EPG ISSUES EMERGING AS OBSTACLE TO DVD/PVR COMBO ROLLOUT
Predicted influx this 4th quarter of fairly low-cost DVD/PVR combos appears to have hit roadblock over inclusion of electronic programming guides (EPGs). Which type of EPG and at what cost are among issues hardware manufacturers are grappling with, according to software company PlanetWeb, which supplies enabling technology for DVD/PVR combos. “Our software is ready to go,” said Jeff Blanc, PlanetWeb vp-strategic planning: “The sticking point is the OEMs. They're still struggling with the patent issues.”
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Inability to provide Gemstar- or TiVo-like EPG has caused some manufacturers to rein in product plans for new combos, or at least downplay claims to consumers. Combo DVD-RAM/PVRs introduced by Panasonic and Toshiba last year lacked interactive program guide, and Toshiba since has said it will discontinue model with 80 GB hard drive (CED May 12 p3) while Panasonic is standing pat with existing $1,000 DMR-HS2 (CED May 1 p2). Samsung last summer announced DVD hybrid with hard drive, but dropped plans. Dilemma manufacturers face is licensing EPG from either Gemstar or TiVo. Gemstar Plus+ guide is subscription free to user, but limited to 3 days’ advance programming. TiVo guide has longer programming options but carries $12.95 monthly subscription cost. Philips and Thomson have incorporated Gemstar Plus+ in DVD+R/RW recorder and DVD/PVR, respectively.
Compared with TiVo model where EPG is stored in set-top box, Blanc told us some OEMs were looking for ways to have EPG on server. “Every time you fire up the box, it goes out to the server and finds the information and brings it back,” Blanc said. But major issue there is need for Internet connection, “which is not prevalent in U.S. homes, especially where the CE devices are,” he said.
Instead, PlanetWeb is advocating that OEMs use Gemstar Plus+, which comes off Line 21 of broadcast’s vertical blanking interval, as short-term solution. “The drawback is that GemStar Plus only offers about 3 days in advance of information, so you don’t get the full, rich functionality of setting up season passes and all the other predictive type modeling,” Blanc said. “But you do get the basics of being to record 3 days out and being able to do things with a hard drive like pausing live TV and coming back to it.” For long term, PlanetWeb hopes arrival of high-speed Internet access to living room via cable modem or DSL will provide robust solution, Blanc said. “We think that broadband is really going to be the driver here,” he said. “In 2004 or 2005 they'll be able to deliver the full-blown GemStar solution for EPG.”
At CES, PlanetWeb unveiled its FrontRow suite of applications to enable OEMs to add time-shifting, live pause and other PVR functions to virtually any device with hard drive. PlanetWeb CEO Ken Soohoo said then that DVD/PVR combo market would be company’s initial target and that he expected FrontRow to be in devices of several manufacturers by fall in fairly aggressive $200-$250 price range. Blanc indicated those negotiations were continuing and said company hoped to have formal announcement sometime this summer.
Separately, DVD Forum ad hoc group studying “Web connectivity and interactivity” for DVD discs and players is moving closer to releasing first formal version, Blanc told us. “My understanding is we are at Version 0.9 [of standard),” he said. Preliminary spec has been issued for analysis, with comments due back to ad hoc group early this summer. Asked whether final 1.0 version could be readied in time for DVD hardware makers to have Internet-enabled players on shelves by holiday 2003, Blanc said: “If they formalize it by July they can. If it goes into August or September I think it’s too close, so you'll probably be looking at a first quarter 2004 release.”