We took a stroll around the CES floor, taking a straw poll on the state of
tru2way among TV manufacturers. Our results were mixed -- three exhibitors had tru2way displays and four did not. Follow us after the break on our tour.
We wanted to start off on a high note, so kicked things off at the Panasonic booth. As
promised, they were showing off the
solution developed jointly by Comcast and TV Guide. Notice the color-coded softkeys on the remote for accessing cable shortcut functions like Display, Save, Filter and Options.
LG was showing the exact same thing, but on an 42LG51. That's not a knock -- when it comes to new standards, delivering a 'reference' solution early can be more important than taking the time and resources to cook up your own.
Finally, Samsung had their in-house developed solution off in a corner of the booth. It looked awfully similar to the UI scheme the other two companies ended up with!
All three of these companies are targeting the end of 2008 for availability of tru2way sets, but a lot can happen between now and then. But at least these three companies (and also
OCAP-compliant TiVo) have a head start over Philips, Pioneer, Sharp and Sony, who had no signs of tru2way.
posted Jan 10th 2008 10:10PM
I'd expect Pioneer to cook up a solution. Their sets typically have CableCard slots.
Motorola and Cisco both had OCAP/Tru2Way STBs on display too - and others I believe.
That looks so nice I have comcast but I don't think any of our HDs have CableCard slots.
Can anyone explain to me the difference between Tru2Way and the other open standard DLNA: Digital Living Networked Alliance? Does Tru2way pertain to the way the menu and data appear on the TV screen whereas DLNA pertains to how data travels around the network from device to device?
Thank you very much!
Carole: Tru2Way will allow the cable company to deliver content they approve to your TV without a cable box. For example, there could be EPG functionality, PVR, PPV, VOD, etc. all available through a UI designed by the cable company. Basically, they will push the experience to your TV.