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- How Many DVRs: Nielsen Media Research estimates DVRs in 3.5% of US TV households while Ipsos-Insight finds 5.8% have DVRs (01MAR04) (Mediapost)
Mediapost reports, "Whatever the absolute penetration of DVRs actually is, it's clear what one of subscribers' favorite features are. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) said they skip commercials all or some of the time. (Twenty percent said they skip them all the time [while fifteen percent almost always skip and twenty-eight percent sometimes skip].)" - DVRs And TV: Sony has HD digital cable DVRs with 250GB, 120GB harddrives, also Sony has portable LCD TV for TV & internet (25FEB04) (PRN)
The news announcement states, "Sony's DHG-HDD200 features a 250GB hard disc drive, which can store more than 250 hours of standard definition content or the equivalent of approximately 25 hours of HD content. The DHG-HDD100 features a 120GB hard disc drive for 120 hours of standard definition and 25 hours of HD programming.... Sony announced the expansion of the Location Free portable broadband LCD TV line-up with the addition of a 7-inch monitor and base station. Featuring the same functionality as the previously announced 12-inch monitor/base station system, the 7-inch monitor is the perfect travel companion. The industry's first dual-band, three mode wireless connection provides for location-and PC-free TV viewing or Internet compatibility." - PC-HDTV Card: HotHardware has preview of ATI HDTV Wonder card for PCs (26FEB04) (HotHardware)
HotHardware reports, "The HDTV Wonder is a compact card that has the ability to deliver a high definitiion television image. The card supports Analog, Digital and High Definition Television signals, making it an extremely versatile TV Tuner Card. One of the key components behind the HDTV's capabilities is ATi's NXT2004 Digital Modulator.... The modulator is the brains behind the HDTV Wonder, helping to unlock all of the features of the card, ensuring optimal signal processing . The NXT2004 gives the ability to detect the signal being received, whether its Analog, Digital or HDTV, and maintains the signal quality, ensuring the best picture is available." - Cable Or Satellite For HDTV: Phillip Swann says go Cable HDTV (26FEB04) (TVPredictions)
In discussing whether to go with cable or satellite for HDTV, Phillip Swann writes, "The answer used to be satellite. From 2000 to 2003, both DIRECTV and Echostar offered more high-def channels than its cable counterparts. However, in the last year, the cable TV industry has raced ahead and is now the clear leader in providing HDTV programming." - One Million Club: Digeo iTV service powered by OpenTV ProSync is available to more than 1 million Charter digital cable homes (01FEB04) (Digeo)
The news announcement quotes Digeo iTV general manager and VP Randy Carlson as stating, "Surpassing the one million subscribers mark is a significant business milestone for us. We're pleased to see the service become such a useful tool in providing information and entertainment to consumers while also proving to be an effective vehicle for Charter to increase the consumption of VOD, PPV and its other cable services." - Connecting The Set-Top: Phonex Broadband gets ready to test powerline chip for phone & device connections for satellite set-tops (26FEB04) (Phonex)
The news announcement states, "Phonex Broadband Corporation (www.phonex.com), a world leader in Power Line Carrier (PLC) voice and data communications, today announced plans for the international field test of the ReadyWire Powerline Home Communications Chip. The ReadyWire chip can be embedded into set top boxes to enable box to box communication as well as a telephone base unit. The field test will measure range, reliability, and performance for set top box and many other applications in the home." - Renting DVDs Online: Netflix's blockbuster plan hopes to become top 10 media company transforming the movie business (29FEB04) (Yahoo.AP)
The Associated Press (AP) quotes Netflix founder Reed Hastings as stating, "I would like Netflix to transform the movie business. We want to become a Top 10 media company." The AP reports, "Now Los Gatos-based Netflix is thriving, its audience rapidly approaching 2 million subscribers as the service attracts about 125,000 new customers each month, helped by software that personalizes movie recommendations based on customers' viewing histories and their feedback on films they've seen." - Downloading Movies & Music: Committee for Economic Development joins mainstream discussion of digital online piracy (01MAR04) (NYTimes)
The New York Times cites Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig as praising the new report from the Committee for Economic Development and quotes Lessig as stating, "I think it's exciting. The points they are making are obviously right, but the only way people will get it is if more credible, mainstream organizations begin to utter it." - Downloading Media: Committee for Economic Development urges balanced approach to combating online piracy of movies & music (PDF) (01MAR04) (CED)
The news announcement states the Committee for Economic Development (CED) "... urges a measured response in addressing digital piracy. While copying and downloading of digital content does indeed represent a threat to the economic interests of content providers, the extent of the problem is still not clear. Policymakers and the parties involved must realize that hastily enacted laws and regulations could have unintended consequences and slow the pace of innovation and economic growth. CED recommends that the next two years be used to develop a consensus on the proper course of action to take." - CED Executive Summary: The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property (PDF) (01MAR04) (CED)
The CED executive summary for the report "Promoting Innovation & Economic Development: The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property" begins by stating, "There has been an explosion in the popularity of downloading and transmitting high-value digital content, triggered by the growth of the Internet and the evolution of peer-to-peer systems. At the same time, there is a substantial disconnect between public attitudes toward copyright and the letter of the law, and growing concern among copyright-holders over the erosion of their rights. The National Academy of Sciences has identified the phenomenon at the center of these developments and labeled it the 'digital dilemma': The same technologies that allow the creation and manipulation of digital content (as well as its perfect reproduction and nearly free distribution) can also be used to prevent access to digital content." - CED Report: Promoting Innovation & Economic Development - The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property (PDF) (01MAR04) (CED)
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PVRs Sharing Videos: Microsoft installing Media Center PCs networked & capable of peer-to-peer TV show sharing at college in UK (26FEB04) (Guardian)
The Guardian's Sean Dodson reports, "The combination of PVR technology with the PC, and internet technologies such as peer-to-peer, is also causing excitement. Microsoft already combines the PVR with the PC in its Windows XP Media Centre. 'You can share your folders just like you can on Windows XP,' says Paul Randal, a Windows client product manager at Microsoft. 'If you have your Media Centres in a network, they can share content.'" Dobson also reports, "Microsoft is working with South Downs College in East Sussex to install a network of Media Centre PCs. This means that every programme recorded by one Media Centre PVR can be accessed by PCs throughout the college. Take this 'peer-to-peer television' out of the classroom and we have the possiblility of a new way of watching TV. Missed the latest episode of ER? No worries. Call your friends and ask them to send it to you. Want to see the latest episode of 24 before it is shown in the UK? Download it from Uncle Bob's hard drive in Florida." -
Caveat MPAA: BitTorrent file-sharing network makes trading videos a breeze but Hollywood can find file-traders since no privacy (27FEB04) (Slate)
Slate reports, "... a BitTorrent user can sometimes download a DVD's worth of data (4.7 gigabytes per side) in hours, rather than days. And it's easy to use, even if you don't know how it works. Once you've downloaded and installed the BitTorrent software on your computer, you can ignore it. Instead, you use your browser to find and click on Web links to 'torrents,' or files available for sharing.... Behind the scenes, your computer simultaneously shares your downloaded file sections with others who want them.... The software is the invention of Bram Cohen, a 28-year-old programmer who lives in Seattle. Cohen first released BitTorrent three years ago, but its popularity has recently hit critical mass. Estimates of its user base reach into the low millions.... Users are sharing thousands of movies, TV shows, Japanese anime, and entire software packages.... Much of the stuff being shared is free of copyright restrictions, but many of the movie and TV titles ... are obviously pirated copies. Cohen has been adamant all along that he didn't build the [BitTorrent] system to Napster-ize the movie industry. In fact, he's refused to add privacy protections that could keep users from being traced by, say, Hollywood lawyers." -
Movie Downloads: 20-year-old gets 6-month home detention, 4-years probation & $7100+ fine for downloading & selling pirated movies (11FEB04) (KATV)
KATV reports, "Andre Pnewski, 20, of Saint Paul, Minn., illegally downloaded movies including 'The Hulk,' 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'Lord of the Rings' and reproduced them on recordable compact discs, federal prosecutors said. They were advertised on e-Bay and through e-mail addresses operated by Pnewski. He was sentenced to six months of home detention, four years of probation and must pay the Motion Picture Association of America more than $7,100." -
Media Downloads: MPAA & RIAA issue guide book to help corporate networks prevent online downloading piracy of movies & music (13FEB04) (MPAA)
The joint MPAA-RIAA news announcement states, "Research has shown that numerous corporate computer systems are presently hosting databases of music, film and other unauthorized copies of copyright material, or transmitting copyright material on peer-to-peer services." -
Preventing Media Download Piracy: MPAA / RIAA Corporate Guide to Copyright Use and Security on the Internet (PDF) (13FEB04) (MPAA)
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Home Hi-Tech Boom: Consumers are said to be shifting spending from travel to home entertainment locally in the home (26FEB04) (CourierMail)
In asking the question "why are we buying so much home-entertainment technology," the Queensland Australia Courier-Mail quotes GfK business group director Gwenno Hopkin as stating, "For the past few years, especially since September 11, we've moved our spending from travel to home entertainment. We're thinking locally rather than globally." -
Broadband & TV Production: Cisco targets Broadcast Production Industry with vision of communications unified over IP (26FEB04) (Cisco)
The Cisco news announcement states, "IP technology running over a broadband infrastructure now provides broadcasters with an attractive alternative to satellite or expensive leased terrestrial circuits for video distribution and delivery." -
HD-DVD Specs: DVD Forum provisional approval of MPEG2, MPEG4 AVC H.264, and WM9 VC-9 video codecs for HD-DVD playback devices (27FEB04) (DVDForum)
Item #24 on the DVD Forum Steering Committee's agenda for Friday, February 27, 2004, shows approval was made for: "Provisional approval of MPEG2, WM9 (VC-9) and MPEG4 AVC(H.264) Video CODECs as mandatory for the HD DVD Video specification for playback devices, subject to (a) an update in 60 days regarding licensing terms and conditions, (b) a presentation by each of the respective licensing bodies at the next SC meeting and (c) possible elimination of any of the above CODECs at the next SC meeting." -
Competing Video Standards: Microsoft wants WM9 to have its place as a standard for set-tops, video editing, sat transmissions, DVD (27FEB04) (CNET)
CNET reports, "Last September, Microsoft submitted its Windows Media Series 9 as a standards candidate to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)--a first for the company and a marked departure from its longtime commitment to keeping its technology proprietary. In doing so, Microsoft set out to provide a viable successor to MPEG-2, a compression standard that is the foundation of satellite, cable, video-editing systems and DVDs. If approved, Microsoft hopes its technology will become de facto for a range of set-top boxes, professional video-editing equipment, satellite transmissions and consumer electronics."
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