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Concurrent updates Start Over timeshifting service

by Richard Lawler posted Jul 4th 2008 at 3:20AM


By now, if its available in your area you're probably familiar with Start Over, basically a network DVR letting people see the beginning of a TV show they might have missed. Of course, all of that's only useful if it actually works and captures everything, so Concurrent has announced its latest advance for the backend is the Real Time Pitcher 2000, using reliable multicast to ensure no loss of video capture due to network or component failures and give it the big five nines of reliability. We certainly wouldn't want anything less tha a 99.999% chance of catching the first five minutes of The Closer, would you?

Phoenix's KPHO multicasting NCAA Men's Tournament over-the-air

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2008 at 4:39PM


Granted, many CBS affiliates -- Raleigh's WRAL and Indianapolis' WISH, just to name a couple -- have been multicasting the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament OTA for years now, but after seeing a breakdown of the schedule over at KPHO, we felt it prudent to remind sports fanatics that busting out the antenna may not be such a bad idea tomorrow. Phoenix -- which just had seven HD channels flipped on by Cox -- is one area in which the local CBS affiliate is multicasting every remaining March Madness game on its array of digital OTA channels, and five other carriers in the heart of Arizona are also providing ways to see every matchup. Granted, we doubt each of these will be seen everywhere in high-def, but feel free to check with your local CBS affiliate to see if you'll be left out of any of the Madness.

[Thanks, Steven]

Recent survey shows broadcasters are into multicasting

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Feb 23rd 2008 at 6:52PM

Macroblocking
Multicasting is a bad word around here, and even if you don't know what it means, we'd bet that you've seen it before. You know, your kicking back watching your favorite team and just when the action really gets goin', your beautiful HD picture turns into big ugly blocks as all the players move towards the ball. At that point all the expensive equipment at the stadium and your entire investment in your HDTV is all for naught, as your local affiliate decided it'd rather provide a useless 24 hour weather channel than deliver you the big game, sans blocks. We've all seen it happen and the beauty of the situation is usually the cable co' or satellite provider gets the blame instead of good 'ol News Channel 8. If you're one of the lucky few who doesn't know what this is like, according to a survey of broadcasters there's a good chance that you will, as 55 percent of those broadcasters surveyed said it had plans to multicast. The same survey indicated that only 66 percent planned to upgrade its facility so it could actually generate some HD content -- rather than just pass on the network feed. Unfortunately no one surveys us because no one cares, and the only thing we can do in protest is to not watch the useless channel -- like we need another 24 hour weather channel.

Verizon FiOS strikes multicasting deal with PBS

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 17th 2006 at 7:09PM

While the government still ponders the must-carry multicasting situation, Verizon FiOS appeared to thumb it's nose at the cable companies today by announcing a deal with PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations to carry the programming of as many as three stations in one market, and additional stations as long as they are not duplicating programming from the other three.

The cable industry struck a similar deal last year, where there is no limit on the number of stations carried, but the maximum number of multicast streams is 4. The Verizon deal has no limitation on the number of multicast streams carried, and includes PBS' high definition programming.

Read - Verizon strikes deal to carry public stations
Read - Verizon, Noncoms unveil carriage deal




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