HD

Panhandle goes with Entone for HD IPTV

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:26:22 -0400

Oklahoma's Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc (PTCI), already an experienced IPTV carrier, is deploying new high-definition IPTV services with the help of Entone Communications. The vendor is supplying PTCI with its Hydra IP video gateway and Amulet HD IPTV receiver.

The telco, based in Guymon, Okla., serves parts of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. It wants to offer more advanced services, such as whole-home network applications, HDTV, on-screen caller ID and interactivity, without having to spend excessively to re-wire customer homes. PTCI has been in the IPTV business for at least six years and was among the first U.S. telcos to launch IPTV.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

Related articles:
PTCI was one of our Fierce 15 IPTV Innovators last year. PTCI report
Entone and Minerva Networks teamed up for a whole-home DVR solution. Entone report

Scopus to acquire Optibase streaming business

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:01:15 -0400

Israel's Scopus Video Networks has agreed to acquire the digital video and streaming business assets of Optibase, a fellow Israeli company that is the principal shareholder of Scopus. The buyout will be stock-based, with Scopus buying the business holdings for 2.6 million ordinary shares "plus an earn-out of up to 0.9 million additional shares based on the achievement of sales goals," according to a post at IPTV News. The deal will result in Optibase owning about 46 percent of Scopus' outstanding ordinary shares, a boost of 10 percent from its current holdings. Scopus said the deal will offer the company synergies and broader potential product offerings.

For more:
- see this coverage at IPTV News

Related articles:
Scopus introduced HD encoders last year. Scopus report
Scopus is supporting KPN Telecom's IPTV service. Scopus report

Verizon, Dish lead HD channel charge

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:37:30 -0400

TV providers continue to try to out-do one another in the area of high-definition channel line-ups, and Multichannel News reports that Dish Network and Verizon Communications are leading the way. Both service providers are targeting 150 HD channels by the end of this year. Dish last month launched a new satellite giving its capacity to reach 150 channels, and it recently launched its TurboHD service. DirecTV also is moving to 130 HD channels later this month.

For more:
- ready this story at Multichannel News

Related articles:
HDTV programming can strain network bandwidth. HDTV report
HDTV rollouts by small telco were affected by a software issue. HDTV report

Ruckus rolls out 802.11n for multi-streamers

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:44:11 -0400

Ruckus Wireless, the vendor that led the deployment of WiFi in support of IPTV services for about 140 carriers, has launched its new 802.11n MediaFlex 7000 solution system. The system is aimed at supporting the next generation in the residential IPTV evolution--multiple streams of TV content shared among devices throughout the home. Belgian telco Belgacom is the first announced carrier customer for the system.

The new platform support 50 Mbps bandwidth, and uses the vendor's BeamFlex technology to steer signal streams around the customer home. "Everybody wants HD and whole-home DVR these days and that means 40 Mbps is table stakes," said David Callisch, vice president of marketing at Ruckus Wireless.

Providers of wireline-based home network systems are always quick to allege that wireless systems can't support bandwidth and service quality demands, but Callisch told FierceIPTV that carriers' trust of wireless for support of IPTV content has grown--though they also are insistent about having vendors prove the reliability of their systems. "People will use wireless for this as long as it doesn't drop packets," Callisch said. "For our testing, Belgacom wanted us to run the system for 48 hours without a dropped packet."

Related articles:
Ruckus Wireless made our Fierce 15 list back in 2006. Ruckus report
Home network technologies were hot at NXTcomm. Home network report

SureWest adds channels, plans growth

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:15:03 -0400

Independent teclo SureWest Communications said earlier this month that it is adding 18 new high-definition channels in its Kansas City market, the property that came to SureWest via its acquisition of Everest Broadband. The telco also said it is planning for its service to reach 10,000 more homes in the area by the end of this year, an expansion that will include communities in both Missouri and Kansas.

While major telcos and cable TV companies have entered an HD arms race as they continue to pile up HD channels, small telcos and cable TV companies are starting to ramp up HD efforts as well. SureWest's announcement came shortly after cable TV player RCN announced an HD channel expansion in its New York market.

For more:
- read this story at Xchange
- see this post at HD-report

Related articles:
SureWest saw its first quarter numbers jump after the Everest acquisition. SureWest report
SureWest also offers a home monitoring service. SureWest report

Networks ready for HD programming pile-up?

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:50 -0400

High-definition television always has been viewed as a nice benefit of new TV delivery technologies, but 2008 may prove to be the year HDTV becomes a significant battlefield in the competitive war between telco IPTV players and their cable TV foes. The race to supply consumers with the most HDTV channels and hours of on-demand HD programming may have been sparked by Verizon Communications, which announced late last year it would deliver 150 linear HDTV channels by the end of this year. However, Verizon may have been responding to more subtle HTDV upticks from cable TV and satellite TV firms.

While providers continue to pile on the HD channels and programming hours, it is worth wondering how an abundance of HDTV could affect network bandwidth and provider set-top box offerings. With its FiOS network, Verizon claims to be built for high volumes of HD programming, though it also primarily has MPEG-2 set-top boxes in circulation, much less efficient than MPEG-4 boxes at handling that programming. Cable TV companies are in the midst of rolling out network upgrades to better support growing HD traffic, and the analog-to-digital transition will help.

For more:
- read this report at Multichannel News

Related articles:
- Verizon Communications announced its 2008 HDTV plans late last year. Verizon report
- Fewer Channels better quality. HDTV quality report

Nortel lends help to telecoms looking at IPTV

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:59:10 -0400

Nortel earlier this month showcased a handful of video solutions at the IPTV World Forum in London that give telecoms an opportunity to get back in the IPTV game with services like click-to-call that links IPTV with a mobile phone, personal computer or home phone, and also tunes in TV shows and movies on any device.

"Today, enhanced programming, HD and video-on-demand are competitive advantages that can drive revenue, but tomorrow, they're going to need more to impress their subscribers and maintain their loyalty," said Sameer Sheth, Nortel's general manager for Video Solutions. "Our open solutions environment is not proprietary so our customers can quickly and cost-effectively adapt for the new services of tomorrow."

For more:
- Read Nortel's release
- And this TCMnet article

Related articles:
Nortel IPTV solution includes content Report
Nortel to trim staff after Q4 loss Report
Nortel wants Tellabs Report

ALSO NOTED: New STB with 802.11n; DVEO launches low-latency HD encoder; and much more...

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:58:20 -0500

> XAVi launches IPTV box with 802.11n Article

> DVEO launches low-latency HD encoder Article

NBC Universal goes for IPTV solution

Tom Burton — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:59:40 -0500

Israel has emerged as a development hot house for the IPTV industry with much of the encoding smarts coming from the region. NASDAQ listed Optibase is based in Israel and recently won a big vote of confidence when NBC Universal chose it IPTV solution to support a 200-channel internal video delivery system.

NBC had a traditional analog platform pushing 100 channels to its production facilities, but it was found wanting when MSNBC moved to NBC's 30 Rock New York headquarters. Because the system has been configured for 200 SD and HD channels, an MPEG4 solution was chosen to deliver the multi-cast feeds, which can now be distributed to any PC in the building. Optibase won the contract for the encoding and decoding, along with Amino for the set top boxes and Cisco for the switches. NBC Universal says it can distribute monitoring video services with far greater reach and flexibility than could have been provided by a conventional cable TV system.

For more:
- NBC Universal overhauls its IPTV distribution system Article
- Optibase Release

Related articles:
Optibase's MPEG4 solution used for fire training Report
NBC Universal ankles Apple for Amazon Report

Netflix and LG go for video on demand

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:30 -0500

The fight for the TV consumer is being played out at several levels with video in the post provider Netflix abandoning its own set-top box ambitions and announcing it would go with a box to be built by Korean CE giant, LG Electronics.

The box will enable Netflix to migrate its 7 million DVD subscribers to a networked HD streaming service beginning mid this year. No pricing was released ad the move follows Netflix tentative step into the internet download game with its Watch now service that streams a limited number of movies to customer PCs.

The move suggests the DVD business has definitely seen its best days as video on demand services inevitably take over from physical media, although the history of pure play video on demand businesses has not been brilliant to date. Retail giant Wal-mart lasted less than a year with its download service, closing it in the run up to the holiday season. Another start up, Akimbo also decided the market was not ready when it abandoned its proprietary box last year and the Cisco/Intel backed MovieBeam also quietly withdrew from the market last month with less than 1,800 subscribers.

For More:
- LG Electronics and Netflix to stream movies to the TV Release
- Netflix and LG partner for streaming HDTV content Article

Related articles:
- Datacasting experiment ends in tears Report
- Jackass 2.5 movie debuts online first Report