With digital terrestrial HD Radio still finding its feet in the U.S., digital audio broadcasting (DAB) based on the Eureka-147 system is gaining traction in Europe, with the U.K. leading the pack. After a slow start, DAB has built momentum on falling prices for a widening selection of receivers, a build-out of stations and programming choices, and increased promotion for the service by broadcasters, CE manufacturers and retailers.
LodgeNet Entertainment said it was named the exclusive provider of Nintendo GameCube videogames and other interactive TV services for all CSM Lodging-owned and managed hotels. CSM Lodging owns and operates 34 hotels nationwide under franchise deals with Carlson, Hilton and Marriott. Terms weren’t disclosed. The companies said LodgeNet will install its sigNETure TV marketing and entertainment system and services - - including on-demand movies, music and TV programming with media playback controls for skip, pause and save functionality, as well as the Nintendo games and Internet- enabled services -- at all the CSM properties.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple introduced $99 and $149 “iPod shuffle” portable digital music players -- smaller than many gum packs and weighing 0.78 ounce -- in a bid to extend its dominance of the category. The sleek white products began shipping this week, CEO Steve Jobs said Tues. in his MacWorld Conference keynote here, but he added, “I heard a little rumor there might be some at the Apple Store” a few blocks from the convention center.
Comcast launched its “ON DEMAND” service in Dallas for about 300,000 customers of digital cable service. Viewers can rewind, fast forward and pause programs, store selections for up to 24 hours and order any time of day.
Several important communications-related items could pass Congress this week as it returns for a brief lame- duck session, industry and congressional sources said. The loudest buzz is on the universal service fund (USF) and the controversy over the FCC’s change in accounting mechanisms that could slow some E-rate payments and possibly lead to a rise in contributions, and several sources expected some efforts to push a legislative solution.
VoodooPC announced it has shipped the Voodoo Vibe, which it claimed was “the world’s first Central Home Theater and Entertainment PC.” Like other custom PCs from the company, the Vibe was optimized for computer gaming, but Voodoo said its latest system also was designed to play DVD movies and download music and video, as well as serve as a central media server PC. The company also shipped a custom “Vibe Xbox” that it said allowed users, in conjunction with the Vibe PC, not only to play Xbox games but also record and pause live TV like a typical PVR. It said that by hooking up the Vibe to the custom Xbox, the user could stream video, display slide shows, play MP3 files and burn recordings to DVD. Unclear Wed. was the custom Xbox’s pricing and whether Microsoft authorized the modified console. Voodoo and Microsoft didn’t respond to requests for comment by our deadline. Vibe is equipped with AMD Athlon 64 processors, its video is powered by Nvidia and it features up to 1.6 terrabytes of Hitachi drive storage.
TV viewers with short attention spans might appreciate work in progress on receivers and recorders that will let them skip commercials or even parts of programs. Patent searches by Consumer Electronics Daily found a handful of such devices in development -- although it’s presumed products won’t likely see the light of day due to commercial and political pressures. One patent filing (US 2004/0155986) by Japan’s Orion describes a TV that detects tell-tale signs of a commercial break and cuts to another program. The set has 2 tuners. One constantly receives a main choice channel while the other is set to receive a 2nd channel. As soon as a commercial interrupts the first program, the set switches to the alternate channel. When the commercial break on the first channel ends, the set automatically switches back. A Thomson patent application (US 2003/0115595) contemplates a different way to deal with commercials. It describes a TV with a built-in videogame which switches on when the set detects the start of a commercial. The viewer plays the game while the ad is in progress, and then the receiver switches back to live TV as the break ends. The TV freezes the game at the switch-over point and stores the score. At the next commercial break, the viewer can resume playing the game where it left off. Meanwhile, Philips is working on a way to improve PVRs that pause live TV by continually recording onto a hard drive. According to Philips’ patent filing (US 2004/0091249), the trouble with current PVRs is that if the viewer switches channels to avoid commercial breaks mid-movie, the hard drive either stops recording or records the disjointed channels hops. Philips’ solution is to use 2 tuners in a PVR, one of which keeps recording a main choice channel while the other lets the viewer zap through other channels during a commercial. If the viewer is slow getting back to the first channel after a commercial, that program will still be recorded to the hard drive intact for viewing. Mitsubishi is working on a system for time-shifters who record a long sports event, but want to watch only the highlights. Its patent application (US 2004/0167767) describes a video recorder programmed to detect the characteristic noise of crowd applause or booing. So when the viewer fast-forwards through a long recording, playback resumes whenever the crowd is perceived to be reacting to a key play or other event in the game. Mitsubishi is leveraging its research on MPEG-7 compression. Previous efforts elsewhere for similar systems have tried to analyze picture content, or used speech recognition software to detect key words from a sportscaster or other commentator.
Promoting widespread use of the term “transmitters disabled” and corresponding screen icons is at the heart of a CEA draft of a standardized “recommended practice” that is circulating for comment and ultimately could ease restrictions on use of wireless personal electronic devices (PEDs) aboard commercial aircraft (CED Sept 22 p7). CEA has set a Sept. 27 deadline for comments on the draft, with the aim of releasing it as a final voluntary standard Oct. 18, opening day of the CEA Industry Forum in San Francisco (CED Sept 3 p5).
Promoting widespread use of the term “transmitters disabled” and corresponding screen icons is at the heart of a CEA draft of a standardized “recommended practice” that is circulating for comment and ultimately could ease restrictions on use of wireless personal electronic devices (PEDs) aboard commercial aircraft . CEA has set a Sept. 27 deadline for comments on the draft, with the aim of releasing it as a final voluntary standard Oct. 18, opening day of the CEA Industry Forum in San Francisco.
Cox Cable is taking a “don’t ask, don’t sell” posture toward unidirectional CableCARDs, said Rick Guerrero, Cox vp-broadband engineering services. Cox is offering one- way CableCARDs “when somebody asks for one,” but isn’t actively promoting them, he said: “I guess we're just leery of the customer service experience.” When a customer buys a digital cable ready TV and procures a one- way CableCARD from Cox -- only to discover later it doesn’t offer features like video on demand or electronic program guides -- “we're probably going to be the ones who get beat up for it,” he said: “So we'd much prefer to wait” until 2-way CableCARDs become available “because a whole lot more things can be done with them.” Two-way CableCARDs will provide “a much more robust customer experience as opposed to the one-way cards that are out today,” Guerrero said. Ultimately, the fewer digital set- top boxes Cox needs to buy and “the less investment we'll have to make,” the better, when customers begin opting for bidirectional CableCARDs, he said: “That will be pushed down to the customer and help our capital investment side of the house.”