PVR/DVR – Page 3 – Digital-Lifestyles

Humax PVR-9200T: Freeview Duovisio PVR Launched

PVR-9200T Freeview Duovisio PVR Launched by Humax Humax have dished out detailed information about their new dual-tuner, Freeview-enabled PVR, the PVR-9200T.

Like the Sony RDR-GXD500 we reviewed in April 2005, Humax’s PVR lets users watch and record digital terrestrial Freeview TV shows, with lucky UK consumers able to feast on over 30 channels of freebie programming.

With two tuners onboard, Humax’s PVR-9200T (or “Duovisio” as it likes to be called), lets you record one channel while watching another or you can really push the boat out and simultaneously record two channels while playing back a previous recording.

PVR-9200T Freeview Duovisio PVR Launched by Humax Receiving and recording of pay TV channels is possible through a special CA module.

There’s no DVD recorder on board, so storage is taken care of by a fairly generous 160GB hard drive, supporting up to 100 hours recording.

The unit comes with preloaded software, allowing for picture-in-a-picture and “assorted trick play, diverse formats of recording and recording services playback, all through the time shift recording function.” We’re not quite sure what that last bit means.

Folks baffled by the complexities of traditional video programming will enjoy the 7 day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) with the Duovisio providing support for subtitles, digital teletext and interactive features.

PVR-9200T Freeview Duovisio PVR Launched by Humax There’s also a handy USB2.0 port provided for MPEG A/V file transfers between the Duovisio and a PC, letting users play back their digital photos or listen to MP3 files downloaded from a PC.

Humax

OpenTV PVR 2.0 Released

OpenTV Announces General Release Of OpenTV PVR 2.0 OpenTV Corp have given out a large toot on their PR trumpets and announced the availability of their “PVR 2.0” software to network operators and set-top box manufacturers worldwide.

OpenTV are big hotshots in the world of digital and interactive television technologies, and their new PVR 2.0 software is touted as an all-in platform for personal video recording, supporting standard and advanced features including push VOD and remote event booking.

The software includes support for the OpenTV streaming file system, a technology designed for PVR based usage with the aim of increasing the reliability and life span of disk drives.

OpenTV Announces General Release Of OpenTV PVR 2.0 PVR 2.0 is built upon OpenTV’s “Core 2.0” software, the fourth generation of set-top middleware which sports an architecture and features to support the expanding requirements of advanced digital television set-top boxes including PVR, VOD, IPTV, HDTV and home networking.

Network operators UPC Broadband, StarHub and AUSTAR have recently chosen OpenTV PVR 2.0 to integrate into their advanced digital platforms for the launch of their first PVR solutions.

OpenTV is also working to bring OpenTV PVR 2.0 to market with a wide range of set-top manufacturers including ADB, Pace, Phillips, Scientific Atlanta, Thomson and UEC, and with the leading CA vendors including Irdeto, NagraVision and Viaccess.

OpenTV Announces General Release Of OpenTV PVR 2.0 “Network operators increasingly understand middleware’s value in achieving their business goals, reducing operational costs and improving time to market of the services critical to the success of their businesses,” said Tim Evard, who has a very big name badge declaring him to be OpenTV’s “senior vice president and general manager of products and marketing.”

“OpenTV Core 2.0 and PVR 2.0 is quickly becoming the platform of choice for worldwide operators launching PVR solutions. We will be demonstrating the latest features of Core 2.0 and PVR 2.0 at the upcoming IBC conference in Amsterdam,” he added.

OpenTV

DABplus With EPG Launched By Frontier Silicon

DABplus Launched By Frontier Silicon Frontier Silicon has launched a new module that claims to bring personal-video-recorder (PVR) like capabilities to DAB digital radio.

The newly introduced DABplus brings a combination of a smarty-pants electronic programme guide (EPG) and advanced recording and timer capabilities to its successful Venice module.

Just like a PVR, DABplus will let radio listeners shuffle through a guide detailing up to seven days of programmes and select what they want to listen to (or record via the built in timers).

DABplus Launched By Frontier Silicon Recordings can be saved onto a memory card on the same radio or played back on any compatible audio unit.

With a Tim Henman-esque clenched fist action, Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon whooped up the benefits of his company’s new product, “This will revolutionise digital radio just as PVR has revolutionised the television viewing experience.”

The Venice module comes with all the necessary components pre-installed, making it easy for manufacturers to start churning out DAB radios by simply bolting on a power source, antenna, display and keypad (it’s probably a bit more difficult than that, but you get our gist).

The module contains the Chorus processor which has already proved a hot potato in the DAB world, shifting over two million units.

DABplus Launched By Frontier Silicon Frontier Silicon’s software provides an interface through which EPG and dynamic service information (DLS) can be viewed, with scrolling text allowing information ‘wider’ than the 16-character screen to be seen.

Anthony Sethill added, “The addition of DABplus to our market leading modules will help accelerate the adoption of new broadcast features such as EPG and is therefore an important next step for the digital radio market.”

Frontier Silicon

MHP Services In Europe: Current Position Reviewed

MHP services in Europe Across Europe, interactive services using the DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard have been launched on cable, satellite and terrestrial platforms. While not formally mandated by the European Commission, MHP has been embraced as an open and interoperable standard that can be actively encouraged and promoted. Already, several countries have launched MHP-based interactive services on the terrestrial platform.

Finland pioneered MHP-based interactive services on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform when it launched services in August 2001. Services currently include digital teletext, banking and game applications, advertising sites and a seven-day electronic programme guide (EPG). A mobile telephone assures the return channel. Currently, a regional MHP portal is available in the city of Tampere to provide local information and a similar portal will soon be launched in Helsinki. The government has actively supported the development of MHP-based services through its project ArviD.

Public service broadcasters have been very active in establishing the Nordic Migration Plan to ensure the introduction of MHP-based interactive services. The launch of DTT services in Denmark and Norway will likely include interactive services. Denmark is expected to launch its DTT services in July 2005 while Norway may launch its services in 2006.

In Sweden, interactive services were initially implemented using the proprietary system, OpenTV. However, the migration towards MHP-based services is underway and the public broadcaster SVT launched an MHP based digital teletext service in March 2004.

Germany has been a continued supporter of the roll-out of MHP-based interactive television services, especially on the satellite platform. MHP data services have been launched on the terrestrial television platform.

MHP services in Europe In Austria, a DTT trial with MHP-based interactive services provided 150 households in Graz with access to an interactive television service called !TV4 using the telephone connection for the return channel. Using their television remote control, viewers could retrieve information services and vote. Given the success of the trial, it is likely that MHP-based interactive services will be launched alongside DTT services.

In Hungary, MHP-based interactive services are available in the DTT trials conducted by Antenna Hungaria. The services are information based and include digital teletext and an EPG.

In February 2002, the Ministry of Science and Technology in Spain sponsored an agreement for the promotion and implementation of interactive services based on the MHP standard signed by leading manufacturers and broadcasters. Currently MHP services are available in Catalunya, Madrid and the Basque region and are expected to be launched in Galicia. In Catalunya, the Miromercats pilot supplied 100 homes with advanced MHP applications and provided a return channel via the telephone line.

But the turning point for MHP has been in Italy where interactive content has been a cornerstone of the launch of DTT services. Broadcasters have provided a wide range of MHP-based interactive services such as digital teletext, news information, weather forecasts, audience polling and an EPG. Furthermore, the government seeks to develop “t-government” services in an aim to help bridge the digital divide. Government subsidies are available to encourage households to purchase interactive set-top boxes.

MHP services in Europe Of course MHP is not the only interactive television service system in the market. Proprietary systems such as MediaHighway and OpenTV have been installed in a large number of set-top boxes, often for cable and satellite platforms. In the United Kingdom, the MHEG standard is widely used on the terrestrial platform. As a result of the various products and services in the market, the DVB Project has been working on the development of the Portable Content Format (PCF) to deliver a wide range of interactive television services to multiple platforms with a minimum of re-authoring. It has significant interest for operators who wish to migrate towards MHP by allowing them to manage simultaneously a mixed population of devices.

We’ll be carrying a follow up piece by Natalie on Friday, about launching MHP services. Natalie works for Digitag
Photo credits: Alticast, Uni-Weimer, MHP.org, MIT Xperts

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB With HDMI, Among Others

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace Micro Technology, a cutting edge UK digital set-top box provider tasked with developing emerging technologies across all television platforms, has trumpeted the launch of a number of STB’s and PVR’s, including the Laguna DC551HD and DC 501 Chicago all-digital set-top box.

The Laguna DC551HD is a high definition set-top box (HD STB) that comes with HDMI as standard. HDMI is being insisted on by many content owners as the means of interconnecting HD equipment, ensuring the content remains encrypted as it passes between devices, in an effort to reduce unauthorised content copying. It also boasts support for an optional 1394 5C protected interface to let people move content from the box – in a controlled fashion, of course.

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace is also offering the Tahoe DC775 HD-DVR, claiming it to be the most advanced high definition DVR for North America, and the first cable set-top box to offer features based on next generation silicon. Interestingly it offers a number of ways to save video content to the 160Gb hard drive – Standard Definition (SD), High Def (HD) and enhanced analogue. With multi-room video distribution and support for high-speed data connections for home computers, wireless routers and VoIP included you might be wondering what isn’t included.

The ‘Chicago’ set-top box is an all-digital device with a common platform designed to operate on North American cable networks and the Chicago DC 501 claims to be the most powerful standard definition, all-digital box available, boasting an industry leading MIPS processor and it’s also the first in the industry to offer DSG and OCAP support as options.

Consumers burdened with Ye Olde analogue televisions won’t have to miss out on the digi-fun either as the box can hook up to such near-Neanderthal devices.

The Chicago DC 501’s innovative design allows the set-top box to stand vertically or lay horizontally, with a cunning infrared (IR) receiver extender allowing the box to be mounted remotely on a wall or discretely hidden away.

Pace Americas’ President Michael Pulli spun out the spiel, “We’re in a unique position as the only set-top box provider with licenses and technology to deploy boxes on all types of cable TV networks. This underscores a major part of our long-term strategy for the North American market, which is to develop set-top box solutions with a common platform that can easily be deployed on any network.”

Laguna DC551HD From Pace, HD STB with HDMI Pace Americas’ VP of Technology Chris Dinallo had clearly feasted on a diet of buzzwords before adding, “All-digital and digital simulcast are critical industry initiatives, and uniquely, Pace is proud to be the only set-top box provider that can support all-digital on both networks.”

“All-digital networks allow entertainment and communications to flow easily across many devices. Consumer demand, better picture quality, spectrum efficiency, competition, and the ability to offer more revenue generating services are all driving cable operators toward all digital,” Dinallo added.

The Chicago DC 501 is the first in a series of Chicago all-digital boxes to be released this year.

Other model announced include (ready for this, deep breath …) the Daytona DC755HD, Indiana DC511 and some further details on the PVR2Go, a Personal & Mobile Entertainment Device.

Pace Micro

Moxi II Media Deal Between Digeo And Samsung

Samsung have jumped into bed with Digeo – a leading provider of media center software and services – and announced a deal to produce the next-generation Moxi II Media Center product family.

The companies are claiming that the new family of Samsung Home Media Center products will rival the features of personal computers designed for living room entertainment centres.

The Moxi II Media Center, scheduled for release in the autumn, will combine the functions of an advanced video recorder, jukebox, photo viewer and Internet telephone in a single unit (although cable providers will determine the exact feature set).

The boxes will sport four TV tuners (for recording multiple shows at once and/or feeding multiple live TV streams to satellite Moxi Mini boxes around the house) with enough onboard storage to record up to 40 hours of high definition programming.

There’s also support for Voice over IP for making and receiving calls (Moxi’s current Moxi Telephone app can only manage and receive calls).

Samsung And Digeo Agree Cable TV Box Deal US cable companies Charter Communications and Adelphia are set to be the first two cable companies to start dishing out the boxes to customers.

“We are pleased to be bringing powerful media center technologies to market with Digeo,” purred Gee Sung Choi, president of Digital Media Division for Samsung Electronics.

“Our Home Media Center solution launching this fall will be our marquee cable product, setting new standards for operators by delivering unprecedented, highly valued media center services and applications throughout the home.”

The new units will use the sci-fi sounding Digeo X-Stream chip set, a smart little fella that incorporates a chip that integrates several functions previously handled by multiple chips.

Samsung And Digeo Agree Cable TV Box Deal The cost-reducing chip will also offer improved graphics performance with Digeo cranking up the speed of the microprocessor from 733 megahertz to 1 gigahertz.

“The first product … is the first in this family,” said Michael Markman, Digeo’s senior director of marketing. “But the architecture, the design will allow for much further growth.”

Cable box makers face mighty mean competition from PC companies knocking out entertainment PCs running Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition. The latest PC models also support multiple-room viewing as well as HDTV.

Samsung
Digeo

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still Currently Dominant

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still Dominant DVRs may well be the hot product in the home entertainment industry, but dusty old video cassettes still rule the roost in the US.

A survey from iSuppli Corporation reports that DVRs are still a long way from challenging VCRs as the dominant method for recording TV in US households, but strong growth is predicted through to 2009

Only 3.8 million units were sold in 2003, but sales almost tripled in 2004 to 11.0 million units.

iSuppli estimates that sales will continue to grow, rising to 16.3 million by the end of this year and 45.5 million by 2009.

CENTRIS research also found a large increase in the DVR market last year, with the number of DVR units owned by US households rising 119% to 3.5 million from 2003 to 2004.

The company noted that the increases in DVR were mainly due to consumers taking advantage of units offered with digital broadcast satellite (DBS) and cable subscription services.

DVR Sales Rise, But VCRs Still Dominant However, take up is still very low compared to many other consumer electronics products: just 6% of all US households have a DVR, compared to the 87% with a VCR, 60% with a DVD console and 12% with Video on Demand (VOD).

The squeeze is going to be on for PC-based DVR makers and standalone players like TiVo.

Despite extremely loyal user bases and a market share currently at about 40% (TiVo dominates this with a market share between 20% and 30%), JupiterResearch is predicting that this market share will decline to 20% by 2009, with cable and DBS DVRs accounting for the remaining 80%.

These companies can offer their products very cheaply (charging only a fee for renting the machine with no extra subscription cost) and introduce consumers to an affordable DVR experience.

In an effort to maintain their market share, TiVo is planning to branch out its services early next year by allowing subscribers to download movies from the Internet to their machines, along with a partnership with DVD rental company NetFlix.

DVR Dilemma (emarketer.com)
iSuppli
Jupiter Research
Centris

Diffusion Group Report: Media Servers, Digital Media Adapters Reborn In Converged Platforms

Stand-Alone Media Servers And Digital Media Adapters Reborn In Converged Platforms Evidence is beginning to amass that two of the most hyped products in the early digital home market will be lucky if they manage to reach niche market status in the next few years.

Not so long ago, people were getting very excited by media servers and digital media adapters. They were the future. And then, err, people kinda forgot about them.

So what happened?

According to new research from The Diffusion Group, it seems that despite the products being well-hyped, widely discussed and blessed with encouraging early forecasts from a number of research firms, the devices have suffered from extremely limited demand.

Moreover, the report concludes that demand for both these technologies will remain limited and that what unique functionality these solutions do offer will be quickly integrated into other platforms.

“It is not that this type of functionality is undesirable,” said Michael Greeson, President of The Diffusion Group. “The premise of networking stored digital media content to multiple devices in the home is valid, but consumers aren’t looking for separate devices to enable this experience.

Instead, the applications and benefits enabled by these two platforms will be increasingly integrated into devices with which consumers are more familiar – such as DVD players that are now evolving into DVD-recorders or set-top boxes with built-in hard-drives and integrated networking.”

“While media servers were originally positioned to be the hub of the digital home, demand for these solutions has never gotten off the ground.”

Although Windows Media Center PCs have proved more popular, Greeson asserts that this is simply down to normal PC replacement cycles rather than consumers finding anything particularly compelling about the concept.

Other media server platforms have been much less successful, although the push of high-end digital set-top boxes by cable and satellite video service providers offers a case for optimism.

“However,” says Greeson, “this is a push model, where the equipment is subsidised by the service provider in order to generate digital media service revenue, as opposed to a ‘pull’ model where consumers are so enamoured with the device that they run to the retail store to purchase one.”

When it comes to digital media adapters or DMAs, the Diffusion Group paints a gloomy picture.

Introduced a couple of years ago, the idea was to make it easy to share content from the PC to other media devices in the home, such as a TV or stereo using a DMA. But their techie-tastic appeal failed to win over punters.

“Not long ago, there were ten to fifteen companies offering DMAs,” said Gary Sasaki, a contributing analyst with The Diffusion Group and President of DIGDIA, a media consultancy.

“At this year’s CES, DMAs were hard to find. Part of the reason for the premature demise of DMAs is that their functionality appeals mostly to early-adopter or technology-savvy buyers. Additionally, and somewhat similar to media servers, the functionality of DMAs is slowly getting integrated into other more familiar product categories.”

The report suggests that we’ve got an industry in fast transition, with early, stand-alone technologies being picked clean for their useful ideas and then incorporated into more consumer-friendly converged products.

Diffusion Group

Apple/TiVo Bid Rumours Considered

TiVo jumps on Apple bid rumours Rumours pointing at Apple as a potential bidder for TiVo have given the digital video recorder company’s shares a healthy boost – and got people wondering whether the deal would be a good fit.

TiVo’s technology which allows viewers to skip ads breaks and to pause and rewind live television made it a must-have gadget, although some of the competition is catching up.

As of 31 January this year, TiVo had a subscription base of 3 million (the majority of them from DirecTV), and said it’d added around 698,000 subscriptions during its fourth quarter. And the company has said it is not for sale.

But for some, a tie-up between Apple and TiVo would be a marriage made in gadget heaven, bringing together some of the coolest gadgets – and brands – the industry has thought up in the last few years. And it is possible to see a few areas where it would make sense.

With Apple’s stock running at such a high price and TiVo’s suffering, the purchase of TiVo (the whole company is currently valued at under $400m), could be easy – almost a rounding error.

TiVo jumps on Apple bid rumours Nearly every media and technology company is aiming at the living room now, either with Media Centre-style PCs or other digital hubs to spread content such as video and music around the home.

For Apple, bringing video to its massively popular iPod would certainly be an understandable step, perhaps allowing users to dock the iPod with the TiVo and download favourite shows. But it is hard to see how popular this would be in the short term.

Neither TiVo nor Apple are commenting on the rumours. Other media giants have been floated as potential buyers for TiVo as well, and financial analysts remain split on whether any deal is on the cards.

Tivo
Apple

EFF Release Cookbook: Build an HD PVR

EFF Releases Cookbook to Break 'Broadcast Flag' Copyright Protection Digital civil liberties organisation, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announced the next stage in its ongoing challenge to the US Federal Communications Commission’s “Broadcast Flag” technology mandate (first mentioned by us in Nov.03).

The organisation has released a step-by-step guide called “HD PVR Cookbook” which teaches people how to build a high-definition digital television (HDTV) recorder, unaffected by the technological constraints of the Broadcast Flag.

The EFF is also encouraging people to protest against the FCC rule by holding Build-Ins. These are gatherings around the country to build unfettered HDTV recorders and experience first-hand the kind of innovation stifled by the government mandate.

The Broadcast Flag is an application that places copy controls on DTV Signals in an attempt to stop people making digitally perfect copies of television shows and redistributing them.

It comes in two parts: The first is a tiny bit of data (the flag) that is inserted into a station’s digital stream. It doesn’t actually do anything to the video signal itself. It’s simply there, to tell digital receivers about the protection level of the content.

The second part of the technology comes into play from July 1st when all new devices will be required to protect marked content with an “authorised technology”.

This has the aim of limiting one’s ability to distribute the content via the Internet or other mass methods while simultaneously allowing the consumer unfettered access to his or her content.

Now that sounds pretty reasonable, but as engadget points out, this technology may end up preventing consumers from making perfectly legitimate personal copies of broadcasts.

Moreover, it may outlaw the manufacture and importing of a whole host of TiVo-like devices that send DTV signals into a computer for backup, editing, and playback.

The EFF is inviting individuals to fight back by hosting a Build-In before the Broadcast Flag goes into effect on July 1, 2005.

EFF held the first Build-In at its offices in late January, inviting a number of local programmers, TV fans, and bloggers to try out their ‘Cookbook’ and ‘test-bake’ their own HDTV recorders using standard computers equipped with HD tuner cards.

The results were impressive: the dozen attendees created five working PVRs over the course of the day, using the KnoppMyth distribution of the open-source MythTV software package.

Groups who want to host their own Build-Ins can contact EFF for a “Throw Your Own Build-In” kit, which includes a hard copy of the HD PVR Cookbook, a KnoppMyth CD-ROM, and (of course!) free EFF t-shirts and stickers.

EFF releases its technological challenge to the Broadcast Flag on the same day that the organisation and other civil liberties groups challenge the FCC in the courtroom. In ALA v. FCC, the groups – including the American Library Association and Public Knowledge – argue that the FCC has overstepped its authority in mandating the Broadcast Flag and that the rule should be struck down.

“Even as we’re suing the FCC to stop this interference with technological innovation, we’re also helping television watchers to get off the couch and build their own fully capable PVRs,” said EFF Special Projects Coordinator Wendy Seltzer, who organized the Build-In. “Every MythTV built helps demonstrate the creative development that may be cut off by bad regulation.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation
HD PVR Cookbook
Photos of the EFF Build-In (EFF)
Will the Broadcast Flag Break Your TiVo? (Slate Mag)
Federal Communications Commission