Cablevision To Roll Out Centralized Server-Based DVR

Conceptually, this is a mix between VOD and DVR..and has been tried before. Cablevision is to test a DVR service that is centralized…the recording itself will be stored at the cable system, not on a hard drive in the consumer’s home. The system will require little more than a software download directly to the existing set top boxes.

Cablevision calls its “remote storage digital video recorder” (RS-DVR)…It will be tested on Long Island in Q2…The system will give each subscriber about 80 GBs of storage capacity — enough for about 45 hours of regular-def programming — on the central server. They’ll also be able to record two programs simultaneously while watching a previously recorded show.

Pricing is expected to be less than what it charges for DVR, currently $9.95.

As the story says, Cablevision’s plan is sure to irk TV networks and programmers, as they have long held that recordings of their shows — particularly by commercial entities — violates their copyrights.

Time Warner in 2003 scrapped plans to introduce a centralized DVR-like system it called Mystro.

Reuters: Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge said nothing will be recorded on Cablevision’s network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control — a subtle but important difference from other failed experiments.

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