Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

It works fine - however it's not a recognised cable modem type so you can't provision it.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

oh ok, but what does that mean exactly?,
What would a samsung box do if plugged into a origional ntl area?,
**cough ebay**,
maby downloading ntl samsung-langley beta software?! (i wish, lol).

-Chris

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

If you plugged in a Samsung Bromley box - nothing really/won't work (he says :erm: )
If you plugged in a Samsung Langley box - working service (minus unsubscribed channels)

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

The Samsung boxes for Langley and Bromley are the same, hardware-wise. The software is different, though.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

Bring you to my attention!

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

Hey Tristan, you're slipping. There are actually more differences in the hardware than the software. ;)

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

Read up my friend should answer your question.

And no, Samsungs certainly won't be handed out on the Langley platform just as a cable modem, tres expensive for use just as that.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

:blush:

Oh dear! Just as well I'm leaving!

Out of interest though, what differences? If it's a Docsis-based box, wouldn't it make sense (from a financial point of view if nothing else) to use the same box for Langley as is on Bromley?

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

Like what? AFAIK there's only one type of Samsung STB hardware.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

You have only seen one type of samsung stb hardware, but there is noway that one peice of hardware specifically designed for one platform is going to work streight away when plugged into another. (eg, my vcr wont play NTSC tapes because its a old peice of junk, that i havent used in years, **reminding you of the pace stb's?, lol,** and because its a PAL vcr), so we must assume that there must be different models of this samsung stb.

What i would like to know is what would happen if i plugged a samsung stb into langley area!, (eg, some horrible thing like a error message, it catching fire, blowing up, etc).

-Chris

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

I'm not assuming anything, I have an example of every ntl STB on my desk at work and have a certain degree of knowledge of their innards.

Why not? Define the platform differences that would prevent this, and which ones require a hardware rather than software solution.

It won't blow up, that's for sure.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

If they decided to put together a software build for it, the Pace 4010 would work perfectly happily on Bromley. Once they've got Docsis STBs working, and if BBKing would allow them to be provisioned, and they put together a software build for it, there would be nothing stopping the 4000 being used on Langley either.

The cable modem inside it would try and register with the network, and the computer on BBKing's desk would tell it where to go. The TV part wouldn't work -- as far as I know the encryption scheme on Langley is different, never mind anything else. No fires, though.

Re: DAVIC and DOCSIS
 

The Set Tops use programmable DSPs, not ASICs to encode/decode signals, the encryption is programmable, the decoding and channel schema programmable, so the only real difference between the platforms is software, hardware wise they are identical.

So long as el boxen is told what to do and how to do it with firmware no problems, just as your PC can play Quake and Doom so long as the program tells it how. Very fortunately for me it's not rocket science and apart from the actual writing of the firmware relatively painless to appreciate. A digital cable STB is actually a relatively simple beastie once broken down into its' components :)