DIRECTV Launches Field Test of its Home Media Server

[Scott Greczkowski]

DIRECTV Launches Field Trial of Its Home Media Center with Industry's First RVU-Enabled DIRECTV Server

New HR34 Server is the Hub of DIRECTV Home Media Center, which will Provide Customers with a ‘Receiver-less' Television Solution for the Home

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DIRECTV, the world's largest pay TV service, has recently started field trial testing for its highly anticipated DIRECTV® Home Media Center that will ultimately provide customers with a "receiver-less" solution for many TVs in their homes. The launch of field trial testing for DIRECTV's model HR34 RVU-enabled server, the heart of the DIRECTV Home Media Center, marks a major milestone both for the RVU technology and the new DIRECTV platform, which the company plans to begin rolling out nationwide to customers in October 2011.

RVU is a client/server-based technology that allows the television viewer to experience a consistent, pixel accurate server-generated user interface on various consumer electronics devices. The RVU specification uses widely implemented UPnP and DLNA technologies to enable a gateway device such as an advanced set-top box to work with non-proprietary client devices such as connected TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes.

"The DIRECTV Home Media Center is going to simplify the way our customers watch television throughout their homes and give them access not only to their favorite content in HD and DVR functionality on each television, but to a consistent, feature rich user interface, no matter what room they are in," said Romulo Pontual, executive vice president and CTO for DIRECTV. "We made a commitment to RVU technology when we joined the RVU Alliance in 2009, and we are excited to see the fruits of the Alliance's labor becoming a reality with the launch of our DIRECTV Home Media Center field trial."

The HR34 will be compatible with RVU certified clients, including DIRECTV's C30 Home Media Clients and RVU compatible televisions. RVU certification for these products is expected to be finalized this June.

DIRECTV is currently a member of The RVU Alliance, founded by Broadcom, Cisco, DIRECTV, Samsung and Verizon, which facilitates the adoption of an open standard technology that allows service providers to expand their unique UI and user experience onto standard consumer devices without the need for proprietary equipment. For more information on the RVU Alliance please visit RVU Alliance.

 

[JamesJ]

I want it....or at least to try it

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It sounds very interesting!

 

[CK SatGuy]

This will be huge for D* subs.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think this is a step ahead of what DISH announced last week.

The big thing however is your TV has to support RVU. And so far there has only been on Samsung TV which has been announced that supports it. (correct me if I am wrong) but with that said in the future tis could be HUGE!

 

[DVDDAD]

So I'm guessing that TV's without RVU capabilities will need a separate RVU Set-top Box attached to them? Hence this really wouldn't be a "receiver-less" solution for most of us, unless you own all Samsung RVU enabled TV's. This can really take off, only if the RVU Set-top Boxes are affordable and once most TV & Blu-Ray manufacturers support RVU. I can see DirecTV leasing their own RVU Set-top boxes in the interim, sort of like the Dish XiP813/110 set up.

 

[stonecold]

It is receiver less as the C30 is not a receiver but a thin client. For non RVU tvs the c30 is a small adapter that takes the signal from the HR34 and converts it back to a signal the tv can understand. There no sat tuner or anything of the sort. So even on old tvs they can say receiver-less

 

[wildbill129]

I'll gladly test his...sign me up D*

 

[rocket69]

Whats the specs on the HR3X ? how many live Tv streams can it support and can we add more like the Xip Coming soon........

 

[tigerfan33]

The big question. What will the monthly fees be?

 

[joed32]

Also how much would it cost for someone with a lot of DVRs and receivers to replace them with the new system. I expect that it would be prohibitive.

 

[whitewolf8214]

Also how much would it cost for someone with a lot of DVRs and receivers to replace them with the new system. I expect that it would be prohibitive.

+1 how much will it cost period to do this? ty for replies

 

[JerseyMatt]

This is the one with 5 tuners, right? IMHO it's still not a whole-house solution unless you only have 2-3 TV's. Any more and you will run into the same problems that Dish's VIP772 users have with the battle of the recordings. I'm running 6 tuners as it stands now, two HR24s, an H21, and an HR24. Since it has been said to work with MRV, I would happily trade the two non-DVR units for it, but no way I'm giving up a tuner. I have enough conflicts as it is in my scheduler, and the HR3x would definitely help with that. But I would really like to see the MRV utilize some sort of 'smart conflict management' in order to get more of your shows recorded. Say if you have a conflict on one DVR, but another is idle with nothing upcoming, the system should pass the recording off to the other DVR.

 

[JerseyMatt]

On a side note to Stonecold... My PS3 can see the DirecTV2PC servers running on my HR24s (I assume they are DLNA compliant).. They can even read the series folders.. But the recordings show up as unsupported data. Any chance D2PC will be supported on devices other than PC??

 

[dfergie]

On a side note to Stonecold... My PS3 can see the DirecTV2PC servers running on my HR24s (I assume they are DLNA compliant).. They can even read the series folders.. But the recordings show up as unsupported data. Any chance D2PC will be supported on devices other than PC??

That would be cool... my PS3 finds my HR's as well...

 

[charper1]

DITTO

That would be cool... my PS3 finds my HR's as well...

 

[cypherstream]

Yeah or how about an RVU client application that runs on your PC? Full DirecTV experience (windowed or full screen) on your PC. Might as well since it's on your home network via DECA ICK.

So is the c30 a SBB (Set Back Box)? Does it have a wired ir sensor or does it use an RF remote, or even HDMI-CEC to pass TV remote commands to it over HDMI?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[harshness]

The big thing however is your TV has to support RVU. And so far there has only been on Samsung TV which has been announced that supports it. (correct me if I am wrong) but with that said in the future tis could be HUGE!

As the success of this particular run at the fabled HMC is largely pinned to the ultimate and unrivaled success of RVU, the HR34 is likely another in the six year string of HMC non-starters.

As for Samsung being excited about RVU, I challenge you to find any Samsung reference to RVU outside of the CES joint press release with DIRECTV.

 

[stonecold]

As the success of this particular run at the fabled HMC is largely pinned to the ultimate and unrivaled success of RVU, the HR34 is likely another in the six year string of HMC non-starters.

As for Samsung being excited about RVU, I challenge you to find any Samsung reference to RVU outside of the CES joint press release with DIRECTV.

Harshness I just abought a new 32 inch LEDLCD for my home office and it it is RVU enabled. I had no idea when i about it but found a small section like a paragraph that says for future us but there was menu in the tv for rvu as well. Some of the scuttlebutt is that samsung is going to release a update for there earlier eithernet enabled tvs to support rvu.