Intel wants every HD STB to be network enabled

Ever since personal computers have been capable of displaying full motion video -- almost ten years now -- we've wanted the same great content we have access to our TV, on our PC. Intel has been on board with us since day one -- for obvious reasons -- and was a big reason why the FCC currently requires cables companies to provide us with a HD STB with a functional 1394 port (upon request). But as we all know, 1394 isn't all the rage these days and thanks to all the DRM -- and the lack of 5C support on PCs -- going through the trouble of requiring your provider to comply with the mandate, just isn't worth it to access the same channels you can already get with a clear QAM tuner. So for the reasons mentioned above, Intel has petitioned the FCC to replace the 1394 requirement with a IP one. While we agree that IP is more widespread than 1394, we aren't so sure about the DRM that would be used to protect the content; DTCP-IP. So while we want HD on our PC as much as the next, if the FCC doesn't also require CableLabs to license DTCP-IP to computer software and hardware manufactures alike, we really don't see how this change would help.

[aarond12 Posted Aug 4th 2008 6:37PM]

PCs (and Macs) have been able to display full-motion video for much longer than 10 years.

In 1992, I had a Diamond Multimedia video capture and playback card (hardware accelerated MJPEG) that did 30FPS on a 486DX/33.

/get off my lawn!

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 5th 2008 8:47AM]

A more interesting mandate would make the STB connection two-way, requiring all STBs be capable of being capable of streaming from external sources.

I see the cable cos fighting that tooth and nail though...