to have an IR Blaster/2 Box combo by the end of next year?

I may be proven wrong but from TiVolovers report on the Series III there is no input for a cablebox or DBS reciever. I think this will mean the Series III cannot work with Satalite at all. You will have to use a Series II (Non-HD) IR blasting two box combination.

Narkul · 01-05-2006, 07:13 PM

The cable card looks like and is about the size of a pcmcia card. It looks so much like one that it may actually be one.

Dan203 · 01-05-2006, 07:13 PM

A CableCARD is similar to a DirecTV access card, but not the same thing. Like a DirecTV access card it allows an external box to decode encrypted digital cable signals without the need for the box itself knowing anything about the encryption scheme.

I'm not quite sure I understand the rest of your post, but if you are currently a DirecTV customer and want to stay a DirecTV customer then your only option is the DirecTV HDTiVo that is available right now. This new box is designed to work directly with cable. It will not work with external sources like the current SA units so you will not be able to feed it an external signal from a DirecTV receiver.

Dan

Dan203 · 01-05-2006, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Narkul

The cable card looks like and is about the size of a pcmcia card. It looks so much like one that it may actually be one.

CableCARD is based on the PCMCIA specification.

Dan

iDriveX · 01-05-2006, 07:30 PM

Let me clarify the rest of my post....

I have heard that you will be able to "rent" or "buy" a cableCARD from the cable company. Has DirecTV offered up any information that would lead you to believe that they will be offering CableCARDs for their service as well?

A lot of people would be mad at TiVo if this happened...For me it would be the straw that broke my camel's back with DirecTV. If I couldn't use an HD CableCARD TiVo with my DirecTV service, you'd see me switching to digital cable real quick. I am already sick of DirecTV's "Our Way or No Way" attitude towards everything TiVo and outside companies, I'm not going to deal with it much further...

iDriveX · 01-05-2006, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nhaigh

I may be proven wrong but from TiVolovers report on the Series III there is no input for a cablebox or DBS reciever. I think this will mean the Series III cannot work with Satalite at all. You will have to use a Series II (Non-HD) IR blasting two box combination.

There's a Cable-In Jack on the back of the Series III unit. Couldn't you just Coax Cable out of the DirecTV HD Box and into the Series III and then use an IR blaster? Or is there no way now for the Series III to change channels on the DirecTV box.

Dan203 · 01-05-2006, 07:33 PM

Switching to digital cable is going to be your only option if you really want one of these. DirecTV uses a completely different arcitecture that is incompatible with CableCARD, and unlike the cable cos they are not required to offer CableCARD by the FCC.

Dan

nhaigh · 01-05-2006, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iDriveX

There's a Cable-In Jack on the back of the Series III unit. Couldn't you just Coax Cable out of the DirecTV HD Box and into the Series III and then use an IR blaster? Or is there no way now for the Series III to change channels on the DirecTV box.

Again not confirmed. I don't expect the Series III to have any external programming and no IR Blaster to control external devices. This device is totally incompatible with Satalite TV. It is pure cable and OTA.

Dan203 · 01-05-2006, 07:41 PM

Actually it has been confirmed that the CableCARD unit does not have any inputs other then the coaxial inputs used for cable and OTA.

Dan

lajohn27 · 01-05-2006, 08:17 PM

And looking at the back of it - there is not IR blaster connection.. so....

ADent · 01-06-2006, 01:34 AM

DirecTV will NOT be offering CableCards. They use their own system (aka Nagravision) and are not subject to FCC rules on the CableCards.

DishNetwork has a totally different card system too.

megazone · 01-06-2006, 01:48 AM

Correct, the Series3 only has internal tuners, period. It does not work with cable boxes or satellite recievers. And CableCARD tuners are not at all the same as DBS tuners, so the box will couldn't support satellite even if CableCARD were the same as the satellite access cards - which they aren't.

classicsat · 01-06-2006, 10:57 AM

DirecTV's smartcard works with hardware and software in the satellite box to provide access to their service (same for Dishnetwork).
Cablecard has the entire Conditional access componentry in the Card, and just the CA system. The tuner is part of a CC terminal is cable/ATSC compatible, and would be incompatible with a satellite signal, so they'd have to make either a box with yet another set of tuners, modular tuners, or satellite tuners instead of cable tuners.

There is no benefit to using current satellite receivers with the S3 TiVo as it stands, as there are no outputs on a satellite receiver that a Series 2 cannot already use.