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TiVo Downplays Threat of Networked DVR
As if you expected they'd do anything else?
A few years ago, cable operators were very eager to eliminate the DVR, replacing it with a DVR-esque system that would store content at the ISP network head end. Unfortunately, the entertainment industry, fearing a loss of control as usual, took them to court. This resulted in several popular network DVR trials at both Cablevision and Time Warner Cable getting scrapped. But with Cablevision's recent court win on this front it appears the network DVR lives on. For their part, TiVO says they're not worried, and questions whether cable operators have the capacity to make the system a reality:
quote:
"I think probably the more significant issue from a TiVo point of view is that we don't see this ruling having anything to do with our business relationship with the cable world," said TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers . . . he did articulate a belief that the cable industry has "total inadequate capacity at this point for broad scale deployment of a network DVR solution," particularly when it comes to the recording and storing of individual HD streams during prime time. That, he said, "is beyond the realm of most cable operators' capacity."
TiVO has some cause for optimism -- they're expanding their relationship with Comcast, and the fight between cable and the entertainment industry over the fate of the network DVR could head all the way to the Supreme Court.

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cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

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cowboyro

Premium Member

Not a techical issue storing recordings

There are maybe 15-20 channels that people would record and only for 5-6 hrs a day at most - I don't see any problem with any cable operator recording all these channels and then each user "recording" a channel would be given just a "pointer" to the actual recording. Storing 150-200hrs of content a day for 30 days is fairly easy these days. All that a user would need is a box with a disk cache where content would be stored as needed while viewing a recording in order to prevent network congestion.