Comcast has turned on out-of-home streaming for its cloud DVR service that is now live in eight markets across the cable operator’s footprint.
The news about the out-of-home streaming element was announced in conjunction with rollouts of the cloud DVR service in San Francisco and Houston. Comcast originally launched its X1 DVR with cloud technology and live in-home streaming in Boston, its hometown of Philly and Chicago earlier this year. Additional markets include Atlanta, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
Comcast has rolled out its next gen X1 platform across its footprint and said today most of its X1 customers will have the new live streaming and X1 DVR features by the end of the year. Comcast hasn’t broken out the subscriber numbers for X1 but has previously said it was installing up to 20,000 X1 boxes a day, and credited the platform for reducing churn for its basic video subscribers.
With X1 DVR, Comcast subscribers can download programs they have recorded on their DVRs to watch on IP-enabled devices or stream them using an Internet connection. The in-home streaming feature provides access to virtually the entire channel line-up and VOD programming on mobile devices and computers.
“These new features—live in-home streaming and X1 DVR with cloud technology—give our customers more flexibility for watching their favorite shows and movies in and out of their home,” said Matt Strauss, senior vice president and general manager, video services, Comcast Cable. “Now, any screen in the house can become a personal TV, and recorded programs can be accessed anytime, anywhere.”
The cloud-based DVR recordings are provisioned over Comcast’s managed IP network, and are another element of its IP-based Viper platform, the latter of which emerged from Comcast’s Xcalibur effort several years ago.
According to Comcast’s “X1 DVR with cloud technology” FAQ, up to 40 devices can be registered for in-home live TV or DVR streaming, with up five devices streaming simultaneously. Content-wise, Comcast said all of a subscriber’s linear channels were available on the new app, as well as the use of the X1 guide, on home-bound devices.
With X1 DVR, authenticated Comcast subscribers can “check-out” DVR recordings by downloading them directly to a mobile device to take on-the-go; and access the X1 interface and live stream most of their TV channel lineups to IP-connected devices. Out-of-home, X1 customers can use their Internet connections to stream or download their recordings as well.
To deliver the new streaming and download features to Xfinity TV customers, Comcast launched a new Xfinity TV app for iOS and Android tablets and smartphones and a web portal for viewing on computers. To live stream their TV lineup, or download DVR recordings while on tablets or smartphones in the home, customers need to download the Xfinity TV app from the App Store, open the app and sign-in with their Xfinity TV credentials.
Once signed-in, customers can start browsing their lineups in the guide or scan available recordings for download in the “Saved” menu. On laptops and computers, customers can sign-in through the Xfinity TV site to access their X1 guide and DVR recordings.
Cloud DVR allows subscribers to store content from their DVRs in the cloud, or more accurately, in data centers. Cable operators can cut costs, such as truck rolls, with cloud-based DVR storage. For subscribers it provides the ability to serve up video to multiple IP-connected devices.