Network DVRs Extend To Cellphones
By Staff -- TWICE, 4/24/2006
Las Vegas— Motorola wants to extend the network capabilities of its DVR-equipped set-top boxes to cellular phones.
During the CTIA Wireless 2006 convention here, the company showed a networked DVR that transfers video via mini USB to a connected Motorola RAZR V3x phone equipped with memory card and MPEG-4 decoder. Eventually, the wired connection could be replaced with wireless USB or 802.11n, a spokesman said. Such phones could also be used to remotely program a home's DVR.
“We're ready to release it to cable MSOs and the telcos,” the spokesman said, but “the service models and digital rights management issues need to be addressed.”
The DVR transcodes stored MPEG-2 video into MPEG-4 for transfer to a phone. A 512MB memory card can store one to 1.5 hours of MPEG-4 video, the spokesman said.
Cellphone compatibility would extend the company's Follow Me TV concept outside the home. Follow Me DVRs use IP-over-coaxial network technology based on the Multimedia over Coax Alliance standard, which enables a DVR's standard- and high-definition video content to be accessed from interactive digital-cable boxes in other rooms over a home's existing coaxial cables. Consumers also control recording functions from other rooms.
