BIT RATE
Covering cable TV, broadband and Internet video technologies
Verizon Pulls the Fiber Alarm
Not that I blame Verizon for trying to defend its $23 billion FiOS fiber-to-the-home network, but the telco’s objection to Comcast’s claim that it delivers services over a fiber-optic network is just plain silly (see Better Business Bureau Refers Comcast ‘Fiber-Optic’ Claim To FTC). Why is it silly? Because Comcast actually does deliver services over a fiber-optic netwo ...... Read More
Comments (4)Here Comes the Broadband-Enabled Car
What could you do with 100 Mbps under the hood? Alcatel-Lucent, along with Toyota and other partners, is showing off a 2010 Prius outfitted with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless broadband connection that provides a slew of entertainment and information services — including video on demand, piped into the rear-seat headrests, to divert whiny kids on their way to Grandma’s house. & ...... Read More
Comments (0)IPTV for Cable: Arris Is Totally Into Bondage
One more parting shot from Cable-Tec Expo from last week: Arris had an IPTV-over-DOCSIS demo in its booth showing what it claimed was more than 50% bandwidth savings possible when delivering IP video over bonded DOCSIS 3.0 channels vs. traditional RF QAM channels. Arris was pumping 50 concurrent streams of movie trailers (high-action content; hard to compress) from a Verivue MDX9200 VOD server to ...... Read More
Comments (0)Cable-Tec Expo: That's a Wrap
Last week’s Cable-Tec Expo may have been lighter on attendees (9,000 in Denver vs. 11,000 in Philadelphia in 2008) but it was heavy on interesting demos, new products and forward-thinking ideas. Several technologies that have been stuck in labs-based demos for years — IP video over cable, interactive TV, network DVR and multiroom DVR — appeared to have all the pieces in place ...... Read More
Comments (0)Moto Imagines a 'Universal' 3DTV Set-Top
Denver — 3D television broadcasts are years away, but Motorola is already talking about delivering digital set-top boxes that would be able to convert 3DTV video into any other 3DTV format. In a demo on the show floor here at Cable-Tec Expo, Motorola has a VIP 1225 IP set-top playing U2 concert footage viewable in 3D using active glasses from XpanD. A DCX3400 cable box is playing 3D trailer ...... Read More
Comments (0)What the HectoQAM?!
Denver — Harmonic’s HectoQAM is making its first public appearance at Cable-Tec Expo. The super-high-density universal edge QAM module, which the vendor first announced almost two years ago, is designed to deliver up to 100 QAMs per port (see Harmonic Plans for Unicast Universe). In a live demo on the show floor, Harmonic is pumping 72 QAMs through the HectoQAM in its NSG 9000 platfo ...... Read More
Comments (0)Comcast's DOCSIS 3.0 Rollout Hits 34 Million Homes
Denver — Comcast now reaches 34 million DOCSIS 3.0-enabled homes, nine months after the operator kicked off the “wideband” buildout, John Schanz, executive VP of national engineering and technical operations, said in his opening-session remarks here at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. By DOCSIS 3.0-enabled, “we mean it’s a matter of turning it on,” he said. “Th ...... Read More
Comments (0)Cable Hall of Fame: Matt Blank's Top 10 Acceptance Speech
Denver — Showtime CEO Matt Blank, one of the seven members of the 2009 Cable Hall of Fame, delivered a Lettermanesque acceptance speech at the awards dinner on Tuesday night. Insight CEO Michael Willner, who’s also chairman of The Cable Center, called him “the funniest man in cable” in Blank’s video highlight reel. You be the judge — here are his “T ...... Read More
Comments (0)Cable-Tec Expo: On With the Show
As the CTAM Summit sprints to the finish today, SCTE’s Cable-Tec Expo is picking up the baton for its own run starting Wednesday. Here’s a rundown of news and events leading up to the tech portion of the weeklong cable confab in the Mile High City: * Cable’s Green Thumbs: Overview of the first Green Pavilion at the show. * A Guide to Denver’s Tech Feast: From Multichann ...... Read More
Comments (0)Want to Offer TV Everywhere? EchoStar Says, 'Just Sling It!'
Here’s the proposal from EchoStar to cable operators: Don’t bother to cut separate distribution deals to take TV programming to Internet and mobile platforms. Just sling it! “We’ve been hearing a lot about TV Everywhere lately,” reads an EchoStar ad aimed at MSOs. “Well, welcome to the party.” EchoStar bought Sling Media two years ago with the idea ...... Read More
Comments (4)More Reaction to Cablevision's Crypto-Ban Waiver Request
Here’s a recap of other comments — for, against and neither — on Cablevision’s request to the FCC for an exemption to the ban on basic broadcast encryption, in addition to those filed by New York City and Yonkers this week and various consumers (see NYC, Yonkers Weigh In On Cablevision Encryption Request, Cablevision Seeks To Encrypt Broadcast Basic Channels, and Cablev ...... Read More
Comments (1)Motorola Ships 1 Millionth FTTH Terminal
Motorola has shipped its 1 millionth optical network terminal for fiber-to-the-home deployments worldwide, which include Verizon’s FiOS in the U.S. The company is fond of touting such milestones — see Motorola Ships 1,000 ‘Wideband’ CMTS Modules (February 2009), Motorola Ships IPTV Set-Top No. 1M (April 2007) and Motorola Ships Digital Set-Top No. 50M (October 2006 ...... Read More
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