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Looks like Time Warner Cable’s move to switched digital video is freeing up some bandwidth. Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg. On April 8th, they are rolling out History HD, CNN HD, Discovery HD, and Lifetime Movies HD. My lifelong dream of watching Cher in Mask has finally come to an end.

WARNING: Total nerdy post ahead based on my limited knowledge of a complex issue

For you San Diego Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers, you may have recently noticed the new program guide on your cable boxes/DVRs. Dubbed Navigator, it is basically Time Warner’s in-house cable box software, which allows them to replace existing licensed software from either Scientific Atlantic (SARA) or Aptiv Digital (Passport). More importantly, it signifies TWC’s move to their switched digital video (SDV) platform.

SDV basically reclaims massive amounts of cable bandwidth by only sending out requested channels. Traditionally, all channels are transmitted over cable lines, regardless of what channel you watch or subscribe to. So, even though you are watching 1 channel, the cable company is still broadcasting numerous unwatched channels, wasting precious bandwidth. This distribution method is the primary technical reason why Time Warner Cable’s HD offerings have been limited and their HD signal quality suspect. The lack of available bandwidth restricts TWC from adding new HD channels. Ever notice your picture turning into a giant mosaic of little blocks momentarily, especially in fast moving scenes? Known as macroblocking, this is a result of cable companies compressing bandwidth-hungry HD streams over their already saturated cable network. With SDV, Time Warner can reclaim large amounts of bandwidth by not broadcasting unwatched channels, thus allowing them to add more HD content and increase bandwidth for existing HD content. Navigator is the software piece that makes this happen.

The largest and most damaging drawback/side effect from the move to SDV is the effect on people who do not use Time Warner supplied hardware. People using CableCARDs in their TVs and 3rd party devices such as a Tivo S3 and TivoHD are SOL for the channels that are distributed using SDV. The hardware, namely CableCARD, and obviously the software will not support SDV. From what I understand, only digital tier channels are slated to be distributed over SDV, namely existing/new HD and seldom watched digital channels. When those channels switch over to SDV distribution, affected customers will not be able to receive those channels, in addition to already not having access to services such as Video-On-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View (PPV). Digital broadcast channels such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox should be unaffected since those channels are required by the FCC to be universally available. Plans to release a special SDV dongle to allow the necessary 2-way communication back to the distribution hub is in the works for Tivo owners and is planned to be released in the 2nd half of this year.

The root of the complicated problem is a mix of issues. Some of these include:

• Cable companies’ move to SDV in order to free up existing bandwidth without having to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrading existing and adding new distribution infrastructure
• Poor, slow adoption and implementation of CableCARDs by cable companies and CableLabs
• Idiotic bickering and bureaucracy between CableLabs, cable companies, and the FCC in developing and enforcing open and standard protocols for 2-way cable communication and distribution

So far, Navigator has been pretty good. It is a tad bit slower than the previous running software (Passport) on my SA8300HD. The biggest improvement is that the sidebars on SD content is now black, instead of grey. I can also see how much remaining space is left on the hard drive for my recordings. Once the SDV transition is complete, we’ll see if TWC starts to rapidly add the dozens of HD channels already available to satellite customers.

I am beside myself. Time Warner Cable actually did something right for a change. They recently added CW HD, TBS HD, and Versus/Golf HD. Granted they are still miles away from the HD content offered by DirecTV, Dish, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse…basically everyone, but it’s a start. Looks like their move to switched digital video is finally happening. Now, I’ll be able to watch some hockey in HD and sadly, I might even get a glimpse of Arizona Diamondbacks’ closer Jose Valverde’s face in HD. I will then promptly jump out the window.

According to this blurb in Variety, ABC is in the process of developing a pilot revolving around those 3 cavemen from the Geico commercials. This could either be totally awesome or totally awful. Right now, I’m digging the cavemen commercials. I still find them fresh and hilarious. However, I hope they don’t get played out by this new pilot. Let’s just hope for the best; that ABC doesn’t drive this piece of advertising genius into the ground.

UPDATE: This TV show turned out to be utter dogshit.

With Rumsfeld resigning from his position as Secretary of Defense, Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson put together a little retrospective on his career. I had a good laugh from it. I hope you do too.