CableLabs Issues Extension Specs to Spur Enhanced OpenCable Set-Top Boxes
AUGUST 01, 2005
By Alan Breznick, editor, Cable Digital News
Whole-home networking seems to have been put on the back burner in cable circles these days, given the industry's focus on rolling out voice over IP (VoIP), video-on-demand (VOD), high-definition TV (HDTV), digital video recorders (DVRs) and other new digital services. But industry engineers are planning for the day when MSOs are ready to integrate and manage the delivery of these services together throughout the home. Indeed, engineers are now quietly spearheading technical advances to make whole-home networking another hot product for cable operators.
In one such behind-the-scenes effort, CableLabs officials have crafted an "extension" specification to their OpenCable Applications Platform (OCAP) software standard for retail-ready digital cable receivers. The new OCAP modular extension spec, issued with little fanfare in mid-May, spells out the minimum technical requirements for OpenCable-compliant set-tops that aim to hook up with other digital devices on cable networks.
Specifically, the OCAP extension spec defines an application program interface (API) for whole-home networking, requiring interested consumer electronics makers to create protocols that enable their set-tops to recognize connected devices, find the digital entertainment content stored on the devices, transfer the content between the devices and present the content to home viewers. In the interest of maximum flexibility, however, the extension spec doesn't tell CE manufacturers which protocols they should adopt.
Speaking at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' (SCTE's) Cable-Tec Expo in San Antonio in June, Frank Sandoval, director of OCAP Specifications for CableLabs, said the extension spec aims to give the cable industry a greater role in shaping the development of OpenCable-compliant boxes and televisions with digital entertainment home networking capabilities. In a similar vein, CableLabs officials have crafted OCAP extension specs for digital video recording (DVR) and front panel applications.
"We're trying to have a little bit more say in what's happening," Sandoval said. "It gives those applications more flexibility."
Don Dulchinos, senior vice president for advanced platforms and services at CableLabs, said the R&D consortium is also working on OCAP extension specs for set-top and electronics makers that want to offer enhanced TV offerings on their receivers. Rather than draft a whole new version of the entire OCAP spec for each application, CableLabs officials are also looking at developing extension specs for portable media devices and several other enhanced features that they decline to discuss.
"We always want to migrate OCAP to be more capable," Dulchinos said. "So we came up with the notion of extensions for all the different APIs."
On a separate Cable-Tec Expo panel, senior executives from three of the biggest MSOs discussed their company's plans to start rolling out OCAP-enabled set-top boxes over the next year. Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications officials all spelled out their intentions to introduce retail-ready OpenCable set-tops with enhanced TV applications, DVRs, electronic programming guides (EPGs) and other advanced features.
Craig Smithpeters, manager of advanced technology and standards for Cox, said the cable industry's two-year drive to add OCAP-compatible interactive TV (ITV) applications to existing digital cable set-tops are beginning to bear fruit. Under the Cox-led initiative, known as On-Ramp, cable engineers are working on ways to adapt OCAP middleware for legacy set-tops.
"We're nearing the end of this effort," he said. He said a final draft of the proposed On-Ramp platform is expected by the end of September.
Walter Michel, senior director of platform and application engineering for Comcast Cable, said North America's largest MSO is gearing up to launch OCAP early next year. He said Comcast engineers are busily figuring out how to upgrade their cable system headends and "nationalize" their video-on-demand (VOD) navigation system so they can control the launch as much as possible.
"Our intent is to centralize as much as we can in the early deployment," he said. "We are leveraging what we've got in house as much as we can."
At Time Warner, engineers are developing an OCAP version of their own digital navigation service. An MSO official said the company intends to conduct a field trial of OCAP and its digital navigator later this year, hopefully in tandem with a consumer electronics manufacturer.
Similar to Comcast, Time Warner is preparing to upgrade its system headends for the OCAP onslaught. "That's really the next step," the official said. Like Comcast, Time Warner also plans to start deploying OCAP-enabled set-tops in 2006.
In another whole-home networking initiative unveiled at the Cable-Tec Expo show, cable engineers have developed a subsidy program to certify electronics wiring installers working in new homes. Known as the Green Fields Partnership, the program seeks to make structured wiring installations meet cable technical requirements so that cable operators can compete with satellite TV providers, the Baby Bells and other rivals in delivering digital entertainment services throughout the home.
Structured wiring, an increasingly standard feature in brand new homes, supplies the basic infrastructure for linking electronics gear in one big home network. Cable operators have complained that many of the nation's 6,000 low-voltage integrators, who usually put in the structured wiring, use faulty equipment or substandard practices to carry out the work. As a result, cable officials say, home owners often end up blaming cable operators for wiring problems and then turn to other providers for entertainment services.
"These are problems and issues that are pertinent now, standards issues that must be resolved," said Justin Junkus, president of KnowledgeLink Inc., noting that more than 1 million new homes with structured wiring are built each year. Speaking at the same show session as Sandoval, Junkus described home networking as "a gateway to many other things" and "a weapon to keep cable in the game."
Stephen Brazil, director of Home Networking Depot, said the new certification and subsidy program for low-voltage integrators, developed in Florida, gives cable operators control over the quality of equipment going into the home. He said the program also provides a "co-branding" opportunity for cable operators while cutting costs for both low-voltage integrators and home builders.
"This whole program was developed from an engineering need to save what was going on," said Brazil, noting that Florida cable operators had lost 12,000 new homes to rival providers before coming up with the program. "We have builders now that are knocking on our doors."
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AUGUST 01, 2005
By Alan Breznick, editor, Cable Digital News
Whole-home networking seems to have been put on the back burner in cable circles these days, given the industry's focus on rolling out voice over IP (VoIP), video-on-demand (VOD), high-definition TV (HDTV), digital video recorders (DVRs) and other new digital services. But industry engineers are planning for the day when MSOs are ready to integrate and manage the delivery of these services together throughout the home. Indeed, engineers are now quietly spearheading technical advances to make whole-home networking another hot product for cable operators.
In one such behind-the-scenes effort, CableLabs officials have crafted an "extension" specification to their OpenCable Applications Platform (OCAP) software standard for retail-ready digital cable receivers. The new OCAP modular extension spec, issued with little fanfare in mid-May, spells out the minimum technical requirements for OpenCable-compliant set-tops that aim to hook up with other digital devices on cable networks.
Specifically, the OCAP extension spec defines an application program interface (API) for whole-home networking, requiring interested consumer electronics makers to create protocols that enable their set-tops to recognize connected devices, find the digital entertainment content stored on the devices, transfer the content between the devices and present the content to home viewers. In the interest of maximum flexibility, however, the extension spec doesn't tell CE manufacturers which protocols they should adopt.
Speaking at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' (SCTE's) Cable-Tec Expo in San Antonio in June, Frank Sandoval, director of OCAP Specifications for CableLabs, said the extension spec aims to give the cable industry a greater role in shaping the development of OpenCable-compliant boxes and televisions with digital entertainment home networking capabilities. In a similar vein, CableLabs officials have crafted OCAP extension specs for digital video recording (DVR) and front panel applications.
"We're trying to have a little bit more say in what's happening," Sandoval said. "It gives those applications more flexibility."
Don Dulchinos, senior vice president for advanced platforms and services at CableLabs, said the R&D consortium is also working on OCAP extension specs for set-top and electronics makers that want to offer enhanced TV offerings on their receivers. Rather than draft a whole new version of the entire OCAP spec for each application, CableLabs officials are also looking at developing extension specs for portable media devices and several other enhanced features that they decline to discuss.
"We always want to migrate OCAP to be more capable," Dulchinos said. "So we came up with the notion of extensions for all the different APIs."
On a separate Cable-Tec Expo panel, senior executives from three of the biggest MSOs discussed their company's plans to start rolling out OCAP-enabled set-top boxes over the next year. Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications officials all spelled out their intentions to introduce retail-ready OpenCable set-tops with enhanced TV applications, DVRs, electronic programming guides (EPGs) and other advanced features.
Craig Smithpeters, manager of advanced technology and standards for Cox, said the cable industry's two-year drive to add OCAP-compatible interactive TV (ITV) applications to existing digital cable set-tops are beginning to bear fruit. Under the Cox-led initiative, known as On-Ramp, cable engineers are working on ways to adapt OCAP middleware for legacy set-tops.
"We're nearing the end of this effort," he said. He said a final draft of the proposed On-Ramp platform is expected by the end of September.
Walter Michel, senior director of platform and application engineering for Comcast Cable, said North America's largest MSO is gearing up to launch OCAP early next year. He said Comcast engineers are busily figuring out how to upgrade their cable system headends and "nationalize" their video-on-demand (VOD) navigation system so they can control the launch as much as possible.
"Our intent is to centralize as much as we can in the early deployment," he said. "We are leveraging what we've got in house as much as we can."
At Time Warner, engineers are developing an OCAP version of their own digital navigation service. An MSO official said the company intends to conduct a field trial of OCAP and its digital navigator later this year, hopefully in tandem with a consumer electronics manufacturer.
Similar to Comcast, Time Warner is preparing to upgrade its system headends for the OCAP onslaught. "That's really the next step," the official said. Like Comcast, Time Warner also plans to start deploying OCAP-enabled set-tops in 2006.
In another whole-home networking initiative unveiled at the Cable-Tec Expo show, cable engineers have developed a subsidy program to certify electronics wiring installers working in new homes. Known as the Green Fields Partnership, the program seeks to make structured wiring installations meet cable technical requirements so that cable operators can compete with satellite TV providers, the Baby Bells and other rivals in delivering digital entertainment services throughout the home.
Structured wiring, an increasingly standard feature in brand new homes, supplies the basic infrastructure for linking electronics gear in one big home network. Cable operators have complained that many of the nation's 6,000 low-voltage integrators, who usually put in the structured wiring, use faulty equipment or substandard practices to carry out the work. As a result, cable officials say, home owners often end up blaming cable operators for wiring problems and then turn to other providers for entertainment services.
"These are problems and issues that are pertinent now, standards issues that must be resolved," said Justin Junkus, president of KnowledgeLink Inc., noting that more than 1 million new homes with structured wiring are built each year. Speaking at the same show session as Sandoval, Junkus described home networking as "a gateway to many other things" and "a weapon to keep cable in the game."
Stephen Brazil, director of Home Networking Depot, said the new certification and subsidy program for low-voltage integrators, developed in Florida, gives cable operators control over the quality of equipment going into the home. He said the program also provides a "co-branding" opportunity for cable operators while cutting costs for both low-voltage integrators and home builders.
"This whole program was developed from an engineering need to save what was going on," said Brazil, noting that Florida cable operators had lost 12,000 new homes to rival providers before coming up with the program. "We have builders now that are knocking on our doors."
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