Simple.TV released today their new DVR ($149) with high-definition TV tuner that converts broadcast television into streaming MPEG-4 for connected devices. Bringing live and recorded TV to connected devices both inside and outside the home, Simple.TV turns the iPad, Roku box, Google TV, Boxee Box, or any web browser into a full-featured DVR that is accessible anywhere. With the addition of a USB 2.0 hard drive or network-attached storage, Simple.TV users can store thousands of hours of TV shows and HDTV videos and watch them on their mobile devices or connected TVs.

At the heart of the Simple.TV DVR is the ViXS XCode 4210. With its ability to create adaptive AVC MPEG-4 video streams from a high definition video input, the XCode 4210 enables the Simple.TV DVR to convert broadcast television into highly compressed and flexible video streams that can be seamlessly accessed by the most popular consumer electronics devices, such as the iPad and Roku media streamer.

Ocean Blue Software releases a new version of its Sunrise DVB software to support multi-core CPUs and multi-tasking. The move comes as processing power built into TVs and PVRs reaches new levels, and will allow manufacturers to take full advantage of the power; offering faster, richer user interfaces.

The enhancement means Sunrise DVB is now capable of working as either the core of the system or as a plug-in module to a more complex, bus driven architecture, where there may be multiple presentation engines and other processes running alongside the DVB Core.

The new generation of Sunrise DVB software is in line with the expectations of next generation products, Ocean Blue has added the ability to link external graphic environments to Sunrise, to generate the User Interface. This means developers can replace the native UI with an interface built in QT, CSS3 or Adobe Flash, generating a richer user experience.

TiVo and Conax announce that they have partnered to offer a next generation DVB set-top box platform for deployment by television operators around the world. This relationship brings together two companies known for changing traditional approaches to pay television. TiVo is the gold standard for the delivery of advanced television services through an intuitive, stunning user interface, while Conax's multi-platform security technology forms the underpinning of television services delivered to operators covering over 100 million households in over 80 countries. Through this partnership, the companies will put the TiVo experience, including its revolutionary integration of IP-delivered video into an off-the-shelf package that can be quickly and easily deployed by operators using Conax-certified platforms in Scandinavia, mainland Europe and India, among other geographies. All of this can be done without having to endure a cumbersome, costly middleware deployment that could slow progress and hinder business objectives.

TiVo launches the TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premiere XL boxes. TiVo Premiere elegantly combines access to cable programming, movies, web videos, and music all in one box at a truly affordable price. TiVo Premiere is now the only way to unlock the real value of the HD television set, a box that is more powerful, compact, and energy efficient than previous generations. If the DVR changed your life, TiVo Premiere will change it again.

Pace's +Le Cube satellite / IP hybrid set-top box to use the Ethernet ports for VOD services was delivered to CANAL+ Group on November 4th. +Le Cube’s hard disk has been optimised by Pace Engineering for very low audibility, to be less intrusive for the user. This is also the first HD PVR for CANAL+ Group with an internal hard disk drive, with a 320 GB capacity providing the ability to record up to 100 hours of HD programming.

Pace and CacheLogic are demonstrating how assisted peer-to-peer delivery networks could change the way consumers access content, including payTV, in the future. The technology demonstration shows how Pace broadband-enabled set-top boxes can form a P2P infrastructure via the Internet to store, distribute and access content both securely and quickly. Assisted by CacheLogic servers, this P2P infrastructure will enable operators to provide a wider range of on-demand content and services to their subscribers, including ‘long tail’ or niche content. By exploiting the storage available across all PVR users on a network, it is possible to make a huge number of titles available to end users without the expense of maintaining a large central server base.

In a surprising verdict, Cablevision has lost what we consider a landmark case regarding network digital video recording. Essentially, the judge concluded that a DVR is not the same as a network DVR because the company, i.e. Cablevision would in fact be retransmitting the content. Brilliant. My HDMI cable does the same thing from my "provider’s DVR" to my TV. It's a good thing that Hollywood doesn't have a meter-reader on it as well.

Some background

Cablevision was working on rolling out the ability for customers to store shows on Cablevision's servers rather than sending out thousands of personal DVRs. The network DVR service would have allowed subscribers to have the same functionality as an at-home DVR and would have saved the company and most likely consumers a lot of money in hardware.

However, in May 2006, Hollywood stepped in with several lawsuits contending that network DVRing would violate copyright laws as the company would be technically storing and retransmitting the television programs.

The judge ruled in favor of the studios saying, "The RS-DVR is clearly a service, and I hold that in providing this service, it is Cablevision that does the copying."

Naturally, Cablevision refuted that argument stating the service was no different than at-home DVR technology and TiVo. Cablevision said they will appeal the court's decision.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has created the industry's first terabyte (TB) hard drive. Hitachi's Deskstar 7K1000 will begin shipping to retail customers in the first quarter of 2007 at a suggested retail price of $399 (USD), or 40 cents per gigabyte (GB). This new consumer-friendly price makes ultra-high storage capacity more affordable and accessible than ever before.

Hitachi is focused on maximizing the value of the hard drive by spearheading the era of the "smart" hard drive. Customized features have been incorporated into Hitachi's hard drives, tailoring them for the application-set that they serve. To that end, Hitachi's 1TB hard drives are targeted to two distinct application areas:

• Deskstar 7K1000 – gaming and high-performance PCs, external storage devices and upgrade applications
  • SATA 3.0Gb/s and PATA-133 interfaces
  • Ramp load design for increased shock protection
  • Three low-power idle modes to boost power efficiency
    
• CinemaStar 7K1000 – DVR applications
  • Adaptive error recovery and SMART command transport for optimized video streaming and picture quality
  • Smooth Stream Technology to optimize the drive for audio/video applications requiring reliable storage
  • "Bedroom quiet" acoustics

Bedroom quiet acoustics?

TiVo Inc. has launched Program Placement, its latest advertising solution that offers advertisers an opportunity through the TiVo Service to insert an ad after a program has played, when there is nothing left to fast forward through. Advertisers will be able to reach their target DVR audience by purchasing advertising enhancements against specific shows. Burger King Corporation, General Motors Corp., MasterCard Worldwide, The Weather Channel and Court TV are the first companies to take advantage of Program Placement on TiVo.

TiVo Inc. unveiled a comprehensive broadband strategy designed to bridge the web and television to allow even more viewing choices, taking the concept that "It's not TV unless it's on the TV" to a whole new level. TiVo's new features now allow consumers to select their own content and bring it from the Internet to their TV, where they can enjoy it from the comfort of their living room.

The new service feature will be implemented by the end of this year through an upgrade to the TiVo Desktop software. Current customers will not be charged any other monthly fees for the service or the software upgrade but new users will pay $24.95 for the software.

TiVo Inc. announced the launch of TiVoCast, a new service which will deliver broadband video directly to the television sets of TiVo subscribers. The TiVoCast service turns Web video into television by bringing top broadband content now only available on the PC to the TV set.

TiVo Inc. announced the rollout of a host of new online services that deliver timely entertainment and information directly to the television set. Now, TiVo subscribers with a TiVo Series2 DVR connected to their home network will find accessing local movie listings and tickets, discovering music, listening to podcasts, and even viewing shared Yahoo! Photos plus their local traffic and weather as convenient and easy as using their TiVo remote.

Akimbo Systems announced that Major League Baseball's interactive media and Internet company, MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), will provide premium programming to Akimbo for its Internet-delivered video-on-demand service for television. Akimbo's programming from MLBAM will include on-demand baseball action including condensed games and a selection of MLB highlight clips. Most selections will be available in the early morning the day after the games. In addition, full game replays of past seasons' key match-ups, such as record breakers and perfect games, pennant races, playoffs and World Series games will be offered through the Akimbo Service. MLBAM's archive collection covers the rich history of baseball, from legends to celebrated games and current stars.

Akimbo Systems announced the addition of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom Feeds to its Web site. The feeds equip viewers with automatic updates on the latest movies and television programs available for download from Akimbo's video-on-demand service, providing users a faster way to find newly added programs. More than 150 programs are added to the Akimbo Service each week. Now, users have various ways to choose new Akimbo programs for download to the Akimbo Player: from the TV, Web or RSS or Atom readers.

Aeon Digital International (ADI) unveils its new DV-280 Digital Video Recorder today at the 2005 Broadband World Forum ushering in a new era of IPTV Without Borders ^TM.