Advanced Digital Broadcast recently became the first vendor to demonstrate full functionality with Cisco and Motorola headends and CableCards at a CableLabs interop event.
During the interop on Oct. 8, ADB first connected its ADB-4820C set-top box to a Cisco headend using a CableCard by Cisco to display Time Warner Cable’s TV channels and tru2way interactive guide. Without powering down the set-top box, the Cisco CableCard was removed and replaced with a Motorola CableCard. The box automatically connected to the Motorola headend, and in less than 5 minutes displayed Comcast’s TV channels and tru2way interactive guide.
CableLabs confirmed that this was a first for the cable industry in an e-mail to CED.
ADB said the demonstration illustrated how a correct implementation of tru2way devices and headends allows portability and interoperability between headends, networks and set-top boxes, dramatically reducing the cost of integration, deployment and ownership for cable MSOs.
“The promise of tru2way has been that a single platform would lead to a transformation of the set-top box environment by allowing one device to fit multiple systems,” said Timothy Schermerhorn, senior vice president and general manager of Advanced Digital Broadcast’s Americas cable business unit. “This achievement is a direct benefit of our uncompromised open-standard software capabilities. Rather than delivering technology pieces that operators are left to integrate at high cost, ADB provides a fully integrated set-top platform that is ready for immediate deployment. This saves operators time and money, allowing them to focus on advanced TV services development rather than on set-top integration.”
The ADB-4820C uses ADB’s own tru2way stack. The box was designed as a “set-back” device: It mounts to the back of a plasma or LCD television panel and uses the latest HDMI-CEC technology to enable a single remote control to be used for both the TV and the set-back box.
ADB provided a video of the ADB-4820C demonstration at CableLabs’ interop.
