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Amazon Fire TV Developing Networked DVR

Amazon wants you to be able to record its live video programming. To that end, according to Bloomberg News, the web retailer and streaming video service is hard at work developing a networked DVR. Bloomberg says Amazon has not revealed a release date for the DVR.

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A networked DVR is one held in the provider’s central location, not in the consumer’s home. It records live content in real time. The consumer can view the recorded content at will, unbound by TV network broadcast schedules.

Amazon’s Lab 126, which built the Fire TV and Echo devices, is working on the new DVR. Staff for Lab 126 have dubbed the new DVR project ‘Frank’.

‘Frank’ will incorporate the same wireless technology that connects its Echo voice control devices to Fire TV boxes.

The device, according to Bloomberg, could stream recorded video to mobile tablets and phones. Existing Fire TV devices on the customer’s home network will support it. Amazon’s new DVR will be connected through the home WiFi network. It will not plug into a TV.

A conventional DVR (TiVo, Channel Master, etc.) usually plugs into a TV set, and features its own user interface. A networked DVR, by contrast, doesn’t have to be plugged into a TV.  It can be placed anywhere in the home, and can stream recorded content to any TV, streaming stick, or mobile device. In most cases, networked DVRs don’t have their own HDMI ports.

Amazon Prime Video is a subscription service, for which the customer pays monthly or annual fees. Beside the video service, customers get free or discounted shipping on goods ordered through Amazon. The video service is meant to compete with Netflix and Hulu.

 

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NIELSEN RATINGS REVAMPED

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Nielsen has been a TV god. From the dawn of the TV industry, the Nielsen Ratings were its gold standard of performance measures. They served electronic media whose programming and personnel decisions had previously been combinations of guesswork and voodoo. For an industry rife with superstition, the Nielsen system was the closest thing to science.

Like the Word of God from Mt. Sinai, the system’s judgements were absolute- and beyond appeal. Actors, talk show hosts, programming directors, and ad buyers lived or died by them. The ratings conferred wealth and fame for some; career death, financial ruin, and highly dreaded obscurity on others. Nobody in TV or advertising could afford to ignore the ratings.

The system is a dramatic improvement on all that came before. It’s far from perfect, though. Survey samples are skewed. In part, this is because participation is voluntary, and participants know they’re being surveyed. And the samples have always been small. In the beginning, the sample was only a few thousand households. Though Nielsen enlarges it once in a while, as late as November 2015 it was only 25, 000. It is now about 100,000.

The system worked well enough when only four networks (including PBS) competed for viewers. It became less reliable with cable channels multiplying, and the need for precision was greater than ever.

Other developments undermined the rating system. Viewers often ‘time-shifted’ their viewing with DVRs. With ever more viewers watching on tablets and smart phones, many were beyond the reach of the Nielsen system. TV also has to compete with internet browsers. The browsers track user interests and buying habits- and adapt targeted ads for them. Legacy TV systems couldn’t keep up.

The Nielsen Rating System was in danger of becoming obsolete. To survive, it needed to be revamped– dramatically and quickly.

Last month, AT&T stepped into the matter. The telecom forged a multi-year agreement with Nielsen to provide anonymous viewer data from DirecTV and U-Verse receivers and streaming apps. The new system will provide instantaneous data from more than 25 million subscribers, so it will be many times more accurate than the previous one.

A few months ago, Dish Network signed a similar contract with Nielsen.

For the first time, all concerned will truly understand what viewers want to watch. The difference will be especially dramatic for data from rural and less populous suburban areas, for which data from the original Nielsen system was especially erratic. It will be easier to track the performance of regional or specialty channels that currently attract limited audiences. And the new system will more easily detect when a specialty channel has potential to break into the mainstream.

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HULU LIVE TV SERVICE 

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What had been rumored for months is now official. Hulu has confirmed that it will soon be launching a live streaming TV service.

Cord Cutter News, having acquired a copy of a survey Hulu sent to a small sample of its elite subscribers, reported that the internet video streaming service will charge $35.00 for its basic channel package streamed to one in-home or mobile device. For $50.00 per month, the customer will have the option of streaming the package to multiple devices. The offer includes 20 hours of DVR storage and live or on-demand access to all four major broadcast networks.

This last item is interesting, because CBS has not been mentioned in news reports about about carriage rights deals for Hulu’s new service.

For $20.00, the customer can increase DVR storage capacity to 300 hours.

The basic package likely will have about 80 channels, including AMC, ESPN, TBS, TNT, and USA. Sling TV, the pioneer in multichannel streaming TV, charges only $20.00 for its basic package, but it has only 27 channels. PlayStation Vue offers 55 channels in its Access Slim package for $30.00 per month.

Early reports indicate that Hulu’s live TV service will sell HBO as a $15.00 per month premium option, and Cinemax for $10.00 per month. Showtime, WWE, and Starz/Encore are also likely to be in its lineup, probably as $10.00 premium options. NFL RedZone and FOX Soccer Plus may also be included as premium options.

Hulu’s Live TV service is likely to become active late this year.

YouTube is another veteran internet video streaming service that has begun to offer paid curated content. Its $10.00 per month ‘Red’ platform offers ad-free video geared for teenagers and young adults.

(To get the most out of streaming video services, you need a reliable internet connection. If yours doesn’t measure up, talk to us. We can help.)

 

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Magnavox HDD DVR and DVD Recorder w/ Digital Tuner

DVRs For Cord Cutters

Many consumers, exasperated with the high fees and poor customer service common to cable TV subscriptions, have become ‘cord cutters’. They’ve ditched the subscription model. With millions of people using mobile devices for nearly all communications, and with internet video streaming becoming more practical, the cord cutting trend is now irreversible.

Though cord cutting saves money, it comes with drawbacks. Free over-the-air TV is limited to live broadcasts: little other than local news, sports, and award shows. An over-the-air (OTA) DVR can help expand expand your viewing options. Most DVRs have been dedicated boxes available only with cable or satellite TV subscriptions. In the last three years, though, several manufacturers have built OTA DVRs that don’t require subscriptions: TiVo, Tablo, SiliconDust, and Channel Master, among others.

The Channel Master DVR is among the best of them. It sports dual tuners, so you can watch one show while recording another, and its on-screen electronic programming guide is free.  TiVo, probably the best OTA DVR on the market in features and function, requires an annual $150.00 service fee in addition to its $300.00 purchase price.

The most surprising new entries into the OTA DVR market are by Magnavox. Once one of the dominant electronics brands, Magnavox has been a minor player in the industry for the last two decades.

In last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, though, Magnavox unveiled three new DVR models. Each one has at least two tuners and 1 TB of storage capacity; one has six tuners and 3 TB. All are due for release in the last quarter of 2016. Each has  a free on-screen EPG. Each has a built-in WiFi router, so you can stream live or recorded video to iOS or Android devices. Magnavox says its DVRs will also download content for viewing offline, and one model will burn video into an integrated DVD recorder.

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