Downloadable Conditional Access System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:04, 1 March 2007

Revision as of 11:50, 28 May 2007

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DCAS as currently envisioned, removes the need for physical [[set-top box]]es or [[CableCARD]]s currently required to protect [[encryption|encrypted]] digital content. It is proposed that instead of a card with removable circuitry, that a custom [[ASIC]] chip be soldered onto the circuitboard of any digital cable ready device. DCAS software would run on this custom chip. Additional circuitry needed to run the OCAP operating system would be required. OCAP programs then would be used as the sole method of interacting with DCAS since it will enable cable companies to force the download of new security software.

The basic purpose of DCAS is to implement DRM protection in software, supported by future OCAP-compliant consumer devices such as [[digital television]]s, [[digital video recorder|DVR]]s, and set-top boxes (still required to support legacy non-OCAP-compliant devices). This secures the information transmitted in the link between the cable company and the consumer device. Besides decryption, the DCAS software controls how the content is used- whether it must be deleted immediately after viewing, after a set period of time, which devices it may be transferedtransferred to and if transfer or recording is permitted. The scheme may be used more broadly and is being advanced by [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s company [[NDS Group|NDS]] as a DRM method useful also for [[portable media player]]s and other devices not attached to cable networks. A working DCAS prototype was created by [[Samsung]] and NDS for the cable industry and was demonstrated to the FCC in November 2005. [http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518185105]

According to Brian Dietz of the [[National Cable & Telecommunications Association]] (NCTA):

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== In The Future ==

The FCC has ruled that starting [[July 1]], [[2007]], cable customers will be able to purchase DVRs and other 3rd party devices to legally view digital cable without having to rent hardware from the cable company.

== See also ==

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== External link ==

*{{cite web|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= | date= |url=http://www.opencable.com/dcas/ |title=OpenCable™ / DCAS™ |format= |work= |pages= |publisher=[[CableLabs]] | language= |accessdate=2006-06-05 |curly= }}

[[Category:Cable television]]

[[Category:Digital television]]

[[Category:Digital cable]]

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