DELIVERY
Alcatel-Lucent [Euronext Paris and NYSE:ALU] has announced their Alcatel-Lucent 7342 ISAM FTTU (Fiber to the User) solution has been granted both “Rural Development Acceptance” and “Buy American” status by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency for deployment under the Rural Development Broadband Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. USDA acceptance means that communities of up to 20,000 inhabitants can now install Alcatel-Lucent’s 7342 ISAM FTTU solution using funding obtained under the USDA Rural Development funding programs. GPON offers the bandwidth to support, over a single fiber optic cable, multiple and simultaneous HDTV channels, high-speed Internet access, and voice services. Alcatel-Lucent’s 7342 ISAM FTTU solution will be listed in the “ae – Access Equipment” category, FTTH Systems. Alcatel-Lucent 7342 ISAM Fiber-to-the-User (FTTU) solution, which uses gigabit passive optical networking (GPON) to enable service providers to cost-effectively deliver high revenue, user-centric broadband services today, over a single optical fiber. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent’s FTTH solution.
CREATION & DELIVERY
The Alliance network storage system from Archion was used in the post production work of “Beowolf,” Robert Zemeckis‘ latest animated offering that released to full distribution mid-November and became a #1 film. Alliance afforded eight terabytes to Non-Linear Solutions for post production work, incorporating RAID technology in Alliance and without any need for redundancy, saving money and also assisting with management of the media. Alliance is a networked storage, fully Avid and Final Cut Pro compatible.
DELIVERY
Conexant Systems has certified Dwight Cavendish Systems‘ (DCS) analog copy protection technology on its CX2427x and CX2450 MPEG video decoder products. DCS develops proprietary copy protection solutions to allow broadcast operators to protect analog video content, cost effectively, in payTV apps, such as VoD (Video on Demand). Conexant’s video decoding solutions are targeted at personal video recording (PVR) enabled set-top boxes (STBs) used to receive hi-def (HDTV) programming. Conexant’s CX2427X is an advanced, dual-channel video decoder which is able to decode two HDTV programs simultaneously. The decoder also supports PVR apps on as many as two TVs and eliminates the need for a dedicated STB receiver for each TV. This means consumers could watch or record as many as four different programs on TVs located in separate rooms, all concurrently. The CX2450X is a single-channel video decoder targeted as mass market STBs with PVR support. Both devices support hi-def delivery of MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 encoded digital video streams—Newport Beach, California
CREATION
Digital HT filters have debuted from the The Tiffen Company. These are multi-coated photos and video filters and their Hi-Trans Double-Sided Titanium Multi-Coating surpass even milspecs for hardness and durability. Digital HT—High Transmission filers present scratch-resistant durability and worry-free cleaning, are made in the USA, and come with a 10-year warranty. They are available as: Digital Ultra Clear, Haze3 86 (with 86 percent UV absorption), Circular Polarizer, 812 Warming Filter, ND 0.6, ND 1.2, Soft/FX 3, Star 4 Point 2, and Color-Grad ND 0.6 in sizes 52mm to 82mm. Each filter comes in its own soft pouch for storage. These filters also feature Anti-Reflective and Transmission (HT—High Transmission) characteristics, with the Titanium coating reflecting less than 1 percent of the imaging light hitting the front surface of the filter, while transmitting nearly 99 percent—Hauppauge, New York
DELIVERY
The cable industry and TiVo Inc. recently announced that cable operators will, next year, introduce a new external adapter to enable TiVo digital video recorders (DVR) that use CableCARDs the ability to access switched digital cable channels without a set top box. This is according to National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow and TiVo President & CEO Tom Rogers. The specifications for the interface to the new adapter were developed in discussions among cable operators, CableLabs, TiVo and other cable vendors. The new external adapter will attach to TiVo Series 3 HD DVRs and TiVo HD DVRs to ensure the DVRs can directly access all digital channels including switched digital cable channels. The adapter will work on any Unidirectional Digital Cable Ready Product (UDCP) that has a USB connector and necessary firmware. The cable industry is working with TiVo to ensure that installation of CableCARDs and the adapter will be easy and seamless for the consumer—Alviso, California
DELIVERY
TV One’s new C2-7310 multi-format, dual channel HD video and audio processor follows the C2-7200 adding full HD-SDI multi-channel audio processing. The new C2-7310 addresses the evolving needs of Pro AV and Broadcast markets and supports every bi-directional analog-to-HDTV conversion, all within a 1 RU enclosure. The C2-7310 allows the user to mix, route and delay any of the 16 HD-SDI (from the 2 HD-SDI inputs), or 16 AES3-id stereo audio channels, process them (including broadcast quality sample-rate conversion), and output them as AES3-id stereo audio or embedded into the HD-SDI output. Because of its dual-channel nature, the C2-7310 can do this twice as each output has 8 stereo audio channels assigned to it. AES3-id inputs and outputs are via two HD44 connectors at the rear, which can be linked to various A2-7300 units to provide analog audio on XLR or terminal blocks. Local control is provided by the 48-button CORIO EXP Front Panel designed expressly for handling live events. These buttons plus the multi-way navigation control and integrated LCD bring all the control needed for quick and easy access right to the front panel. The device can also be remotely controlled via an RS-232 or IP interface—Kent, United Kingdom
DELIVERY
In the “greater than 30-inch” LCD TV category, ViewSonic has been named a “Channel Best-Seller” by CRN Magazine. In fact, a completely different global study by flat panel research and consulting firm, DisplaySearch, noted that ViewSonic has moved to the number three vendor of public displays sold throughout the world. The CRN Channel Best-Seller list represents the top five best-selling technologies in 22 categories, as well as the leading Channel Best-Seller in each category and the Top Growth Best-Seller. In partnership with The NPD Group, CRN ID’s the most popular brands and products being sold through the channel in the comprehensive survey. ViewSonic obtained the number one Channel Best-Seller ranking due to the firm’s market revenue share data from January through June of 2007. Both accolades were announced in the wake of the creation of ViewSonic’s VTV division, formed to focus specifically on LCD TVs and commercial displays—Walnut, California
digiBits
The acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp is now officially completed… each share of Dow Jones common stock was converted into the right to receive, at the election of the holder, either $60 in cash or 2.8681 Class B common units of Ruby Newco LLC, a wholly owned sub of News Corp. Those shares are convertible, after a period of time, into a share of News Corporation Class A common stock. Natalie Bancroft, as was previously announced, was appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. The changing of the guard at Dow Jones includes Les Hinton becoming the CEO of Dow Jones & Company, Inc., replacing Richard F. Zannino, who is “leaving” the company. The new Publisher is Robert Thomson of the company as well as for The Wall Street Journal, moving over from The Times—New York, New York
Australian-based FOXTEL has relaunched their popular GAMESWORLD service on channel 555. GAMESWORLD is one of FOXTEL’s interactive features and offers subscribers a suite of family-suited interactive games—Kids Family, Brainteaser Trivia and Casino Sport. Kids Family offers fun and easy to play games with well known, trusted subscription TV brands such as The Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 and Boomerang’s Scooby Doo. Brainteaser Trivia allows subscribers to challenge themselves with a selection of mind bending games, from daily trivia to challenging number and word games. Casino Sport features a range of play for fun games, where subscribers can test their skills at games including football, bowling, golf, cards and poker. FOXTEL partnered with Australian companies Turner International and NDS to produce its Kids Family games, the Australian organisation TwoWayTV for its Brainteaser Trivia games, and French company Visiware, Casino Sport games—Sydney, Australia
Looks as though Nintendo is going to win the all-time U.S. sales records for November sell-through of the company’s Wii and DS game systems. The best selling video game system for the entire year will definitely be the DS. The Wii will have established itself with nearly 5 million units sold… the photo is of Nintendo’s North Bend, Washington production facility building, building, building units… In the other corner, Sony’s Playstation 3 sales are up a whopping 285 percent from their October 2007 numbers, with software also experiencing a month-over-month increase of 128 percent… hmmm, that sounds like good news, right? Well, it would be, save for the fact that other major console developers have done far better than Sony… look at the unit sell-through numbers: Nintendo DS @ 1.53M, Nintendo Wii @ 981k, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 @ 777k… Sony’s 466k unit sales looks pretty anemic in comparison… the reason? CONTENT IS KING… if you ain’t got the games, you ain’t got the sales!
The Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) analyzed a study from Nielsen Media Research regarding satTV and other alternative delivery system (ADS) services that are inroading into the cable format for television delivery. Their findings reveal cable has fallen to a 17-year low, as far as market share is concerned, falling from 62.1 percent to 61.3 percent, for wired cable installations. Up from 24 percent to 27.6 percent is satTV. In fact, ADS TV sub methods have raced ahead of cable in 15 U.S. markets. TVB is a not-for-profit trade association of America’s broadcast TV industry based in New York, New York.
In 1997, ReplayTV started its existence and produced STB DVRs for the consumer marketplace. More recently, the company engaged in the development of DVR software and other services for computer-based applications of the entertainment variety…now, D&M Holdings in Tokyo has sold off most of ReplayTV’s assets to DirecTV Group, the leading U.S. DTH satTV provider…
<=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=><=>
PRIVACY POLICY
digiGO!™—The World of Digital Content, Creation and Delivery… does not sell or trade subscribers’ names or personal information to any interested parties.
DISCLAIMER
digiGO! and its agents and distributors used all best efforts to collect and prepare the information published herein. However, digiGO! does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.
Copyright 2006 – 2007 digiGO! | High Sierra Media Group (HSMG) & SatNews Publishers. All rights reserved.
