Established | March 2014 |
---|---|
Type | Trade organization |
Headquarters | Lake Oswego, Oregon US |
Website | www |
VidiPath is a set of guidelines developed by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) that enables consumers to view subscription TV content on a wide variety of devices including televisions, tablets, phones, Blu-ray players, set top boxes (STBs), personal computers (PCs) and game consoles without any additional intermediate devices from the service provider. Consumer Electronics (CE) products that are certified to the VidiPath Guidelines can directly support the full range of subscriber HD programs, movies, DVR content, channel guides, and other premium features, all with a consistent user interface (UI) from their service provider. [1]
In December 2012, the FCC ordered cable operators to use an open standard to update their cable boxes so they could support HD streaming over home networks to devices like PCs, smart TVs and tablets, and allow HD video recording on external devices through home networks, and cited the successor to the DLNA Premium Video Profile (later renamed VidiPath) as an example of a compliant protocol that cable companies could adopt. [2] In May 2015, the FCC published an update saying that TiVo and cable operators that lease set-top boxes to subscribers now had until June 1, 2015 (or September 1, 2015 for smaller cable operators) to comply with the rule, and that TiVo had been issued a waiver until June 1, 2017, temporarily deferring TiVo's implementation of the DLNA standard. [3]
VidiPath was also identified by the FCC in an August 2015 Final Report of the FCC's Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC). [4] DSTAC promotes the competitive availability of navigation devices (e.g., set-top boxes and television sets) in furtherance of Section 629 of the Communications Act. [5]
DLNA conducted a live demonstration of VidiPath at INTX 2015 using the Xfinity VidiPath Service for the X1 Platform running on Comcast production plant displayed on Samsung TV, Broadcom STB and a AwoX reference tablet. [6]
Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have said they plan to offer VidiPath STBs or gateways. [7]
In May 2015, ABI Research released results from a study it conducted on the anticipated impact of VidiPath Certified devices for subscription TV service delivery to interoperable devices. According to the study, VidiPath devices will be used in 40 percent of U.S. cable TV households that subscribe to advanced services by 2016 and 70 percent by 2020. [12]
TiVo is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "OnePass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList" searches which allow the user to find and record shows that match their interests by title, actor, director, category, or keyword. TiVo also provides a range of features when the TiVo DVR is connected to a home network, including film and TV show downloads, advanced search, online scheduling, and at one time, personal photo viewing and local music playback.
In telecommunications, a customer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment (CPE) is any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication circuit at the demarcation point ("demarc"). The demarc is a point established in a building or complex to separate customer equipment from the equipment located in either the distribution infrastructure or central office of the communications service provider.
A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to disk recording, portable media players and TV gateways with recording capability, and digital camcorders. Personal computers are often connected to video capture devices and used as DVRs; in such cases the application software used to record video is an integral part of the DVR. Many DVRs are classified as consumer electronic devices; such devices may alternatively be referred to as personal video recorders (PVRs), particularly in Canada. Similar small devices with built-in displays and SSD support may be used for professional film or video production, as these recorders often do not have the limitations that built-in recorders in cameras have, offering wider codec support, the removal of recording time limitations and higher bitrates.
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a set of interoperability standards for sharing home digital media among multimedia devices. It allows users to share or stream stored media files to various certified devices on the same network like PCs, smartphones, TV sets, game consoles, stereo systems, and NASs. DLNA incorporates several existing public standards, including Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for media management and device discovery and control, wired and wireless networking standards, and widely used digital media formats.
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Multichannel television in the United States has been available since at least 1948. The United States is served by multichannel television through cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among the largest television providers in the U.S. are DirecTV, Altice USA, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon Communications, and Cox Communications. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system."
Xperi Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, that develops software solutions for consumer electronics and connected cars, as well as media platform solutions for video service over broadband. The company is organized into four business units: Pay-TV, Consumer Electronics, Connected Car, and Media Platform. Xperi’s brands include DTS®, HD Radio™, TiVo®, and IMAX Enhanced.
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An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms—the types of companies that have traditionally acted as controllers or distributors of such content. It has also been used to describe no-carrier cellphones, for which all communications are charged as data, avoiding monopolistic competition, or apps for phones that transmit data in this manner, including both those that replace other call methods and those that update software.
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