Slashdot Mirror
Time Warner to Allow Digital Recording
platypussrex writes "CNN is reporting that some Time Warner cable customers will be offered the ability to use digital recording. The article says they will not have a commercial zapping feature but even the use of digital recording seems a major turn-around from what the entertainment industry has been saying so far. I wonder if this will help TiVo and ReplyTV gain 'legitimacy'?"
Bell ExpressVU satellite in Canada has had the 5100 model receiver out for about a year now I think. It has a build in PVR as well. Currently the only one available in Canada (the last I looked anyways). Everythings proprietary, so no hacking fun, but at least I get to have a digital recorder to playback TV at the same quality as live.
Place witty comment here.
There's no such thing as HD S-video. Your choices in HD video are component analog (YUV or RGB), DVI, or FireWire. Digital is superior, of course, but with consumer equipment it's really, really hard to tell the difference between digital and YUV component analog.
S-video, or YC, isn't an option for HDTV signals.
Imagine you just sat down to find your favorite program.
Now imagine you power up your digi-TV-recorder from Time Warner.
You slowly hit the "Guide" button to scan for your favorite program.
All of the sudden, it's there, right in front of you, an AD brought to you by Time Warner!! Sitting right there, next to your channel choices! As you scroll through the list, you can't help but want to run out and buy a Big Mac....large fries.....super-size coke.... They aren't doing this to compete with satellite...they're doing it to integrate advertising into the overlay screens.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Well, in a limited fashion. TWC is rolling out iControl here in Central Florida. It's basically a Video-On-Demand service that allows for pause, rewind, and many other TiVo-like features, but apparently only for Pay-Per-View movies.
I've also noticed an HBO On Demand channel appear in my lineup in the past two weeks, with a "Coming Soon" label on it. The on-screen display for this channel indicates it'll be a repository where HBO subscribers can watch HBO-specific programming On Demand. I'll be interested to see if there's an added premium for this, and how far back they carry the catalog (It would be nice to catch up with the Sopranos or watch the full run of From the Earth to the Moon without having to buy the DVD sets).
At any rate, I had a tech come out to replace my burnt-out cable modem a few weeks ago (plenty of storms here on the Southeast Coast - hence my nickname), and he replaced my cable box with a new model by Scientific Atlanta. He said I'd need this when the iControl went live in the area. I haven't yet, but I guess when I get home I'll bust out the screwdriver and have a look-see what's inside the thing...
and is already working in NE Wisconsin. Check out their webpage.
I am a TW cable employee (don't throw anything I am just an intern), and will be attending a session (4 hours for some reason) on this really soon.
I will say that they do know what the pricing is, and it will be rolled out in Greensboro, NC soon.
In addition, in case anyone cares. The whole system runs off a full rack of about 10 Sun servers... I can find out more info on those if anyone wants...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
In Memphis. I have a couple friends that either work for TW or have a relative that does. They are testing this, to a degree. Except what they are testing does not require replacing their existing digital cable box.
Appearently the choices are stored at TW's facility. They are also testing HBO on demand. One of them said they could select say the current season of Sex in the City and they get a listing of all current episodes for this season.
The PVR like functionality is what intrigues me with them not having any kind of onsite hard drive in the box. When they press pause, it pauses instantly just like my Tivo.
No, S-vid doesn't do HD. When I say antenna I mean HD over the air, not normal crappy antenna signal. Most people get HD content via antenna, but Time Warner carries it in some markets via digital cable. It's much easier than dealing with the antenna and I don't need to buy the $500 receiver box to sit between the TV and antenna.
Well, for one thing, you get digital cable without the IR repeater that TiVo has to use. For my setup (digital cable + TiVo), the video signal goes through the digital decoder and then into TiVo. To change channels, the TiVo has little LEDs that you place over the remote sensor for the digital cable box. TiVo emulates the digital cable remote to change the channels, and is successful about 95% of the time. The rest of the time, TiVo almost changes the channel, and you get the wrong thing.
There are ways to lessen the effect, such as building an IR cage around the IR repeater/IR receiver portion. There are other options, such as going satelite (TiVo's ReplayTV box is a satelite decoder as well, so it has no problem changing channels) or basic cable (TiVo works fine as a basic cable box). But, since digital cable decoding is non-standard, the only way is to get the cable provider to offer a PVR box.
They probably won't go the TiVo route - TiVo would rather see a standard digital cable descrambler, usable in many cable systems, then one for each market. If a cable provider wants to make one for each market, TiVo will do it, but expect the cable provider to pay for the work needed to make the box. SonicBlue, who is behind the Time Warner box, is more willing to burnn their own money and work with the cable providers.
The real solution is a single, HD-enable digital cable standard, so that any manufacturer can make a box that works on all the networks, including TiVo. I imagine the cable providers get a bit of revenue renting out the digital cable decoders, so I don't expect this any time soon. Also, I'll have to see the pricing details to determine whether Time Warner is serious about this as a mainstream product, or only selling it to the rich folks that might have gone the SonicBlue route anyway.
I can find out more info on those if anyone wants...
The following would be truly appreciated:
1. What operating system does it run?
2. What kind of a HD and partition does it use? (Standard or propietary)
3. What other "special" devices are in it?
4. What specifically is propietary and what is standard parts?
5. What DRM management software is in it?
6. Is it automagically updatable?
7. What user usage data does it record?
and any other pertinent info too would be useful, I'm sure.
Actually, if you could just sneak out the information details, and scan them in, or get a monkey to type in, and submit a story to \., that would be truly appreciated.
Of course, I am in no way, shape, or form, encouraging a company IP theft. [Enter further appropriate disclaimer here.]
It comes with Digital Cable.... Been around for a few months. http://www.twcny.com/services/iControl/index.cfm?T hankYou=One
"iCONTROL puts the power of Video on Demand in your Digital Cable box.
No late night visits to the video store...no late fees...no tapes to return...no stress. Order the movie you want...ANYTIME!
ALWAYS IN Movies are always available.
Start a movie when you want.
Pause, Fast Forward & Rewind the movie with your Digital Cable remote control... without using the VCR.
Choose from a digital library featuring a wide selection of new releases and movie favorites.
All from the convenience of your own home.
Coming Summer 2002.
Watch our web site and the mail for official launch dates.
You need to have Digital Cable to get Video on Demand with iCONTROL "
Thorstein
Envy my 5 digit Slashdot User ID!
Wrong. iControl is not a digital recorder. iControl is just pay-per-view-on-demand with control options. The cable box that they get from Scientific Atlanta is the 8000 series http://www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/prod_su b_PVR.htm
Check it out, it is not iControl at all. We've had that here for about a year now. We've had HBO on demand for a few months now also.
You might want to check to see if your data cable is working and supported now. A nice surprise with version 3.0 was that I now have the serial cable going directly into my digital cable box -- no more ir mistakes! And it's faster too.