IBC 2013: TiVo and Harmonic Unveil Network PVR Prototype at IBC2013

TiVo Inc. a global leader in the advanced television entertainment market, and Harmonic the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, today announced that they will demonstrate a prototype of their next-generation network PVR (nPVR), fully equipped with an integrated multiscreen solution backend from Harmonic, during the International Broadcasting Conference 2013 (IBC2013) in Amsterdam. A select group of TiVo clients, business prospects, and media will be able to demonstrate the nPVR. This demonstration marks an important step toward TiVo's goal to enable cost-effective and feature-rich paths for operators to transition toward an IPTV solution. 

The TiVo nPVR will use TiVo's Emmy® Award-winning service delivered fr0m the cloud and is a natural extension of the TiVo solution. This is an important next step for operators as they consider a transition to IP-delivered content and utilization of low-cost IP clients and consumer-provided devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.) with an eye toward enhancing the user experience inside and outside of the home, which is becoming a critical component in the increasingly competitive video market. TiVo's nPVR extends the TiVo® service and consistent user experience while enabling consumers to easily find, consume, and socially share cloud-delivered content through the TiVo user interface. 

The foundation of the TiVo service and cloud-based architecture enables pay-TV operators to access a multitude of TV Anywhere content, including IPTV, IPVOD, catch-up, start-over, and nPVR, fr0m the Emmy Award-winning TiVo service in the cloud on TVs via low-cost IP clients and consumer-provided devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.

TiVo and Harmonic have worked together prior to this initiative. The deployed Virgin TV Anywhere solution in the U.K. demonstrates how the companies enable the transition to IPTV.

The high-quality content is prepared using Harmonic's integrated multiscreen solution. Harmonic brings together its ProMedia™ Live real-time multiscreen transcoder with enhanced H.264 video codec technology for creating high-quality adaptive bitrate video streams, ProMedia Package adaptive stream preparation application, ProMedia Origin HTTP streaming video server, and MediaGrid shared storage system to address the demand for video delivery to Internet and mobile devices.

Thierry Fautier, vice president of solutions and strategy at Harmonic, said, "As the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, we are thrilled to collaborate again with TiVo and demonstrate here how our best-in-class ProMedia multiscreen content preparation applications for live transcoding, packaging, and origin server, integrated with our MediaGrid shared storage solution, can be used to play an integral role in powering a next-generation network."

Joshua Danovitz, vice president, innovation, at TiVo, said, "Operators are working to enhance the experience they are delivering to their customers through delivering an experience they love on any screen, while reducing their costs. The TiVo network PVR is just one step toward our goal to support the transition to content everywhere via IP, and this prototype serves as an example of the constant innovation that guides our vision to give consumers everything they want, anywhere they want it. Extending the TiVo service to address network storage, as well as enabling the oversight and management of complex content rights and operator policies, is a core strategy in moving operators to a full IP environment, and this prototype offering is a clear example of how TiVo can use its deep TV industry expertise to help operators evolve to deliver a cohesive next-generation viewing experience. During the project, Harmonic has demonstrated excellence in delivering an enterprise solution that addresses the key infrastructure needed to deploy a full IP solution."

IBC2013 runs fr0m Sept. 12-17 in Amsterdam. TiVo's stand is located at number 14.531/hall number 14. Harmonic's stand is located at number 1.B20/hall number 1.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/technology-news/item/3191-ibc-2013-tivo-and-harmonic-unveil-network-pvr-prototype-at-ibc2013.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/technology-news/item/3191-ibc-2013-tivo-and-harmonic-unveil-network-pvr-prototype-at-ibc2013.html