And although PCs have more recently been given a similar type of application, the support was first given to Macs. What is even more interesting is that an interface to FireWire enabled cable boxes is actually provided by Apple through their FireWire SDK. Despite the fact that support has been around for almost a year now, software to take advantage of the FCC mandated FireWire ports on cable boxes is still in a very infant stage.
With this capability on modern day cable boxes, you would think that it would be fairly easy to record content, including HD content, on your computer using a simple FireWire cable. The ruling is also affected by another FCC mandate, in which all electronic devices capable of recording content must recognize and respect a broadcast bit that determines how the content can be shared across multiple devices.įireWire ports are now on most cable boxes. The ruling came based on an interpretation of Section 304 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In April of last year, the FCC mandated that all cable boxes must come with a FireWire port if requested by the consumer.
