CABLE CONGRESS 2012 – BRUSSELS. In cloud storage could replace the traditional PVR, eliminating some of the problems associated with the hard drive, and enable consumers to access their content on a variety of devices across the home.
“You get charged for your DVR service, and sometimes you lose content stored there, with network storage it is then constantly backed up. Certainly when it comes to the desire to view that content on any device there is a demand,” said Sean Welch, vice president, Motorola Mobility.
He added that there may be some complexities from rights holders, who may not be willing to let their content sit in the cloud. “When you use network PVR you have to take into account common copy, one copy infinite number of users, if I have to go to one copy per subscriber it becomes more complicated.”
Nagra’s Philippe Stransky queried what might be done about the consumer who already had their own Wi-Fi network when they were presented with a second within the set-top, while Simon McGrath, general manager, Europe, thePlatform questioned the affordability of such a project. “As operators have looked to reduce the level of expenditure in the home, we’re now looking at doing transcoding in the box, but with the current financial squeeze I wonder how many territories might be able to afford that.”
Earlier in the session, McGrath discussed how cable can replicate the kind of meta data seen on Amazon, through the eyes of Sex and the City, as the TV Series, Films, and other content featuring the actress Sarah Jessica Parker, with the consumer able to move seamlessly across distributors.
McGrath said there was a need for a super aggregation across curation, orchestration and distribution. “It’s not going to get any easier as you have all sorts of content coming through. He gave the example of the modelling needed for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a franchise in both Swedish and English.
Moderator Dale Barnes said Virgin Media drew metadata from up to 28 different sources.
