Digital Video Recorders

DVRs Changing TV and Advertising Forever

Jimmy Schaeffler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136030895
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Four specific trends are driving the DVR industry: consumer content choice, consumer content control, personalization of content libraries, and the ability to transfer content from device-to-device and person-to-person. "Digital Video Recorders" features a macro and micro views of the already established yet still burgeoning DVR industry. As part of the NAB Executive Technology Briefing series, this book gives you a wealth of market knowledge, business models, case studies, and industry insignts explained in a non-technical fashion. "Digital Video Recorders" discusses the impact of the technology across many different industries and platforms, explains hardware, software and technology of set-top boxes, DVR infrastructure, on-screen guides, planning and scheduling, content security, and more. Whether you are an executive in the broadcast, telecommunications, consumer electronic, or advertising space, you will expand your knowledge on DVR impact, explore new business opportunities, and get a brief overview of the technical terms needed. You will also be able to accurately analyze and understand the trends, projections and other data, all of which will help lead to the expedited growth and development of DVR industry.

1 An Overview of Digital Video Recorders

The DVR is rapidly evolving far beyond its original, and quite limited, role as a time-shifting device. The DVR will become a more multifaceted product, one that can conveniently access and store both broadcast and Internet Web media. Very soon, endusers will gather, sort, and access videos, photos, music, podcasts, and RSS feeds.¹ And, with the intelligence available in the next generation of DVRs, connections between various content choices will be recognizable, such that meaningful recommendations as to related content and choices amongst all enduser media will become the enduser’s favorite feature—a trusted friend, of sorts. Best of all, it will all be readily accessible anywhere within the home and, when the enduser is out and about, via the Net.

—Greg Gudorf, CEO, Digeo, Inc.

Users with DVRs in their homes quickly change their viewing behavior and appreciate newly gained editorial and scheduling control.

—Loebbecke and Radtke, “Business Models and Programming Choice: Digital Video Recorders Shaping the TV Industry”²

Once also called a personal video recorder (PVR), but now known almost exclusively among aficionados and most laypeople as simply a digital video recorder (DVR), the DVR device is essentially an in-home computer. In its typical forms, the DVR is either its own standalone set-top box (that only functions as a DVR) or is part of a cable, satellite, or telephone³ company’s set-top box. This would be the set-top box that sits beside, below, or on top of a TV and also permits access to that company’s multichannel content. The DVR contains a mechanism—called a hard drive—onto which the live, real-time audio and video digital content is recorded. This content is then delivered to the TV (or similar) screen upon command by the user.⁴ In other words, instead of saving documents or files like a personal computer (PC) does, the DVR saves the actual digital video and audio signal that arrives at the DVR and the monitor(s) it serves. This digital content is recorded, of course, back onto the hard drive for later manipulation by the DVR user.

Other newer or less popular versions of DVRs are found in the software for PCs, which enable video capture and playback to and from a disk. As detailed below, some consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers have begun to offer televisions with DVR hardware and software built into the television itself. Further, use of a DVR has also become the main way for security-based closed circuit TV (CCTV)⁵ companies to record their surveillance, because the DVR provides far longer recording times than the previously used video cassette recorders (VCRs).

Once the digital content is recorded onto the hard drive, that content on the DVR hard drive is then managed via a remote control in the hands of the DVR user. This control typically comes in the form of a viewer pushing the “pause,” “forward,” and “reverse” buttons: he or she can pause (or freeze the frame of) the content on the TV monitor for long periods of time; he or she can rewind and replay the content, often returning to the very beginning of a show of almost any length; and he or she can fast forward the recorded content material right up to the point where the on-screen content is actually live or real time. The industry term that captures these concepts of viewing in the future, viewing at will, and viewing only what is desired is called “time-shifting.”

Moreover, because content is typically stored inside the consumer’s set-top box, there is no need to handle, organize, label, and store tapes and other portable hardware (which is required of a VCR). Most DVRs automatically record up to 30 minutes of any given show that is showing live on the TV set at the time. They begin this automatic recording the minute the TV is turned on. This is the function that allows viewers to manipulate a live program they are watching at the time.

If the phone rings, the baby cries, or the viewer just needs to take a break, the viewer pauses the program, without missing anything. While paused, the DVR continues recording the program and when the viewer returns, he or she simply hits the “play” button, and viewing continues from the point of the pause. Or, at that point, the program can be rewound or fast-forwarded. The DVR also allows a viewer to automatically record a favorite show every time it airs. Thus, there is no more searching for a blank VCR tape, or worrying about recording over a previously-recorded piece of content. DVRs thus save the cost of tapes, while offering usually adequate storage, and providing better picture quality than a VCR, as well as networking capabilities. Note, though, to be clear, unlike VCRs, DVRs typically cannot playback content stored on other forms, such as tapes or DVDs. Typically, the DVR only plays back content that has been transmitted to it, and that is the only content it records.

Viewer control also comes in the form of DVR users turning to a screen that presents a grid of shows being aired currently (or yet to air) and clicking to highlight a particular show to then have the DVR record or store it onto the hard drive. In industry parlance, this screen is called an electronic program guide (EPG) or an interactive programming guide (IPG).⁶ Once that choice has been made by the viewer and registered by the DVR, at a time in the future, the recording will be made by the DVR unit. Then, when the viewer chooses to view that stored program, or the entire series of those programs, the viewer simply retrieves the recorded list, clicks on or highlights the recorded event, and the viewing begins. What is particularly attractive to most DVR users viewing this form of previously recorded content is that advertisements or other unattractive content can be avoided or minimized by running the DVR in one of several fast-forward speeds. Thus, for example, a 30-minute long evening news program can be boiled down to about 22 minutes of programming content that is not dedicated to ads, making one’s news viewing time that more efficient (assuming one wants to fast forward through the 8 minutes, worth of ads).

Another part of a DVR EPG/IPG that is important is the ability of a viewer to select an author, actor, genre, or other delineation of show type, and the DVR will act to seek out that type of program with that or those characteristic(s) and display it for future selection by the viewer. Further, with recommendation software built into a TiVo DVR, for instance, the DVR will determine programs that match the criteria for the kinds of shows you watch, and later display titles for those programs as they are available.

Additionally, a DVR permits a viewer who is watching a show live or in “real time”, as the industry knows the expression, to push a button on the remote control that will instantly begin recording the live show from that point onward. This also permits the DVR user to view the live show at a later date. Additionally, in some instances, and on some devices, if the show being recorded on a DVR device goes long, the device can be programmed to continue recording so that it can catch the entire program. In addition, DVRs typically include a function that allows the viewer to run a program in slow motion. In short, the viewer simply chooses the program he or she wishes to record, and the DVR does the rest.

1.1 Main Types of DVRs

There are currently three main types of DVRs: one is a standalone DVR, one is an integrated set-top box DVR, and one is known as a remote storage DVR. Note that the remote storage DVR concept and its attempted deployment are presently embroiled in significant controversy and litigation, as noted below, and thus, there are few remote storage DVR users. Nonetheless, the author and many other observers and analysts see great possibilities for the remote storage DVR business models, once licensing and copyright challenges have been resolved with Hollywood, network TV, and other content owners.

1.1.1 Standalone

A standalone DVR is one that typically serves only as a DVR. In other words, a standalone DVR set-top box does not also allow multichannel TV—such as that offered by the cable, satellite, or telco operator—to be accessed by the TV viewer using the same set-top box. Since digital cable, satellite, and telco-delivered services are scrambled (or encrypted), and can only be descrambled (or decrypted) by cable-, satellite-, or telco-provided set-top boxes, tuning digital cable, satellite, and/or telco channels—and recording them—is a capability that standalone set-top boxes lack. DVR developers, such as TiVo (and earlier forms of the TiVo rival, ReplayTV), typically offer(ed) only standalone DVRs as part of their first generation of DVR lineups. Photographic examples of a standalone set-top DVRs typically look nearly the same as integrated DVRs, such as the integrated set-top depicted in Figure 1.1

Figure 1.1 An integrated set-top DVR box, in this case supplied by Verizon to its video/DVR subscribers. (Copyright 2009. Property of Verizon. Used with permission. All rights reserved.)

1.1.2 Integrated

Another type of DVR is the integrated set-top DVR (Figure 1.1), which typically is part of a set-top box that has a broader function, as well, that is, that of delivering and decoding cable-, satellite-, or telco-delivered signals for presentation onto the viewing monitor. Cable, telco, and satellite operators typically deliver set-top decoder boxes to consumers these days, with DVRs already built into them at the factory. In more recent years, cable set-top boxes with a cable card and DVR built into them are also available at retail, permitting cable subscribers to own their integrated DVR set-top following purchase (rather than only being permitted to lease their set-top from the cable operator, via the traditional cable distribution model).

1.1.3 Remote Storage

A third type of DVR is also provided by a cable operator, yet the storage function is built into a remote server, that is, one that is housed elsewhere than in the consumer’s home, and thus also is controlled, in part, by the operator. Typically, the storage center location is miles distant from the user’s home and contains large sets of storage boxes or servers that are connected by miles of cable lines to a viewer’s in-home set-top box. When the viewer selects his or her content, the remote recording device in the distant storage center location then records the content for that individual user.

New York City-based Time Warner Cable, in the 2002–2003 time frame, is generally believed to be the first to attempt to implement this type of alternative to the in-house set-top box DVR implementation, albeit unsuccessfully.

Cablevision Systems of Long Island, NY, is a more recent example of a cable company that has tried this type of storage infrastructure. Cablevision stated that two of its goals were to (1) lower the price of the DVR-type experience (because neither the cable company nor the consumer would be required to purchase a DVR set-top for the home) and (2) bring larger numbers of consumers into the development of DVR-like features (because the remote server could then be more simply and economically deployed, by both the system operator and the consumer). This remote storage device called the remote storage (RS-DVR) would, for a rental fee of less than $9.99 per month, offer users 80 gigabytes (GB)⁷ of storage space on the Cablevision server (or recorder), on which the consumer could then remotely record shows to be watched at his or her convenience, in true DVR-like fashion. Key members of the content community, however, have challenged Cablevision in court proceedings—arguing concerns about copyright infringement—which has slowed the deployment of this form of DVR. Presently, the concept and development of the RS-DVR remains embroiled in litigation, Cablevision having lost and subsequently appealed and won a U.S. district court opinion supporting the content-owning plaintiffs.⁸ This case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court on a final appeal, which will result in a final court judgment.

1.1.4 Miscellaneous and Future Devices

More hardware devices that deliver content to consumers are likely to include hard drives or other forms of instant storage, in various media, allowing content manipulation, as the DVR trend expands. Already, satellite radio manufacturers have created portable satellite radios that serve a DVR-like function. As mentioned later in this chapter, some Asian-based TV monitor manufacturers have begun to implement TVs with DVRs automatically built into the same unit (see the “Forms” section). In part, because it is such a logical, efficient, and elegant combination, it is merely a matter of time before DVRs built into TVs become more common in the United States.

Indeed, in the future, the list of types of DVRs will grow significantly, as DVR functionality gets built into satellite radios, mobile DVRs, gaming devices, cell phones, and personal digital assistants, as well as many other devices and form factors that have not yet been developed or defined. A good example of this future growth that is already well on its way is the recording function that is now provided in newer forms of gaming systems, such as the Xbox 360 from Microsoft. The DVR function inside this box contains a 120-GB hard drive, which is quite large by today’s standards. Common sense suggests that future generations of video- and audiophiles will expect that whenever they are listening to music and/or viewing video, a DVR or a DVR-like device will be recording it and storing it for later personal playback [but not for anything more than limited distribution, as that would create copyright and digital rights management (DRM) conflicts wi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• 1 An Overview of Digital Video Recorders
• 2 What is a DVR?
• 3 The Business of DVRs
• 4 DVR Uses and Applications
• 5 Business Models
• 6 Customers: How to Choose a DVR?
• 7 International DVR Growth
• 8 The Future of DVRs
• Appendix A Glossary
• Appendix B Companies Driving Global DVR
• Appendix C Audience Insight: U.S. DVR Penetration and Usage (Courtesy Nielsen)
• Index