How Is DBS Going To Counter This?

947 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Steve Mehs, Nov 11, 2006

Steve Mehs

Discussion Starter · Nov 11, 2006

I just noticed this tonight, apparently Time Warner sent out new version of the software for their DVRs, this is perhaps one of the coolest things I’ve seen in years when it comes to multichannel TV providers. We now have the ‘Start Over’ option. According to the press release from awhile back, my divison along with Greensboro, NC, and San Antonio, TX are the only ones doing this as of right now.

You can be channel surfing and stumble upon something interesting, take a look at the clock and oh no, it’s 56 after the hour the program will be ending shortly. What to do. Hit rewind on the remote, but wait no, you just tuned to that channel there is no buffer, do you then search the guide to see if there’s going to be a repeat and maybe there won’t be one. Nah. Just it Select on the remote and Select again to confirm and bam! You’re taken to the beginning of the show or movie.

This is very cool, not all of the channels have ‘Start Over’, probably 90% of them do, including all the premium movie channels sans Sundance. This works on live sports, doesn’t matter if you just turned the box on or had it on for a while and it doesn’t matter how far along into the show, movie or sporting event you are.

This is what I would consider a very practical feature, something that is useful, that people will use regularly, not some fluff that the only purpose it serves is to look good on paper. Thanks again Time Warner Cable for being a truly innovative company when it comes to digital entertainment and the digital lifestyle in the 21st Century!

Since satellite seems so aggressive when it comes to On Demand technology, how will Dish and DirecTV answer this?

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Earl Bonovich

· #2 · Nov 11, 2006

Broadband VOD... same way the cable-guys are doing it.

Granted the Cable Company's already have a major leap on it, since they own a lot of the broadband networks and have a least a two year start on VOD. But same thing is possible using any broadband connection..

Provide the program is "available" on some sort of central server, and the mechanism is in place that you could hit a form of "record" to tell the DVR to pull it from the VOD server, vs the next airing (if there ever is).

DirecTV has already announced partnerships with some of the major networks to have "something" like that... but those where more based on a fee ($.99), and selected through a different menu... but technically... the mechansims would be the same.

So the technology would be similar.... and the kicker is..
In a case like mine... I would be use the "cable" network to get the show from their competitor... (I have Comcast Internet)...

I don't know if either Dish or DirecTV are planing anything like that officially... but technology is there to do it.

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James Long

· #3 · Nov 11, 2006

That is a cool feature. Not everything can be countered 1:1. Satellite will have to rely on other features, availabilty and price to 'counter' this next step in digital cable.

BTW: Is this the feature we've been hearing about where you can't skip commercials when you "start over"? Can you "start over" a show that has completed (such as something aired in the last half hour ending right before the channel was selected)? Or is it literal "start over" for only shows/movies in progress?

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Steve Mehs

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 11, 2006

You can't fast forward, but you can rewind and pause. You can only Start Over on programming in progress, you can't go back in time. Not sure how this works in the buffer. If you can rewind to a previous show and start that over, but I doubt it. I’m not really on one channel long enough. I’m either channel surfing or watching something prerecorded. This feature will be most useful to me on the movie channels, where commercials aren’t a problem. Even if you can’t fast forward, it’s still something that the competition doesn’t offer, and in my book somethings better then nothing.

I figured this was all broadband depended, like the hard drive less DVR thing they want to do. With DBS you’ll have to have a broadband connection, and I’m guessing something a little more then Verizon $12.99 granny DSL and use third parties. What I like about cable, is one company, whose services are guaranteed to play nice with each other with excellent integration.

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pez2002

· #5 · Nov 11, 2006

I hope comcast gets this soon

I love my DVR coolest thing ever

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juan ellitinez

· #6 · Nov 11, 2006

Steve Mehs said:
You can't fast forward, but you can rewind and pause. You can only Start Over on programming in progress, you can't go back in time. Not sure how this works in the buffer. If you can rewind to a previous show and start that over, but I doubt it. I'm not really on one channel long enough. I'm either channel surfing or watching something prerecorded. This feature will be most useful to me on the movie channels, where commercials aren't a problem. Even if you can't fast forward, it's still something that the competition doesn't offer, and in my book somethings better then nothing.

I figured this was all broadband depended, like the hard drive less DVR thing they want to do. With DBS you'll have to have a broadband connection, and I'm guessing something a little more then Verizon $12.99 granny DSL and use third parties. What I like about cable, is one company, whose services are guaranteed to play nice with each other with excellent integration.

Does it work for every channel or just select shows?

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Steve Mehs

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 11, 2006

It doesn't matter what the program is, it doesn't work on every channel but the vast majority of them it does, like I said about 90% of the channels have it. The original press release said it would be available on 62 channels initially, but it's available on 43 out of the 44 movie channels, all the major cable channels, and most of the diginet spin off channels. So it’s a lot more then that. Even less popular channels like Lifetime Real Women, CNN International, Boomerang, Style support Star Over. So far the only channels I noticed that don't support this are channels that don't have actual shows. MTV Hits, Current, CNN Headline News, ESPNews, the CSPANs, regional news channel RNews and a few others like EWTN, Univision and the shopping channels.

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