Cablevision to test network DVR

[Krell]

Cable operator Cablevision Systems said on Monday it plans to introduce a video recording service as early as this year that aims to replace the living room digital video recorder.

Digital video recorders made by such companies as Cisco Systems' Scientific-Atlanta and TiVo allow subscribers to pause and rewind live television programs and store programs on hard drives included on their home set-top boxes. The Cablevision service, by contrast, will store such programs on its own systems.

Cablevision said the move is designed to cut the cost of installing and fixing digital video recorders, which are prone to malfunction.

It will operate over the existing cable systems through customers' current digital set top boxes. Though the company said it had not yet priced the service it expects cost-savings to be passed on to customers.

But it is unclear how programming networks, such as Viacom's MTV or Time Warner's CNN, will react to the move. They have bristled in the past at earlier cable industry plans to record shows on their systems before negotiating new broadcasting rights.

Cablevision Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge told Reuters the company had informed the networks of its plans.

"In every way, it's exactly the same product as (subscribers would) get with a physical hard disk digital video recorder," Rutledge said in an interview, defending the new service's legality.

Rutledge said nothing will be recorded on Cablevision's network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control--a subtle but important difference from other failed experiments.

Earlier controversies had centered on Time Warner's Maestro service, which proposed to let viewers order up just about any show that had been previously broadcasted as the shows would have been automatically stored on its network without any prompting by viewers.

Cable networks argued that the Maestro infringed on their copyrights, unless Time Warner planned to pay networks more for the privilege.

Maestro never launched. Time Warner reworked the idea and has since created a service it calls "Startover," which lets viewers who miss parts of a live program to start from the beginning if the show is still in progress.

Cablevision's new service, called RS-DVR (remote-storage digital video recorder), will be tested in its Long Island, N.Y., market for 60 days, and will require little more than a software download directly to set-top boxes.

Cablevision said it is likely to introduce the service to its estimated 2.1 million digital cable subscribers later this year.

The Bethpage, Long Island-based Cablevision's founders are no stranger to new concepts or controversy. Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan created the premium channel cable industry when he co-founded the first pay cable network, HBO, in the 1970s.

"We think we're going to win, to the extent there is a legal fight over this," David Ellen, a Cablevision lawyer said.

"We need to clarify people's misconception over this."



http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-6054...4120&subj=news



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[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Should be interesting. Since all the recording is done remotely, will they end up streaming the show you requested to record? One flaw I can imagine is that when that particualr server goes down, hundreds or thousands of customers may lose access to their recordings. I understand it may be temporary, but it coiuld be inconvenient.

[Krell]

Should be interesting. Since all the recording is done remotely, will they end up streaming the show you requested to record? One flaw I can imagine is that when that particualr server goes down, hundreds or thousands of customers may lose access to their recordings. I understand it may be temporary, but it coiuld be inconvenient.

Very improbable. When youre talking about this kinda cash cow, there is enough redundency in place to prevent any interuption, unlike ZP.


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[tackdaddy]

i have had my dvr for about a year and a half and i love it. watching my favorite shows when i feel like it is great.

[CrashPeer44]

I make my own DVR on my NETWORK
and share the files with the world
:)

[axlman]

Ahhh, good 'ol Cablevision. I remember them. I used to work for them years ago. I remember that I met Sgt. Slaughter there one time when he came in to do a promo for The Royal Rumble.