Comporium has completed a set of multi-room DVR tests that enlisted media centers from Digeo Inc. that were specially outfitted to handle IP-based video.
The trials, which involved about a half dozen homes in Rock Hill and Charlotte, N.C., tested several situations: multi-stream HD DVR over a fiber-to-the-home network; multi-stream standard definition DVR applications over DSL; and multi-room distribution of live and recorded content over IP.
The trial featured Digeo’s traditionally cable-centric Moxi Media Center, which is already being deployed in 250,000 cable homes through deals with cable operators such as Charter Communications and Sunflower Broadband, among others. Comporium also used the Moxi Mate device for multi-room DVR tests.
Digeo CEO Mike Fidler noted that the Moxi box was able to handle IPTV services without any modifications on the hardware. Digeo, which typically uses on-board RF tuners to render video, tapped the box’s existing Ethernet port and some software mods to handle the IPTV streams.
He said HD support was a “bonus” and not an original goal of the tests with Comporium.
That’s good news for IPTV players, he added, because “they are coming third into the video play (following cable and DBS), and they need something that is compelling and meets or exceeds expectations from a consumer’s [standpoint].”
Although Digeo was able to glean the technical requirements of delivering IPTV via its Moxi platform, the company does not yet have any specific plans for a line of IPTV boxes.
“We will now start looking at opportunities that exist for us,” Fidler said.