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Scientific Atlanta's new DVR-enabled box in trials
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Posted by: Dajad

http://www.sciatl.com/news/02may06-1.htm

Release Date: May 6, 2002
Time Warner Cable Deploys Scientific-Atlanta's Explorer 8000 Digital Set-Top Box In Homes for Key Trials

--World's First Single Box Cable Solution for Delivery of DVR Functionality--

ATLANTA - As participants in Time Warner Cable's field trials of Scientific-Atlanta's new Explorer® 8000 set-top box pause live TV and record their favorite programming, they're also recording cable history. They're the first to experience the power of digital video recording (DVR) aboard the world's only complete home entertainment platform for cable.

The Explorer 8000 home entertainment server is designed with consumers in mind, offering exciting new, next generation TV services. Consumers will be able to pause live TV, record one channel while watching another, record two channels and playback one channel simultaneously, and enjoy picture-in-picture (PIP) on any consumer television set. The Explorer 8000 home entertainment server features an 80-gigabyte hard drive, capable of recording up to 50 hours of programming without the need for a phone line and is designed to support the wide range of interactive and on-demand services deployed today.

"Time Warner Cable is in the beginning stages of deploying Scientific-Atlanta's exciting, new Explorer 8000 digital interactive set-top box and its digital video recording capabilities to our digital customers," said Jeff King, executive vice president of technology and data services, Time Warner Cable. "By offering both DVR and on-demand services, Time Warner Cable can meet the individual entertainment preferences of each of our customers. We're delighted to be partnered with Scientific-Atlanta in both the development and deployment of this second generation, digital set-top box."

"Scientific-Atlanta's initial deployments of Explorer 8000 home entertainment server with Time Warner Cable will have a significant impact on the way cable subscribers watch and use their TV sets." said Jim McDonald, chairman, CEO and president of Scientific-Atlanta. "Cable operators and cable subscribers will quickly find that to try the Explorer 8000 home entertainment server is to need it. The Explorer 8000 home entertainment server is built with an eye on the future. The innovative device will be able to deliver DVR, interactive and on-demand services today and it will open the door to exciting new opportunities for both local storage of media and the sharing of that content throughout the home in the near future."

About Scientific-Atlanta
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE:SFA) (http://www.scientificatlanta.com) is a leading supplier of transmission networks for broadband access to the home, digital interactive subscriber systems designed for video, high speed Internet, and voice over IP (VoIP) networks, and worldwide customer service and support.

"Forward-looking statements," as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may be included in this news release. A variety of factors could cause Scientific-Atlanta's actual results to differ from the anticipated results expressed in such forward-looking statements. Investors are referred to Scientific-Atlanta's Cautionary Statements (Exhibit 99 to the Company's most recent Form 10-Q), which statements are incorporated into this news release by reference.

Posted by: W Auggie H

It's got 2 tuners!!! They also say that if you change channels the box will continue to record that program even after you start watching another another program on another channel. It also has Picture in Picture!!! How is the SA Tivo going to compete? I am a little worried :(

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/

Posted by: hutchca

The best way for SA TiVO to compete with that is for AT&T to build a TiVO unit with built in Digital Cable Tuner(s).
I actually expect this to happen sometime. When it does, I'll surely get one.
Then Tivo will have AT&T customers even if they don't have Time Warner Customers.
Of course we haven't seen the box yet. No telling what the interface looks like or how easy it is to use.
Also no mention of how much Time-Warner will charge for this Box/Service or if they will sell or rent the box.

Posted by: W Auggie H

The ScientificAtlanta website has a flash demo of this new product. It demonstrates the most important features that I have listed in my previous post. Basically it demos all the functionality that Tivo doesn't't have.

Posted by: W Auggie H

quote:
Originally posted by hutchca
The best way for SA TiVO to compete with that is for AT&T to build a TiVO unit with built in Digital Cable Tuner(s).
I actually expect this to happen sometime. When it does, I'll surely get one.
Then Tivo will have AT&T customers even if they don't have Time Warner Customers.

I agree, AT&T is a big market and would be a great company to team up with, beyond what we have already seen. It just seems that they are way behind Cox and TimeWarner because they are already in real life trials. As far as we know all we are going to get from AT&T and Tivo is low capacity Series2 with AT&T's name on it.

I guess I am bitter because I used to have DirecTivo and was really happy with the way they were going (dual tuners.) When I moved I lost my line of site. Now I have SA Series2 with AT&T and I am wanting more.

Posted by: remo

It does not allow you to skip commercials

Posted by: scottjf8

I was just reading this
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-912561.html

Does this mean there is no 30 second skip (yes) AND you can FF but not thruogh commercials?

I 3xFF through commercials and don't really see what they are, I just know to look for my program to restart..

Does this new box mean you can't even FF past commercials?

Posted by: interactiveTV

quote:
Originally posted by hutchca
The best way for SA TiVO to compete with that is for AT&T to build a TiVO unit with built in Digital Cable Tuner(s).
I actually expect this to happen sometime. When it does, I'll surely get one.

Don't hold your breath. AT&T Broadband is selling its Cable TV unit to Comcast for $37 billion.

quote:
Originally posted by hutchca

Of course we haven't seen the box yet. No telling what the interface looks like or how easy it is to use.

Go see the flash demo on the site.

_ITV

Posted by: Corey140

<post fixed>

Posted by: Dajad

quote:
Originally posted by scottjf8
I was just reading this
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-912561.html

Does this new box mean you can't even FF past commercials?

No, it was clear from the article that an AOL-TiVo will be able to fast forward as we do now. Whether the 30 second back door skip willl still work is uncertain and add skipping features like the ones in RePlay will definately not be part of an AOL-TiVo box.

...Dale

Posted by: interactiveTV

quote:
Originally posted by Dajad
No, it was clear from the article that an AOL-TiVo will be able to fast forward as we do now. Whether the 30 second back door skip willl still work is uncertain and add skipping features like the ones in RePlay will definately not be part of an AOL-TiVo box.

...Dale

Dale,

The News.com article wasn't about an AOL-Tivo box but the SFA 8000.

The Explorer 8000 does have FF.

As far as I know, there is no AOL-Tivo box. That project is cancelled.

The "development fee" seems to be for the IM and other applications that Tivo will, someday in the far, far future, roll out to an eager audience (ha!) on the series 2 and perhaps TivoNet series 1.

The Time Warner Cable box mentioned in the news.com article has nothing to do with Tivo.

_ITV

Posted by: HTH

Can it be controlled by my TiVo? :D

I guess this means we'll never get SciAtl cable boxes that will turn back on after upgrades. Such reliability benefits competing PVRs.

A more serious question: will it timeshift HDTV channels?

Posted by: boone

SA does not support the consumer market only cable providers. If a SA 3100 costs the cable providers $500 bucks what are they going to charge for the 8000 $1000 bucks. How will the cable providers market this $25 bucks a months rental even at that it will take more than 3 years just to recoupe their costs. They will subsize with ads ads ads.

Tivo and consumer electronics is the way to go.

Regards.

Posted by: David LM

quote:
Don't hold your breath. AT&T Broadband is selling its Cable TV unit to Comcast for $37 billion.

Read This Article

Posted by: burnsy

quote:
Originally posted by boone
SA does not support the consumer market only cable providers. If a SA 3100 costs the cable providers $500 bucks what are they going to charge for the 8000 $1000 bucks. How will the cable providers market this $25 bucks a months rental even at that it will take more than 3 years just to recoupe their costs. They will subsize with ads ads ads.

Regards.

That's assuming they even order these boxes. Cable companies are heavy in debt.

Additionaly, I don't see cable companies that own content (like AOLTW) or cable companies that are heavy into VOD (Comcast) buying these boxes.

These boxes are no threat to TiVo or DBS...

Posted by: Sleestack

What about Season Passes? That is the best thing abot TiVo. If the SA 8000 doesn't have that it no better than the dish player exept for the fact that it has two tuners.

Posted by: interactiveTV

quote:
Originally posted by Sleestack
What about Season Passes? That is the best thing abot TiVo. If the SA 8000 doesn't have that it no better than the dish player exept for the fact that it has two tuners.

Don't know about "season passes" but it *is* better than DishPlayer because its cable. DBS have options, those of us with cable don't -- and those with cable rarely have cable competition either. It is pretty full featured. Go check it out.

Between a stand-alone, like Tivo, and an integrated box (no IR issues!) with dual tuners, I would bet that even a simple season pass type feature will be more than enough for most consumers.

The single biggest issue is business model, something that is an issue for ALL the players. I see a few choices

1) Monthly fee. I don't see too many MSO balance sheets capable of carrying these costs and the fee would be pretty large so I'd say this is a trial type possibility but doesn't bode well until costs come down with scale

2) Consumer purchase. Always a good possibility and is very similar to the current satellite model. Cost would most likely be subsidized but with a lock-in period

3) Other. Something like a monthly fee with some other revenue stream built-in. What that could be? Who knows.

History tells us that these trial deployments will deal with the technical issues and let them play with the business model with consumer research and actual usage patterns. Time and some scale will drop the price. Think 2004.

It is a very exciting product and should not be dismissed too quickly. Integration is the key on the cable box, the sidecar can't get mass deployment.

_ITV

Posted by: Dajad

quote:
Originally posted by interactiveTV

Dale,

The News.com article wasn't about an AOL-Tivo box but the SFA 8000.

The Explorer 8000 does have FF.

As far as I know, there is no AOL-Tivo box. That project is cancelled.

The "development fee" seems to be for the IM and other applications that Tivo will, someday in the far, far future, roll out to an eager audience (ha!) on the series 2 and perhaps TivoNet series 1.

The Time Warner Cable box mentioned in the news.com article has nothing to do with Tivo.

_ITV

_ITV ... did you read the news.com article referenced by scottjf8
that I was referencing in my response. If not, here it is:

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-912561.html

Here are some relevant quotes:

====

1. "The decision to drop ad-skipping features came to light after May 1, when AOL Time Warner and TiVo restructured a deal that included jointly producing an interactive TV box."

2. "At the same time, AOL Time Warner is hedging its bets with several moves into the home TV market. The company has a deal with set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta to offer PVR-enabled devices to its cable subscribers. Meanwhile, it has scaled back a relationship and investment in TiVo but is continuing to work with the company to provide a home-recording device that combines popular Net features such as instant messaging. Unlike ReplayTV, TiVo only lets people fast-forward through ads, not delete them altogether."

====

Unlike the original article which I posted in full, above in this thread, which was solely about the new Scientific Atlanta box which Time Warner is in trials withj, the Scottjf8 linked article was refering to ALL of AOL-Time Warner's future boxes, one of which is MOST assuredly a TiVo box.

In any event, while AOL & TiVo scaled back their original deployment plans, TiVo is most assuredly NOW developing AOL-specific software for implemtation in the Series 2 boxes - which I refer to as the AOL-TiVo box, and which I was referencing in my remarks to scottjf8.

[Iniside Joke: Perhaps if Scottjf8 had included the entirety of the second article and not just a link, this confusion wouldn't have occurred ... hey, I couldn't resist! :) ]

...Dale

Posted by: interactiveTV

quote:
Originally posted by Dajad

_ITV ... did you read the news.com article referenced by scottjf8
that I was referencing in my response. If not, here it is:

I did. And I think the article is poorly written as it leads to some confusion. I tried to clarify it last time.

quote:
Originally posted by Dajad

1. "The decision to drop ad-skipping features came to light after May 1, when AOL Time Warner and TiVo restructured a deal that included jointly producing an interactive TV box."

The deal they "restructured" *did* include a jointly produced box. The resturcturing deletes that box from existance (please make note of the difference between AOL Time Warner, AOL, and Time Warner Cable).

quote:
Originally posted by Dajad

2. "At the same time, AOL Time Warner is hedging its bets with several moves into the home TV market. The company has a deal with set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta to offer PVR-enabled devices to its cable subscribers. Meanwhile, it has scaled back a relationship and investment in TiVo but is continuing to work with the company to provide a home-recording device that combines popular Net features such as instant messaging. Unlike ReplayTV, TiVo only lets people fast-forward through ads, not delete them altogether." ."

====

Unlike the original article which I posted in full, above in this thread, which was solely about the new Scientific Atlanta box which Time Warner is in trials withj, the Scottjf8 linked article was refering to ALL of AOL-Time Warner's future boxes, one of which is MOST assuredly a TiVo box.."[/QUOTE]

Not to be pedantic but the AOL/Tivo agreement as it currently stands will be bringing (at some future and undetermined point) AOL applications to the CURRENT (being Series2 and even TivoNet series 1 if memory, cpu permits) Tivo boxes.

A Reuters piece is most likely clearer than the news.com article

quote:
Originally written by Reuters

The new pact replaces one, originally announced in 2000, under which TiVo and AOL's AOL TV unit planned to make jointly a DVR sporting both brand names. That project is no longer in the works, a TiVo spokeswoman said. ].

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/020501/media_tivo_aol_3.html

In terms of Time Warner Cable (TWC), most assuredly the near future there is *no* TWC/Tivo combined set-top cable box. None is in development according to any public record. The AOL/Tivo box that was previously under so-called development did not include a cable tuner either. It was a WebTV like box to begin with. And it is dead. As a doornail.

The News.com article was poorly written but the bottom line is that Time Warner Cable is working only with SFA on a cable box with PVR funcationality built-in; there is no TWC/Tivo box .

Bottom line: Time Warner Cable (not a regional but the corporate entity) was never working with Tivo, it was the AOL division. The news.com article was misleading. TWC is working with the SFA Explorer 8000 in trials, as your press release mentions. Nothing the article was truly referencing had to do with Tivo besides context (AOL/Tivo deal and ad skipping versus fast-fowarding). If we are talking about TWC and PVR enabled set-tops, Tivo isn't in the picture.

_ITV

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/020501/tivo.html

" Under the terms of the agreement, AOL has agreed to pay us a technology development fee to develop the AOL service as a premium application on our recently announced Series2 digital video recording technology platform."

"Under the terms of the Investment Agreement between AOL and TiVo, dated June 9, 2000, as amended, AOL and TiVo set aside $48 million of AOL's $200 million investment to subsidize the production of a jointly developed specialized AOL-TiVo set-top box. AOL has adopted TiVo's existing Series2 platform for the deployment of the AOL application, thereby eliminating the need for funds to subsidize a specialized AOL-TiVo set-top box."

Read: The AOL/Tivo box is dead. Eliminating the funds = eliminating the box. Applications will be brought to the Series 2.

Posted by: remo

AOL is no longer making a new box with TiVo, but is interested in incorporating some AOL features into the series 2.

Posted by: W Auggie H

I believe this thread can be broken down into two arguable points:

1. Tivo seems to be dedicated to making it's Series2 a consumer product that supports a wide range of broadcast configurations. In order to make their product work with so many different types for providers they have to make the product flexible and try to keep the cost of the hardware down so that consumers will buy it. By doing this it is arguable that we are losing some functionality that may be two specialized and costly, like dual tuners or digital tuners. Is this the best direction for Tivo or not?

2. The second method is for Tivo partner with another company to make a combo box like DirecTivo. In this type of partnership you can make a more specialized product that has more functionality. This was proved to be the case with DirecTivo. The DirecTivo box is far and away a better execution of the Tivo product. You have dual tuners better picture quality and at a much lower cost to the consumer. The Scientific-Atlanta's new Explorer® 8000 set-top box is another example of someone tailor making a box for a provider and once again it seems to have more functionality than our current SA Tivo. I say again is this the best direction for Tivo or not?