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God's Machine |
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A brief examination of DVRs in Canada |
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March 2005 - IGB
Grant +1 514 849 3508
& Brian Sharwood +1
416 413 9381
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KEY HIGHLIGHTS: |
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- The Digital Video Recorder is revolutionizing television entertainment – not
in the studio, or the broadcast booth, but in the living room. The devices
are changing the connection between programme and viewer. DVRs let you
pause live TV. You can record and rewind any programme. And the interface
is understandable: truly revolutionary.
- The technology is only now arriving in Canada – we lag the U.S
significantly. Without TiVo, the market driver and innovator in the
United States, DVR technology was slow to arrive; but companies like
Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Bell ExpressVu, and others have brought it to
Canada
through their suppliers like Scientific Atlanta, Motorola and Echostar
and soon Pace Technologies. We note that the Canadian offerings are
not, for the most part, as feature-rich as those available south of
the border. We ascribe the reason to the absence of a trend-setter
in this market – we
have no TiVo to compare against.
- Bell Canada's ExpressVu satellite television service was the first
to release a DVR product to Canadian consumers. ExpressVu has the largest
DVR market share in the Canadian market. Our favourites? The Scientific
Atlanta Explorer 8000, offered by Rogers and by Videotron, which rents
for $20/month is our pick in the Canadian market. SeaBoard researchers
also liked Motorola DCT 6412, offered by Shaw, but found it priced
and marketed out of the range of most consumers.
- TiVo remains, to our mind, the gold standard in DVR service. We acknowledge
that TiVo alternatives are getting better; the technology and user-interfaces
are going through rapid developments and improvements. But the TiVo’s
online programming capabilities, homenetworking
functionality and predictive recording capabilities are still unmatched – and
at US$99, the price is hard to beat.
- Do-it-yourself PVR solutions, such as SageTV, ShowShifter and BitTorrent,
present a threat to the satellite, cable and broadcasting industries.
The presence of such a threat should be an inspiration to Canadian service
providers DVRs change the very nature of the service – in a way
that deepens and broadens the attractiveness of video services; DVR-enhancements
can assist in securing today’s service-provider’s relationships
with their customers, and DVRs also offer opportunities to develop
new advertising and marketing channel revenue: a compelling reason to
launch a service, no?
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