Verizon Launches "Home Media DVR"

US incumbent telco, Verizon, has launched an enhanced DVR service, dubbed "Home Media DVR," for customers of its FiOS TV offering. Based on the dual-tuner Motorola QIP6416 DVR box, the new service enables customers to watch recorded programming on up to three separate TV's simultaneously without setting up a complex network or buying extra equipment, Verizon says: the QIP6416 serves as a media hub while standard-definition Motorola QIP2500 set-top boxes serve as the remote terminals (note: to watch recorded programs on the media hub and up to two remote terminals simultaneously, customers pull down the menu, click "recorded TV" to find and select the program they want to watch, and then press "play"). In addition, Verizon-developed Media Manager software that is bundled with the Motorola box allows customers to use their TV set to access and view or play back photos and music from their PC: the software automatically detects photo and music files on the customer's PC and organizes them for presentation on the media hub TV (note: to view PC-stored photos, for example, customers must first select "Media Manager" from the "Enhanced TV" menu, and then select the PC where the photos are stored). While the Home Media DVR service's support for the playback of PC-stored music files is described by Verizon as a "beta application," the company says that it will release various enhancements to that functionality later this year. In addition, the company says, future updates to the Home Media DVR service will increase the number of set-top boxes that can simultaneously access recorded programming, enable playback of protected content, and permit playback of home videos stored on a PC. The service is currently priced at $19.95 per month ($7 more than the standard FiOS TV DVR service), and customers will need a $3.95-per-month standard-definition set-top for each TV that will receive recorded video from the media hub. (Note: Verizon also recently launched a free interactive TV service, dubbed FiOS TV Widgets, which allows customers to display text-based local weather and traffic information. For more on the latter, see [itvt] Issue 6.79 Part 3.)

Originally Published: September 5, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 6.92 Part 1

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