Michael's Insight

Supreme Court allows networked DVRs to proceed

Supremes Won’t Hear Cablevision Case, Hello Remote DVRs! [NewTeeVee]

A court challenge to cable operator Cablevision's plans for a remote, networked DVR ended in Cablevision's favor yesterday. I've written previously about Cablevision's networked DVR, which it has indicated that it plans to indroduce this summer. The court challenge to the remote storage DVR was brought by a group of content creators that alleged that the device infringed upon their copyrights. Yesterday, after a series of court rulings in Cablevision's favor, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the content producers' appeal, thus affirming the ability of Cablevision to offer the new technology to customers.

Rather than have a DVR housed within a set-top box containing a hard drive to record your shows, the networked DVR is part of a centralized storage system that is physically located at the cable company headend. The functionality remains much the same - customers can record their favorite shows, set recording times, playback the recordings, fast forward, pause, etc.

One advantage for customers with the remote storage DVR is the ability to record and playback from any television within the home connected to digital cable, rather than only the one television connected to the DVR.  Another is a lower price tag on consumer premise equipment, a savings operators would be able to pass along to consumers.  And frankly, the set-top DVR occasionally can have technical problems that require operators to change them out.  When we do so, customers lose the recordings that were stored in the malfunctioning box.  That won't happen when programs are restored in a network environment.

So, now the remote storage DVR will become available to Cablevision's customers and the idea is likely to be considered by other cable operators now that the legal challenge has been won.  We at Insight will watch the launch closely to evaluate the technology and consumer reaction.  With some cable operators planning to offer programming choices to customers via an online portal, the possibilities to integrate remote storage DVR with online viewing are truly exciting. I'm sure cable engineers are already thinking about how to allow customers to view their networked DVR's recordings via an online portal.

EngadgetHD reviews MoCA Ethernet adapter

Netgear MoCA Coax-Ethernet adapter review [EngadgetHD]

The day of the networked home entertainment center is already upon us, as many videophiles are already connecting their HDTVs to media center PCs or Internet connected set top boxes. But existing technologies like wi-fi and powerline networking really don't do HD signals justice for those that want to move those signals around the house from a source to a television. EngadgetHD has reviewed a consumer product from Netgear that uses a CableLabs standard called MoCA (Multimedia over Coax) that allows users to use bandwidth on the coaxial cables in their homes to move HD content around the home. And for that matter, the MoCA standard can also be used for simply creating a home network with super-fast speeds - try speeds up to 270 Mbps that can be achieved without interfering with your cable service, according to Netgear.

This article reviews a hypothetical connection to an network-enabled LG Blu-ray player that allows streaming of HD content from a PC. If you didn't want to move the PC into the room with your television and Blu-ray player, you simply connect one of these MoCA adapters to your PC via an Ethernet cable and connect the adapter to a coax jack. Make the same connections with another adapter to the Blu-ray player, and you have a network on the cable within your home. Engadget indicates that their experience with the adapters was plug-and-play and the setup and configuration were a cinch.

Until new wireless standard speeds catch up, MoCA is a reliable transmission method for moving HD content around the home. Plus, it doesn't have the signal degradation problems that some proprietary HD wireless solutions inevitably exhibit on occasion.

Comcast and Time Warner CEOs talk TV Everywhere

If you've been following the Comcast and Time Warner announcement of TV Everywhere this week, then you're no doubt looking forward to the results of the trial run of their authentication system that will allow cable customers to watch TBS and TNT shows online for free via a broadband connection. Over at Comcast Voices, there's a YouTube video of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes discussing the TV Everywhere concept and an anticipated national rollout of TV Everywhere for Comcast customers in the fourth quarter of this year.

More on the TV Everywhere announcement

Why the Comcast-Time Warner Deal Blasts Open TV [NYT Bits Blog]

Yesterday, Comcast and Time Warner (the content company, not the cable company) announced the first trial run of TV Everywhere, the cable industry's first experiment to bring cable television content to computer and mobile screens of cable customers. The deal between two companies will put shows from Time Warner's TBS and TNT networks onto the Comcast OnDemand Online platform starting next month. OnDemand Online is Comcast's portal for authenticated streaming video content. The trial is set to include 5,000 customers.

On a conference call yesterday, Comcast and Time Warner representatives also discussed the general principles of TV Everywhere. Those include bringing more cable programming content to more customers across more platforms, allowing existing customers to watch programming online without an additional subscription cost, putting the highest quality programming and programming with the highest ratings online, and allowing authenticated customers to view the content from any broadband connection,

As the Bits post indicates, the new distribution model created by TV Everywhere creates more choices for cable customers when it comes to how and where they watch their favorite programming. And it creates the potential for new content distribution models. The day may not be far off when many cable customers stream HD content to their television screens via their cable broadband connection. It's not part of the initial TV Everywhere model, but it's not difficult to predict how customers may want to use this new platform.

Since both companies are anticipating additional announcements of new content over the next few weeks, stay tuned here for more details about TV Everywhere -- we're watching the developments closely.

Comcast and Time Warner announcing TV Everywhere today

Here Comes 'TV Everywhere' [Light Reading: The Bauminator]

Today the wraps come off TV Everywhere, the first entry for cable television's plans to bring content from the television to consumers' broadband connected computers and their mobile devices. Comcast and Time Warner are jointly announcing today a trial run of TV Everywhere for 5,000 customers.

Earlier today, I reported that this announcement was between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.  However, my good friend, Ellen East at Time Warner Cable sent me a note to inform me that the agreement is, in fact, between Comcast and Time Warner, the content company.  Someone's going to have to change their name!!

That said, this first test of TV Everywhere will involve a level of authentication - meaning that the customers in the trial will verify to TV Everywhere that they are already cable television customers. Once the authentication takes place, customers will be free to peruse and view a plethora of video content from their favorite shows to watch online.

For those of you who are fans of Hulu, you will want to check out this announcement today and the offerings that TV Everywhere will have. Instead of being mainly a destination to catch broadcast programming you missed, like Hulu, TV Everywhere looks to have a much more robust lineup of your favorite broadcast and cable programming.

I'll have more on today's TV Everywhere announcement after there are more details available. And while it's just an initial trial, it represents the first step into the future of cable television wherever and whenever you want to watch.

Video on demand orders grew 21 percent last year

VOD Orders Climbed 21% In 2008: Report [Multichannel News]

Even as long-form web video portals, like Hulu, gain popularity, cable video-on-demand viewing increased by 21 percent last year, according to audience-measurement firm Rentrak. Rentrak's research, compiled from data received from 35 million set-top boxes on a number of cable television providers - including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, and Insight Communications.

Customers who watch video-on-demand (VOD) watched an average of 17.8 VOD programs each month last year. And while customers watched around 2.8 billion views of free VOD content, approximately 13 percent of set-top boxes were used to purchase VOD content in any given month in 2008. Subscription video content totaled 23 percent of VOD watching, and transactional on-demand accounted for 3 percent of VOD.

Overall, cable operators processed 3.8 billion VOD orders in 2008. In comparison, Hulu streamed around 1.2 billion videos through 8 months of last year, according to online traffic firm comScore.

Ma Bell slows down broadband expansion

AT&T Slowing U-Verse Deployment? [Broadband Reports]

Financial analysts pouring over AT&T's U-Verse broadband and video product have discovered a significant slowdown in the telephone company's roll-out of the product. According to UBS Research analyst John Hodulik, AT&T initially planned to pass 11 million new homes with U-Verse this year. Now Hodulik estimates that the number may only be 4 to 5 million homes, down from 9 million in 2008.

So, what's the reason that AT&T isn't rolling out broadand and video at anticipated levels? Om Malik, writing at GigaOM, indicates that the economic recession could be one factor. However, Broadband Reports isn't buying that as an explanation. Cable operators are announcing plans to upgrade their plant to provide up to 50 and even 100 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 broadband service, far faster than what AT&T's U-Verse is technically capable of.  Broadband Reports speculates that AT&T is slowing down its U-Verse expansion because its 18 Mbps speeds won't compete with the next generation of cable broadband, and the phone company's engineers are having a tough time figuring out how to get additional speed from old copper phone lines.

In fact, in addition to slowing down U-Verse expansion, Broadband Reports points out that AT&T recently revised their U-Verse terms of service to "manage customer expectations" when it comes to broadband speeds, clarifying the technical limitations that the phone company's wires have when it comes to delivering broadband.

YouTube releases new interface made for television screen

YouTube XL Released; It’s YouTube Made for the TV [Mashable]

YouTube has a new interface for users that seek a simpler, television optimized experience on the web. It's called YouTubeXL, and the name fits. Everything in the new interface is larger, from the video controls to the font size of each video's title. But, unlike the recently released Hulu application, everything that YouTubeXL does, it manages to do within the browser. It's not a separate application.

Everything in the new interface appears to look like a set-top box menu, leading many to presume that YouTubeXL is trying to make a play for users that want to connect their computer to a television to watch YouTube videos. Everything in the interface appears on pages of fixed width and height, so there's no need to scroll around in the web browser, further optimizing the experience for television.

But, the one thing that YouTubeXL lacks is the same thing that the regular interface lacks when it comes to user interest in watching YouTube as a replacement for television - there's not much in the way of quality programming. YouTube excels at offering users the latest viral video clip, but I can't imagine many television viewers that would use this interface to regularly watch YouTube content in place of traditional cable and broadcast programming.

Next generation HDMI specification announced

New HDMI Spec Adds Ethernet [Cable360.net/CableFAX]

The next specification of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) looks to add a plethora of capabilities to an already great standard for moving high definition video from a source, such as a cable set-top to a high definition television. Version 1.4 of HDMI promises the addition of an Ethernet channel that will enable bi-directional communication between the television and a set-top. Potential applications of such a channel could include simplifying surfing the Internet on the television, multi-room DVR and tru2way. The new specification would allow for applications to take advantage of transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps in both directions.

HDMI has become the gold standard when it comes to providing the highest quality transmission of high definition video. This article indicates that there will be 1 billion products that use the HDMI by the end of this year. That level of adoption has been achieved in just six years from the announcement of the first version of the specification. This new standard should usher in a new era in the way that television viewers use their HDTVs, providing the functionality for TV to truly provide an interactive experience.

Microsoft introduces revolutionary gaming control

Watch Microsoft's New 'Natal' No-Controller Xbox Controls [Silicon Alley Insider]

At the E3 video game exposition, which is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Microsoft has demonstrated the newest in gaming control technology. The company calls the new control system for its Xbox 360 console "Natal." But there is no physical controller because Microsoft has designed a motion sensing system that detects movement to control games on the console. Playing a tennis game, just swing your arm to swing the racket. Racing your friends in a competitive multiplayer racing game on the Xbox 360, just turn an imaginary wheel to navigate the curves. Microsoft's demo of Natal at E3 also indicates that the control system recognizes voice commands.

Along with Natal, Microsoft revealed that Xbox 360 will soon be able to stream television shows and movies in full HD - at 1080p via the Xbox Live video service. Xbox Live will also bring gamers instant access to their Facebook page and their Twitter account.

You've got to see the Natal technology to believe it - using your body's motion to control a game without any physical controller. I've embedded a video of the demonstration below, which includes some clips of broadband connected Xbox systems with Natal. I especially like the bit with the families competing at trivia via their connected gaming consoles.

Hulu releases desktop application for streaming content

Hulu Now Easier To Watch In Bed, On Couch [Silicon Alley Insider]

Is Hulu looking to become a set-top experience? It's a good question in the wake of the popular long-form online video portal's announcement yesterday of Hulu Desktop, a desktop PC and Mac application that provides a set-top like menu environment for streaming Hulu's television shows and movies from a computer desktop. In fact, Hulu Desktop bears a striking resemblance to the open-source Boxee software, which has had a long running dispute with Hulu over the ability of Boxee to stream Hulu content.

Though Hulu isn't promoting the software as an interface for connecting one's computer to a television to stream their content directly to the television screen, it appears they might as well be doing just that. Hulu is promoting the ability of Hulu Desktop to be able to respond to commands from an Apple Remote or Windows Media Center remote control.

Why would one want to use a remote control to control the application on their computer? If they've connected their computer to a television, of course. Due to the sensitive nature of Hulu's ownership relationship with networks, who receive substantial portions of their revenues from cable providers, Hulu is not promoting the use of the application for this purpose. But, it's pretty clear that's the direction they want their tech-savvy users to take it. Hulu maintains the ability to serve up commercials, both streamed and display advertising within the Hulu Desktop application.

It's going to be interesting to see how this move by Hulu plays out with content producers with programming on Hulu and with Boxee. One blogger is already calling Hulu's move to block Boxee anti-competitive. For the record, here's a video describing the Hulu Desktop software.

AT&T may have unfairly influenced American Idol vote

AT&T May Have Swayed ‘Idol’ Results [The New York Times]

Some American Idol fans are upset after learning that AT&T, one of the show's major corporate sponsors, may have given an unfair advantage to the winning contestant in this year's finale. The Times reports that AT&T, which is the only mobile provider that Idol viewers can use to text message votes for their favorite contestant, held two parties in the state of Arkansas the night of the final performance last week. The parties were organized to support the eventual winner, Kris Allen, an Arkansas native.

According to this article, AT&T did not organize any similar parties for the second place contestant, Adam Lambert.

At those parties, AT&T representatives brought demonstration phones with them to pass out to the supporters of Mr. Allen. The AT&T employees then went on to show party goers how to send "power text messages," which are essentially multiple copies of the same text message. The power texts copied the message 10 or more times and sent them to the Idol ballot box. As you can imagine, the ability to vote multiple times with one keystroke can have a dramatic effect on the contestant's chances. In fact, power texts appear to be prohibited by Idol's rules, which prohibit using "technical enhancements" to send multiple text messages.

I wondered about this when I started hearing about the "record breaking" voting that was coming in during the final weeks of the season.  Officials at FOX have announced that, regardless of any advantage that the AT&T parties may have given Allen, the result of the American Idol voting will stand.  But if you ask me, I think FOX needs to assure that, in the coming seasons, voting is fair and free of technical enhancements.  Failure to do so will risk the future of the most important ratings franchise currently on the broadcast network. 

Over one-third of U.S. households have an HDTV

Nielsen stats find 33% of U.S. households with at least one HDTV [EngadgetHD]

According to a recent Nielsen report, the number of American homes with at least one HD television has risen in the past six months, going from 29.2 percent in November of 2008 to 33.3 percent today. Going back to February of 2008, only 19.3 percent of households had HD televisions, showing a substantial increase in the number of U.S. homes with at least one HDTV, despite the hard economic times.

Nielsen's survey also indicates that while just over one-third of homes have a television capable of receiving HD programming, only 28.8 percent of homes actually have HD programming connected to their HDTV. That's nearly five percent of U.S. television viewers, who are really missing out on the great picture that high definition programming offers.  My sense is that those folks simply don't realize that they have to connect the screen to a high definition device through a digital connection.  Of course, their cable company could ensure that they are hooked up properly if they choose to buy their HD services.

Other facts in the report indicate that most HD televisions are located in a common area of the home, unlike the more even distribution of standard definition televisions throughout the home. And, HDTVs have, on average, more television peripherals - like a DVD player, DVR or game console - connected to them than standard definition sets.

As the price tag of HDTVs go down, I expect standard definition TVs will all but disappear from store shelves in very short order.

Nielsen report indicates television usage continues to grow

Nielsen: Almost 99 Percent of Video Watched on a TV Screen [NewTeeVee]

Nielsen has released its Three Screen Report for the first quarter of this year, revealing that television, online and mobile video are more popular than ever. According to the report, in the first three months of 2009, the average American watched over 153 hours of television a month. That's up over two hours from the previous quarter and nearly three hours from the same period a year earlier.

Among Americans that watch online video, an average of 3 hours of per month of online video was consumed. From the first quarter of 2008, the online video watching audience has grown a healthy 13 percent, according to Nielsen. And of those who watch video via their mobile phone, a group that's expanded by 50 percent since 2008's first quarter, they watched over 3 and a half hours of video on their phones monthly.

Finally DVR usage is up as well, with Americans watching just over eight hours of time-shifted content on average per month. The number of Americans using a DVR took a big jump within the last year, going from around 58 million to over 79 million.

Nielsen's report indicates that rather than stealing the audience from regular television viewers, DVR, Internet video and mobile phone video are additive. At the same time new technologies are experiencing rapid adoption and growth in usage, regular television viewing continues to grow at a steady rate. Still, with all the video consumed via the newer technologies, 99 percent of all video consumption in the U.S. occurs via the television screen.

Cablevision to unveil remote storage DVR

Summer Debut for Cablevision Network DVR [Light Reading]

Cablevision Systems, the nation's fifth largest cable company, is planning to roll out a remote storage DVR sometime this summer. What is a remote storage DVR? Rather than have a DVR housed within a set-top box containing a hard drive to record your shows, the DVR is part of a centralized storage system that is physically located at the cable company headend. The functionality remains much the same - customers can record their favorite shows, set recording times, playback the recordings, fast forward, pause, etc. One advantage for customers with the remote storage DVR is the ability to record and playback from any television within the home connected to digital cable, rather than the one television connected to the DVR.  Another is a lower price tag on consumer premise equipment, a savings operators would be able to pass along to consumers.

But the road hasn't been simple for Cablevision as programmers have had concerns about the remote storage DVR technology. Content producers filed a suit against Cablevision's plans to deploy remote storage DVR, which may make it all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court.  But, so far, Cablevision has been prevailing in those actions and Cablevision's CEO, Tom Rutledge, indicates in this report that the company is seeking a resolution with content owners to allay their concerns regarding copyright protections. 

One area of possible compromise -- disabling the fast forward function of the DVR during commercials.  That may seem like a steep price to pay for a remote DVR, but if you can have, at your fingertips, a huge storage platform with whole-house functionality and a lower pricetag, would consumers be willing to give up skipping through ads?  Cablevision believes so.  What do you think?

I'm glad to see this great technology moving forward toward deployment.  But I'd also like to better understand consumer reaction to the advantages and disadvantages of all this if content owners get their wish to prevent us from skipping over their commercials.  I know one consumer who would not be happy -- my wife -- who almost always waits about 15 minutes before watching her favorite TV shows, just so she can FF through the commercials.

Insight keeping HDNet channels

Time Warner Dropping HD Net May 31 [John Kiesewetter's page - Television and Media]

Earlier this week, cable operator Time Warner Cable announced that it would not be continuing carrying high definition channels HDNet and HDNet Movies on any of their cable systems. The Time Warner decision will become effective at the end of this month, with the channels to be replaced by other high definition options.

Insight customers in Northern Kentucky might have seen this post on John Kiesewetter's blog on the Northern Kentucky Enquirer about Time Warner's decision. Insight has carried the HDNet and HDNet Movies channels for six years now, and we'll be continuing to carry both channels. HDNet brings viewers 20 hours of original HD programming weekly, including its flagship news programming Dan Rather Reports and HD World Report.

Flat panel television sales up in 2009 despite economy

Flat-panel TV sales surge despite weak economy [CNET News]

While last year's sales of flat panel televisions were in a bit of a slump, sales have rebounded over the first three months of 2009, despite the economic recession. Could it be that more people are turning to television as a less-expensive form of entertainment or is it simply that flat panel TV's are now dominating consumer electronic store TV shelves?

In the first quarter of 2009, 7.2 million flat screen televisions were sold, an increase of 23 percent over the first quarter of 2008. As more people looked for value in their television purchase, low cost manufacturers Vizio and Funai grew the sale of their units to the point that Vizio claimed the number one position in sales in the LCD display category, moving it to a position of holding 18.9 percent of the market share in that category.

It looks to me that people are carefully choosing their affordable entertainment options in an environment where many have had to cut back on more expensive options. Cable continues to be a great value, providing many video choices for a few dollars per day. Consumers want to be able to watch those channels with a good television, and these numbers illustrate that many made the decision to invest in a new and affordable screen this year.

Americans prefer to purchase movies in a physical format

DVD Sales Still Crushing Digital Video [Silicon Alley Insider]

The research firm NPD Group has released a report on Americans' home video entertainment spending above and beyond the cable bill. DVD sales still capture the lion's share of the $25 that the average American spends each month on video entertainment - they represent 63 percent of spending. In addition, Blu-ray purchases are another 7 percent, and DVD and Blu-ray rentals are 18 percent - for a total of 88 percent of the consumer's video dollar going toward purchase or rental of video on a physical format.

The remaining twelve percent of video purchases includes nine percent for cable video on-demand services and only three percent for online downloaded or streaming video content. So even with the large content libraries available on iTunes, Netflix's online services and video on-demand, it appears that Americans still have a strong preference toward purchasing their video on a disk. As online and on-demand libraries continue to grow, will Americans become more comfortable with the ease of a digital movie library rather than dealing with the investment of owning or the hassle of renting DVDs and Blu-ray disks?

Panasonic advances 3-D standards creation

Panasonic: 3-D Is Critical [NYT Gadgetwise Blog]

At the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas this week, Panasonic is making it clear that it would like to see the adoption of a set of standards for 3-D television by the end of this year. The television and Blu-ray player manufacturer has determined there is a significant market for 3-D TVs, and is hoping to be able to put a 3D television on store shelves some time next year.

According to this article, Disney is one of the key partners in Panasonic's push for 3-D standards, as Disney looks to create home theater versions of its 3-D animation features. Panasonic's preferred 3-D standard involves a set of 3-D glasses that are called active glasses. Active glasses have shutters that open and close automatically, based on signals sent from the 3-D device. The opening and closing of the shutters over the eyes creates the appearance of image depth. Panasonic indicates that if the technology is incorporated into the 3-D standards, the manufacturer would ship each 3-D television with several pairs of active glasses.

And if everything goes as planned for Panasonic, the company hopes that 10 percent of all television sales within three years are 3-D ready.

Online HD video growth expected to be 200 percent for the next three years

HD Video to Be Worth $2.2B by 2012 [NewTeeVee]

As if there were any doubt that online video (and HD online video in particular) will take off exponentially across the web in the next few years. A recent report conducted by Akamai indicates that HD online video revenues will grow nearly 200 percent per year over the next three years to $2.2 billion. According to the report, all online video revenue is expected to grow from around $2 billion this year to over $9 billion in 2012. That growth is driven by a demand by consumers for more online video.

Another IDC report surveyed online video users, and found that 35 percent of those users want online video moved to their television screens, while 65 percent either didn't want the ability to access online video on their televisions or didn't know whether they would. It will be interesting to watch whether those percentages change as more and more people turn to the web for video content.

The dramatic and continuing growth of online video is one of the most significant driving forces of ISPs attempting to find ways to fairly distribute the costs of providing the additional bandwidth needed to deliver streaming video to heavy consumers of that type of content. Time Warner, AT&T are among those Internet providers looking to metered broadband as a method of distributing those costs. If fairly distributing the cost of bandwidth improvement is not addressed by some methodology, the rising consumption of heavy bandwidth applications, like online video, will threaten to degrade the experience of all users on each providers' network.

Amazon video service to begin providing HD content

Amazon Video on Demand goes high definition [ArsTechnica]

For Roku set-top users, Amazon announced yesterday that its Video on Demand service will now offer HD movies and television shows for purchase or rent. Amazon's HD library is set to start with around 500 titles, which is dwarfed by the HD content available from other online providers, like iTunes, and the HD Video On Demand library available to Insight digital customers. Nonetheless, Amazon wants to compete with other providers in this space, and will likely grow its HD library over time.

In addition to the Roku, a few other consumer set-tops are listed in this post as being Amazon Video on Demand compatible. For iTunes users, there's only one set-top that will move HD content from the computer to the television - the Apple TV set-top.

Adobe Flash platform coming to television screens

Adobe Flash platform for HDTVs & connected devices on display at NAB [EngadgetHD]

Adobe Flash, the platform that many web sites use to power applications like streaming video, is coming soon to a television screen near you. Adobe and a list of partners that include Comcast announced that the Flash platform is being readied to run on a variety of broadband connected home theater components including HDTVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. Adobe looks to bring the media-rich applications that Flash has become known for on the web to a variety of devices.

With the advent of broadband connected televisions, Flash has the potential to provide users with widgetized applications like news and weather directly from the TV screen. Some of the partners in the Adobe announcement are content providers, like the New York Times Company and Disney Interactive, which could provide content for Flash applications on the TV. With cable operators working to bring interactivity to the television screen via the tru2way standard, it will be interesting to watch a software developer's attempt to create TV interactivity by porting a popular computer platform to the television.

A set-top that runs on Google's Android?

Motorola building Android-based cable boxes for Japan's KDDI? [EngadgetHD]

Right now, the convergence space is dominated by online video products striving for connection and adoption on television screens. But, EngadgetHD has picked up on a convergence rumor of another type. The site is reporting that Motorola may be looking at producing its Au Box set top with the Android operating system for a Japanese telecommunications company's video product. The current Linux version of the set top has a DVD drive and can transfer streaming video content to a mobile phone - something like a Slingbox.

Adding the Android OS to a set top would definitely increase the possibilities when it comes to integrating video content with mobile devices. Android was originally developed by search giant Google as an open-source alternative for mobile phone service providers and manufacturers. While there's currently only one mobile phone model in the U.S. available with Android, the potential of set-tops running on the OS present a future with limitless possibilities to integrate cable video with Internet content and hand-held devices.

CableLabs begins exploring 3D video standard

CableLabs Issues Request For Information On 3-D TV [Multichannel News]

Impressive 3D television and video games were on display at last week's Cable Show's Broadband Nation. Today brings the news that the cable industry's research and development consortium, CableLabs, is reaching out to a dozen 3D video technology companies in a request for information. It's the first step in the process of bringing real 3D video to the television screens of cable subscribers.

Because 3D video is still in its infancy, CableLabs is looking to evaluate more than 30 different 3D video delivery systems currently estimated to be available. The evaluation is set to be compiled into a report for the cable industry. That evaluation will play an important role in the potential future development of 3D video standards for cable, which would allow programmers, cable system operators and consumer electronics manufacturers to produce, distribute and decode 3D video. Already the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers have a task force working on developing 3D video standards.

Will 3D video be the next big thing following HD television? That's a question that is still a few years away from having an answer. But, in the meantime there will be many developments in this space as the industry evaluates which technical options provide the best experience for viewers and whether there's a demand for 3D video from subscribers.

The Cable Show 2009

I'm up bright and early today as the 2009 Cable Show is getting ready to open today in Washington, DC.  I arrived yesterday to start my duties as this year's Convention Co-Chair, along with Johnathan Rodgers, the CEO of TV One.  We participated in a very successful "Cable Cares" event at the Hart Middle School where a truckload of food was donated for DC families in need.   The highlight for the kids was a fabulous concert starring Robert Randolph and the Family Band, sponsored by The Gospel Music Channel.

Jonathan and I got some Segway experience as we prepared for our welcoming introduction at the opening session today at 1:45 pm and we'll cut the ribbon to this year's terrific exhibition hall at 3.  The buzz about the displays is all about Broadband Nation, a presentation of the many advanced services that today's cable industry provides to communities large and small.  I hear there's a high def 3-D demo of the band U-2 that dazzles the senses.  I definitely intend to sneak a peak.

Last night, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) delivered a candid assessment of his agenda as the incoming Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet to cable's Key Contacts members, our grassroots lobbying organization. 

Today, before the official opening, Comcast's David Cohen, Johnathan and I will cut the ribbon opening a brand new media center that is being provided by Cable Cares and Comcast to the Truesdell Educational Campus.  Then some meetings, a public policy luncheon, followed by the opening general session and the exhibit hall ribbon cutting.  Finally, a long day will end at the Cable Pioneers dinner tonight where I will introduce the new chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA).

I'll be up early tomorrow morning to report on some of the events of today and to tell you about some of the neat things on display and being discussed.