US TV
Cablevision, a US cable operator serving parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, has announced that it is trialling a server-based DVR (PVR) solution with a view to making the service available to its entire digital cable customer base.
In the US, many cable operators now offer digital video recorder set-top-boxes to digital cable customers for between an extra $5 to $10 a month. Such boxes typically come equipped with two tuners and the ability to watch a third recorded programme while both tuners are busy recording. Hard disk capacity is usually around 80GB for standard definition and 160GB for high definition-capable boxes.
"The technology necessary to support this superior approach to DVR is here today, and in Cablevision's case we can use it to put DVR functionality in more than 2 million digital homes instantaneously, without ever rolling a truck or swapping out a set-top box," said Cablevision's CEO, Tom Rutledge.
The Cablevision trial will allocate each customer 80GB of space on a server at the cable operator's headend. No pricing details have been unveiled, but it seems likely that the cableco will offer remote DVR functionality at a reduced price to the consumer compared with the price of renting a DVR-capable set top box.
Remote delivery of on-demand content is already prevalent on US digital cable, with video-on-demand services widely available and some cable operators offering so-called "catch up" services that permit viewers to join live programmes late but watch them from the start. To alleviate bandwidth concerns given the ongoing presence of analogue cable services, many digital cable operators have switched to QAM256 modulation (effectively fitting more channels into the same space) and are trialling "switched digital" frameworks in which bandwidth is dynamically assigned to particular channel streams depending on demand (enabling the operator to offer many more niche channels).
In the US, many cable operators now offer digital video recorder set-top-boxes to digital cable customers for between an extra $5 to $10 a month. Such boxes typically come equipped with two tuners and the ability to watch a third recorded programme while both tuners are busy recording. Hard disk capacity is usually around 80GB for standard definition and 160GB for high definition-capable boxes.
"The technology necessary to support this superior approach to DVR is here today, and in Cablevision's case we can use it to put DVR functionality in more than 2 million digital homes instantaneously, without ever rolling a truck or swapping out a set-top box," said Cablevision's CEO, Tom Rutledge.
The Cablevision trial will allocate each customer 80GB of space on a server at the cable operator's headend. No pricing details have been unveiled, but it seems likely that the cableco will offer remote DVR functionality at a reduced price to the consumer compared with the price of renting a DVR-capable set top box.
Remote delivery of on-demand content is already prevalent on US digital cable, with video-on-demand services widely available and some cable operators offering so-called "catch up" services that permit viewers to join live programmes late but watch them from the start. To alleviate bandwidth concerns given the ongoing presence of analogue cable services, many digital cable operators have switched to QAM256 modulation (effectively fitting more channels into the same space) and are trialling "switched digital" frameworks in which bandwidth is dynamically assigned to particular channel streams depending on demand (enabling the operator to offer many more niche channels).
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