If you were waiting for CES to see all the great new tru2way devices then you probably noticed that there really weren't any. In fact we spent some time towards the end of the show looking for tru2way and was very surprised to see that there was actually less tru2way this year then last.
The most noticeable was Panasonic who proudly displayed its tru2way plasmas on an end-camp at its booth last year, while this time around the same two models were hidden in a dark demo area. Panasonic said this was because these sets were announced last year and the new stuff gets the center stage, which makes sense, but what about extending tru2way through the line? Overall Panny did have the most information about tru2way and in fact told us that in the next few months it is expected that another five Comcast markets will be opened up to 3rd party tru2way devices. Samsung was also showing a few tru2way sets and was more than happy to share the wonders of the technology with us, but unfortunately the one question we had went unanswered; when would the 42 and 50 inch sets (pictured above) go on sale? The two biggest disappointments thought were from LG and Sony. While LG had a tru2way set hidden away at last year's booth, there wern't any to be found this time around. Sony on the other hand made a big splash earlier when it signed on to the
memorandum of understanding, but the closest thing to a commitment at the show was
a add-on box that would strap on to the back of your set. It didn't help that the demo was obviously just an empty shell and far from a real product.
The bottom line is that if you thought that 2009 was going to be the year of tru2way, then think again. At the very most there will only be about four TVs for sale, from two manufacturers, and maybe an add-on box from Sony. This also means that there probably won't be a tru2way box from TiVo, Moxi or even an Windows Media Center tru2way compatible tuner. Of course this could all change and since last year The Cable Show was practically the tru2way show, we'd expect that if there was any good news we'd hear it there in April.
posted Jan 19th 2009 3:09PM
damn shame.....here I am hoping to get Tuner Cards that were Tru2Way Capable THIS YEAR and not one word about them.....smh
I have heard that Larrabee compatible chipsets will include tru2way. CableLabs however, doesn't want to have DIY PC's. They will approve them but only in OEM PC's that have their blessing. I don't think Vista will support it. Maybe Windows 7 will have tru2way with a compatible middleware made by the Vendors or MS.
well thats just dumb.....Why WOULDNT they want to get royalties from the thousands of cards that would sell???
Tru2way is a technology scam.
Tru2way (AKA OCAP) is based on the failed European standard called MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) that was born in the late 1990's as a replica of now defunct ATSC's DASE (Digital TV Application Software Environment) . DASE was based on the early 1990's Java TV technology, back when Sun Microsystems was the DOT in the dot-com.
The whole concept was (is) nothing more than a technical scam to get clueless executives to invest in a miracle software solution. The concept always get the attention of executives who do not understand software, but afraid of it.
Tru2way is a software scheme that pretends to solve the wrong problem with the wrong technology.
MHP/DASE/OCAP/tru2way gave a lot of software engineers job security. It already cost the industry a few billions of dollars. But hey! We've seen bigger scams lately...
Absolute waffle ...you obviously know nothing about the technology, its reason for existing nor its roll-out in Europe and throughout the Rest of the World...OCAP is running in all 8 Korean MSOs and very successfully deploying. MHP is being taken up in European Cable, Satellite, Terrestrial and GEM-IPTV Services are flourishing Worldwide...Alticast alone has deployed more than 10Million MHP/OCAP enabled STBs...8 million MHP boxes alone in Italy on Terrestrial...Blu-ray and OpenTPYV forum have embraced the OCAP/MHP Specifications and we now have a GEM Application Framework (Globally Executable MHP) which is collaboration by all the different agaencies involved. Cablelabs, ATSC, ARIB, BDA, OpenIPTV and of course the DVB. Things have moved on a looooooooong way since you last studied the subject.
I want that guide shown on the Samsung TV. But I want it to come out of my already in place Motorola DCH-3416. Any timelines on that? Here's to wishing that Comcast would get with the program and update their DVR interface.
This is ridiculous. How much harder are the cable companies going to make it for us to watch high definition programming without paying them a monthly fee for their crappy box?
The IPTV Guys have ALL re-invented the Middleware Part of their services - instead of embracing the existing initiatives - There are over 35 Differing flavours and many based on HTML - After all the Telcos think they understand that and it is OK for TV - Duh! Alsp Lots of NIH - Not Invented Here Syndrome and IPR. - Everyone thinks that they can invent a better mousetrap in Interactive TV and keep all the cash for themselves.
All the Proprietary Middleware vendors for Interactive Services are fighting the battle to keep the likes of Tru2way at bay as it takes them out of the market. They denied it for so long it looks like their stubborness has now become their Achilles Heel...
What's the technical reason why Verizon FIOS has refused to adopt the Tru2Way standard?
Verizon never really said. Personally I believe that it is because the new IMG software they just rolled out isn't compatible and they don't want to have to start over again.
This is because Tru2way is a Cable Specification and CES is a Electronics Gadget Show...duh! Give them credit not a kicking...Those Companies committed will steal the early market - Well done I say.
I think the fact that Widget/Internet-enable TVs were everywhere at CES and tru2way-enabled where hard to find, might give a hint that the CE-industry rather works with the web and media companies rather then the cable operators. My personal opinion is that the application development market within both CATV and IPTV has been to much delayed due to various self-inflected reasons and the window of opportunity is now shrinking fast when Google, Flickr, Netflix, Yahoo et al are moving into the TV without the involvement of the operators.