Digital Playback for TV

by Jim Mikles, Senior Editor

An emerging category of “virtual VCRs” burst onto the TV landscape this quarter with the introduction of three new products. Replay Networks and TiVo Inc. each announced they have developed a stand-alone set-top box that promises to capture full-screen, full-motion video from TV and store it on a hard drive for TV playback. DuckVision announced the “Soft Video Recorder,” a software-based product that will exploit existing computer-based hard drive storage, either fixed or removable, to capture and store video. The products should be a boon for selective and interactive viewers interested in “time-shifting,” or capturing programs when they occur for later viewing. All three will include a downloadable electronic program guide users can use to select programs by a variety of criteria. Pricing and user friendliness will be the likely consumer comparison points between the three, but broadly speaking the growth of the category reflects improvements in digital video compression technology and a dramatic reduction in cost of hard storage media. Perhaps the most unique feature of the ReplayTV and TiVo set-tops is their ability to record and play back the same program simultaneously. If, for example, you are watching a program during its regular broadcast and you want to take a bathroom or fridge break, you can pause the program and return to it where you left off. Fast forward through commercials or boring parts, if you want, to catch up with the real-time broadcast.

Replay TV will initially retail in the $995 range for a 6.5 Gigabyte unit that can store 6-7 hours of MPEG-2 compressed video, said Jim Plant, marketing director for Replay Networks. Consumer models will be available in 1999 in the $500 range, Plant said. A FireWire expansion port will allow for future storage expansion or connection to a digital TV converter box. TiVo is using a different business model that involves a subscription service to keep track of and “learn” viewer preferences and make recommendations, said spokesperson Nadia Jamshidi. A 20-hour version of the box will be available in early 1999 for $300-$500, plus $10 per month for the subscription.

While ReplayTV and TiVO boxes are self-contained units focused at the average TV viewer, DuckVIsion is targeted at PC-savvy users who want to exploit their existing computer systems for digital TV storage and playback. A CD-ROM-based software product that retails for $40, DuckVision incorporates proprietary digital video compression and uses a tuner-card-equipped PC to capture video to either an internal or external hard drive.