Photo: Comcast's AnyPlay device

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, Comcast, the No. 1 cable operator in the United States, unveiled a device it has co-branded with Matsushita Electric Industrial unit Panasonic that is designed to play and record shows from any U.S. cable operator's system--but not those of satellite providers.

The AnyPlay, which has an 8.5-inch display screen, can record up to 60 hours of video, and it plays DVDs and CDs. It is slated to begin selling in the United States later this year.

Although Comcast CEO Brian Roberts indicated to Reuters that the device is a step toward an "open, national, and interoperable structure between cable companies," touting its compatibility with a standard technology called Tru2way, the Consumer Electronics Association has argued that Tru2way would not be the open system that the Federal Communications Commission wants because it would not work with noncable video suppliers such as satellite TV providers.