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halfband
Premium Member
join:2002-06-01
Huntsville, AL

halfband to camper

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to camper

Re: Who Killed the Open Set-Top-Box?

Microsoft downsized the media center development team to a skeleton crew a number of years ago. There really is little ongoing development of what is the only serious cable card compatible software. Very few companies have the resources to deal with cable labs, the cable companies and media content industries. Microsoft just did not see enough interest to keep pouring resources into product development and no one else has stepped into the void. The small hardware vendors are persistent but viewed by the cable industry as pesky, they will never have an easy time of it. The cable labs certification process alone is such a significant barrier to entry that the void between what customers want and what they are able to purchase is likely to remain very wide. From the aspect of creating a fair market for the consumer the FCC has been a catastrophic failure (actually in all fairness, they do not view it to be part of their mandate to deal with such issues). The service providers have found it very profitable to maintain the status quo.