Originally posted by WormGod

There are ways to go though. Comcast here has been running tests in certain areas using DVI and firewire, coupled through a fiber optic-to-component video connection.
You might want to read some of the stuff in these forums:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...p?s=&forumid=6

You will find extensive discussion of comcast's product. The more knowledgable people in those forums tend to know way more about what comcast is doing than most comcast employees.

I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty - firewire ain't no limited test, it was mandated by the FCC that all cable providers carrying HDTV *must* provide firewire output from their set-top box to any customer that requests it starting around May of this year.

You'll find plenty of discussion of this ruling in those forums as well as stories from a lot of the early-adopters, including the ones that had to escalate the issue all the way to the FCC before their local provider would comply.


PS, there is no such thing as 7.1 Dolby Digital, 5.1 with a matrixed (instead of discrete) sixth channel is all there is today. Dolby's marketing name for that product is Dolby Digital EX, also sometimes called THX-EX, although theoretically the two are different (at least that's what the THX marketing material would like people to think).