| ||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| ||
Hard Drive Video Recording to Pick Up Steam in 2005
Beyond the movement to deliver new performance levels in pictures and sound, the consumer electronics industry, in association with other business sectors, is developing a variety of interactive TV technologies that enable consumers to personalize their TV viewing experience. Interactive TV is a broad term for a wide variety of hardware products, middleware applications and support services that deliver and make use of interactive content and enhancements on TV screens. In some cases these systems combine traditional TV watching with the interactivity of the Internet. Programming can include richer graphics, links to Web sites through TV crossover links, electronic mail, chatrooms and online commerce through a back channel (T-commerce). Today interactive television is associated most commonly with PVRs, video-on-demand options, electronic program guides and video games. Personal Video Recorders Take HoldAlternately called PVRs and digital video recorders (DVRs), these devices employ a hard disk drive and usually an electronic program guide that simplifies the process of finding and recording TV programs. When first introduced, PVRs received considerable press attention and wildly optimistic reviews from industry analysts, but manufacturers found the concept was a complicated story to get across to consumers. Digital video recorders are used to digitally record programming to a hard drive that is capable of storing many hours of content at a time. This in effect creates a personal video channel containing stored favorite programs that a user can access at will. Programs typically are recorded to the hard disk using an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression scheme, offering very clear pictures in comparison to analog VCRs. The unit saves the incoming live TV signal from a cable, antenna or satellite system. As the hard disk fills, oldest programs are erased automatically to make room for new content. These DVRs continuously cache all live programming, enabling viewers to pause or rewind TV shows on the fly to catch segments they may have missed or wish to view again. The technology also allows viewers to watch a program from the beginning even as it is being recorded. Although the concept has generated enthusiastic reviews among early adopters, sales were at first slow to develop, before accelerating significantly in the last year. DVR makers have attributed this to the complexity of the feature benefit story, which many consumers fail to grasp. Some object to subscription fees the DVR services require for continuously updated program guide listings.
*Includes both stand-alone PVR and those integrated into satellite and cable TV set-top boxes. According to CEA Market Research, the category will continue to grow in 2006, with sales to dealers estimated to climb 89 percent to 5.5 million units. That forecast includes both stand-alone models and those integrated into cable or satellite set-top boxes. Factory dollars are expected to rise to $1.2 billion from $718 million in 2005, as average unit pricing drops to $231. Stand-alone HDTV PVRs ArriveSeveral manufacturers also shipped stand-alone PVRs that are designed to hook up to various set-top boxes and integrated HDTV sets using digital connectors to record and playback high-definition programming on large capacity hard drives. TiVo Looks Beyond DirecTV for Growth TiVo is perhaps the best known of all personal video recorder brands, and its popularity was proven last year, when the service said its cumulative subscriber level topped the four million mark. However, changes in the company’s upper management and concerns over TiVo’s loss of its largest distribution partner – DirecTV – will make for tough going ahead. To date, TiVo’s biggest obstacle has been the need to purchase equipment up front and pay a monthly service fee to use the recording features. In 2005, the company offered promotional incentives that include very low prices in exchange for making a commitment to subscribe to the service. The company even was contemplating eliminating the purchase fee altogether, later in 2006. Also in 2006, TiVo will look to expand its service through cable TV operators and has added new features, including the ability to convert recorded programs into a compressed format playable on a new class of video iPods marketed by Apple Computer. In 2005, the company expanded its video recording function to include networking systems that allow multiple PCs in a home to share programming recorded on the DVR using wired or wireless connections. The new application even will allow programs to be downloaded to a laptop PC’s hard drive to enable viewing programming on the go. In 2004, TiVo added to the basic service the ability to store and play digital music and image files from the DVR’s hard disc drive. In June 2006, the service will add a KidZone feature designed to help parents find and record only the most appropriate programs for the children to watch. The easy-to-use system will use ratings from two children’s programming watchdog organizations – Common Sense Media and the Parents Television Council – to find and record approved programs automatically. The recorded shows are directed to an open-access KidZone directory in the TiVo menu and will require a password for older viewers to view other content on the recorder. Satellite Providers Benefit from DVRsTo date direct-to-home satellite television providers EchoStar and DirecTV have been the most aggressive and most successful marketers of digital video recorder products and services. The majority of TiVo’s more than four million subscribers to date have been DirecTV customers, who purchase products and pay TiVo’s monthly subscription fees through the satellite company. In 2005, DirecTV started delivering combination satellite receiver/DVRs based on technology developed by a sister corporation, NDS. At the same time, TiVo products continue to be sold and supported by DirecTV under a prior contractual agreement. EchoStar, meanwhile, has been one of the largest suppliers of DVRs, selling integrated receiver/DVR products which it developed, manufactured and marketed internally. Today, both satellite operators offer low-cost products that record standard definition video and more elaborate models that also store high-definition content. Some models also offer home networking capability. Cable Operators Add PVR ServicesLooking to get into the DVR act, some cable operators now are offering subscribers set-top decoder boxes with integrated PVR functionality. In fact, the technology has become so popular that it has helped some set-top box manufacturers build market share over rivals that were not as prepared with integrated offerings. Cable operators, eager to stave off the competitive threat from satellite service providers, quickly moved to add integrated cable decoder/PVRs to their primarily self-distributed product portfolios. In 2006, cable operators will continue to expand DVR services, offering recorders for no upfront purchase fee and smaller monthly surcharges than those asked for some stand-alone DVR services. High-definition Comes to DVR Among the latest developments in DVRs are models capable of recording and playing back both standard definition and high-definition broadcasts. Such devices typically are integrated with a digital cable or satellite TV receiver, and include massive hard disc drives of 100 GBs or larger to accept the larger data amounts of high-definition signals. HDD Recorders Combine with Other Categories Today, many DVRs are sold in combination boxes, usually married to a digital satellite TV receiver or digital cable converter box. Incoming signals are stored directly to the hard drive in bit stream form, making for a cleaner picture and more efficient use of disk space. Additionally hard disc drive (HDD) recording has moved into the audio space as home jukeboxes capable of storing many hours of music in various compression formats. Hard-disk recorders are split into two classes. The first class, such as those produced by DVR developer TiVo, includes intuitive programming software that monitors users' viewing habits to automatically record programs that match their preferences. Alternately, this intuitive system can be shut off or can make selection suggestions without actually recording the program. The second type relies on the user to manually program the unit to record all programs. DVRs Integrate In-Home A/V NetworkingCompanies view new generation models due out in 2006 as true digital in-home network servers. A new feature enables greater flexibility as a home-networking tool. Among other things, the function enables sending programs recorded to a unit's hard drive to a connected television in another room in the house. Eventually, similar devices will find and record programs to hard drives for a 24- to 48-hour viewing window, and then if the user desires, the program can be archived for future play on DVD-R discs in a connected jukebox recorder. These jukebox servers, as some call them, would act as central hubs to other devices throughout the home, each connected to the other through wired and wireless infrastructures. Servers Serve up DVD Videos The first manufacturers offering video servers hit the market in 2004. These devices incorporate massive hard drives that let consumers store their entire movie collections internally. These devices incorporate a server, movie player and DVD reader, and provide access to any movie in the collection from any viewing zone in the house. In addition to videos, most models will store and playback other entertainment media files. Video servers typically use a proprietary operating system with encryption that encodes the signal. DVDs can be imported bit-for-bit in native MPEG-2 compression, including copy protection. Through the operating system, hardware components stationed throughout a home can communicate with each other using an Ethernet connection. Built-in movie guides are delivered via the Internet. Video on Demand Offers Convenience, Selection Cable and satellite TV operators are offering another form of video personalization called Video-On-Demand (VOD), which gives subscribers the ability to view premium movies and video events at any time with the push of button. The most robust VOD systems are offered on digital cable systems. These services offer small libraries of films that recently appeared in movie theaters for instant playback. The services also allow rewinding and pausing of films, in a fashion similar to a DVD, but without the need to return a disc to a rental store. Satellite operators offer limited near VOD services that make use of hard-drive-based PVRs to record programs automatically for later on-demand playback, for an additional monthly stipend.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||
