What is the smart card slot for on my Cable box?

Question

I just got a new Cable box from Charter Communications. It is a DVR and is made by Motorola. I was just wondering what the Smart Card slot is for. I kind of understand what a Smart Card is but why would I need one on the cable box? Thanks!

Answer 1

Since it's made by Motorola (and not Charter cable themselves), it is made to work on many cable systems. While Charter doesn't use smart cards, others might use smart cards for conditional access to programming. A use could be for prepaid PPV credits, or someone who has more than one house who would like to transfer their programming regularly between two locations. In other words, as long as some cable service somewhere has a use for it, it's going to be in there. There's often ethernet and USB ports that lay dormant on many cable boxes since its up to the cable operator as to which features they enable and are compatible with their infrastructure. It's cheaper for manufacturers to just make a few models of cable boxes and mass manufacture them than to make a special one for each and every cable system in the world.