Affiliate Programs and Affiliate Reviews
D-day — the day television broadcast signals switch from analog to digital — is less than five months away. While the Federal Communications Commission and broadcasters like ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX have spent recent months informing the viewing public about the switch, there’s still a lot of confusion about what it all means among viewers with various ways of receiving programming.
TiVo is teaming up with Nero to bring a new video recording solution to the PC. The companies announced Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC on Monday. The product will offer TiVo functions from a computer, without the need for a set-top box. The system will be marketed toward both existing TiVo users and families that don’t currently have digital video recording devices.
If the nation’s largest cable TV operators have their way, the home digital video recorder could soon become a relic. Leading the way is Cablevision Systems, which plans to roll out a system in early 2009 that will let viewers record any show without a DVR, only a digital set-top box. Shows will be stored on Cablevision’s servers instead of a home DVR — a shift the company said could save it upward of $700 million.
DVD duplication is going mainstream with the introduction of RealNetworks’ new RealDVD system. The software — set to go on sale for about $30 at Real.com and Amazon.com by the end of September — lets you legally make digital copies of any disc, including all its artwork and extras. There are, however, strict limitations involved.
The digital video recorder has become a must-have appliance, according to a survey released by NDS, a digital pay TV technology solution provider. More than 70 percent of consumers who currently own a DVR told surveyors that they could not live without it. Researchers queried more than 1,000 DVR owners in the U.S., UK, Australia and Italy in July 2008.