CableLabs officially defines tru2way set-back box
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted March 13th 2010 4:44PM
posted March 13th 2010 4:44PM
The technology arm of the cable industry has come forward with an official specification for the tru2way set-back box. We first heard of these when Panasonic was requesting a waiver from the FCC to exclude an analog tuner, but we did find one of the floor of CES -- although it wasn't a functional demo. Basically this makes the box one step closer to reality, and if the cable industry has its way, tru2way with it. The idea of an inexpensive HDTV companion might be the perfect low cost, easy to support, solution that consumer electronic manufactures are looking for. And although we're not fans of tru2way in general, we do think it is an acceptable solution for those who don't want a DVR but do want an HDTV mounted on the wall without a set-top box to be found.
This would look like one of those freakish tumors you hear about in the news if they strapped it to the back of one of the ultra-thin displays (especially the 9000 Series Samsung!)
@(Unverified)
If you have one of those beauts you have higher standards than tru2way anyway.
I'm all for these. You can tell manufacturers don't want to spend the added cost and space to build in a CableCard slot, but whenever I use a friend's CaCo box, it literally hurts. I love being able to just use my TV remote to change channels and not a fugly 96 button POC from the CaCo.
-Brian
This is a market that has been overlooked for years. Most middle America homes have cable and multiple TV's. Assuming they're not already (which a lot of them are), most of those TV's will be HD in the next few years. It is impractical to rent multiple HD boxes (DVR's or otherwise) from your cable co when a cheap and universal external box could easily be available for purchase. Frankly, I don't understand how the public has allowed them to get away with going from built-in support of old analog cable system to essentially requiring large and expensive set top boxes or $7-10/month rentals from a Cable Co. Do people just not supply content to their secondary, tertiary, etc displays, or are they paying $200 cable bills so they can enjoy On Demand, Guides, Premiums, and DVR functionality in every room of the house?
This type of thing would be useful for smaller, secondary TVs in the house, like those in kitchens or bedrooms where you don't have enough room for a box.