DVR Archives - Page 37 of 65

Cablevision Completes Television CallerID Rollout

As of tomorrow, all Cablevision triple-play (television, data, voice) customers will be capable of receiving CallerID through their Scientific Atlanta set-top boxes. The feature can be toggled on/off and is provided at no extra charge. CallerID has proven to be a very popular feature in luring and retaining triple-play customers – Cablevision is wise to … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs: Gaming on the Set-Top: Connected Home 2 Go Watch Ripped DVD’s Using Front Row: Brent Evans Geek Tonic Damned Lies and DVR Statistics: Connected Home 2 Go MoCA 1.1 and In-Home Networking: Connected Home 2 Go

Invasion Of The Pod Snatchers

Every now and then, a study will be released suggesting that DVR owners donât actually skip very many ads. While I can understand why people would want to watch certain programs live, itâs always hard for me to take this kind of data seriously, because it tracks so differently, from my own DVR experience.

I love being able to time shift my television and take full advantage of my fast forward button. If I absolutely need to see something live, Iâll still wait 20 minutes, just so that I can skip past the commercials. Over the last six years, Iâve been every marketers worst nightmare and yet, there has been one company that I have never been able to block.

Sleeptrain Mattress Centers

Itâs not a major company, but this sleepy little company has been able to outsmart the DVR, by exploiting the very fast forward feature, that I love so much.

More On Verizon FiOS TV: The Q4 Update

Now that we’ve covered some of upcoming significant Verizon FiOS TV features (first half 2008), let’s take a step back and discuss the 2007 Q4 “maintenance release.” At the core of this update, Verizon believes they have addressed the “top 100” concerns based on continued testing, blog feedback, call center data, and home visits. While they’re not really adding any major new features, the software should appear more polished with UI improvements and dozens of resolved issues.

Enhancements

More complete guide data and for upcoming programs
Larger fonts (in program descriptions)
Less chopped text
Just one UI “bread crumb”
Transparent guide no longer default setting
Improved storage space calculations and indicator

New Features

Set-top box reminders (non-DVR models)
Pad recordings
Additional recording options
Option to channel surf favorites only
Subscribe to channels

Hover your mouse over the thumbnails for a description; Click for a larger view:

Verizon FiOS TV Getting Media Extender Capabilities (and more!)

I journeyed up to Verizon’s New Jersey headquarters last week for a highly informative briefing by the guys defining FiOS TV product requirements and managing the engineering personnel. In addition to demo-ing the maintenance release due this quarter and having customer questions/concerns addressed, I’m the first person outside of Verizon to check out some compelling features they’ve got in the pipeline. It’ll take me at least two posts to cover all the info and, since the media extender functionality has got me all fired up, we’ll start there. The features below are pretty far along in development and slated to hit FiOS TV boxes in Q1 or Q2 of next year.

FiOS TV as Media Extender

Verizon’s FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide (IMG) currently offers rudimentary photo and music PC sharing capabilities. However, with upcoming releases, music and photo navigation will be enhanced (folders, playlists) AND the ability to stream video from “Media Manager” will be added. All sorts of file formats (AVI, MPEG4, DiVx, Flash, etc) will be transcoded on the fly. Currently, the transcoding is resolution-independent… Meaning you can throw any size video at it and, while the video will stream PC->DVR as MPEG2, the resolution won’t be touched. Thinking about all the HD video available via BitTorrent, I can see Verizon choosing to throttle back resolutions during the development process in order to keep transfers efficient.

Network DVR Arrives… But Not in the US

Telefonica, the largest phone company in Spain, is planning to debut a network DVR service in November. Called “Past TV”, the service will offer programs from the previous week on-demand. The shows will include commercials, but unlike similar services in the US, viewers will be able to fast forward through them. Cablevision of course has … Read more

Verizon FiOS TV 2.0 Updates

I’m heading up to Verizon’s NJ headquarters tomorrow to check out the new FiOS TV features and fixes that are getting ready to roll, plus preview future functionality such as games and mobile handset DVR interaction. I’m pre-posting my visit to solicit feedback for Verizon’s IMG Product Developer Manager… There’s been some concern (which Verizon … Read more

Gizmodo Gets Scoop on New ReplayTV Gadget

I have a soft spot for ReplayTV, having gotten an early Panasonic version of the company’s hardware back in 2001. However, there’s been virtually no word of the DVR pioneer since ReplayTV moved to a software-only business model last year. Now Gizmodo reports that the company is launching a new product – an HD/DVR tuner … Read more