Network DVR Takes to the Cloud

With Cablevision (NYSE:CVC) offering a network-based DVR service that can record up to 10 shows at once, and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) readying for the release of its X2 platform, 2014 could stand to be a big growth year for the cloud-based DVR, said Jim Owens, senior director, product management, on-demand video, for ARRIS (NASDAQ:ARRS)."This is a conversation we have had with virtually every customer," Owens said. "There is interest from most of them. They are in various stages of investigation or implementation." ARRIS has deployed with one major operator and is working on requests for information or quotes from more than a dozen.The benefits from moving storage out of the set-top box and into the headend has moved beyond reducing the cost of CPE or cutting down on truck rolls. The technology is such that it can be leveraged to provide not only whole-home DVR service, but also to enhance an operator's multiscreen strategy."(It provides) the ability to integrate the capabilities of VOD as well as time-shifted TV as well as DVR functionality into the cloud and the ability to provide the functionality as a multiscreen experience to the customer," said Jeff Walker, ARRIS' senior director, strategy and product marketing, video infrastructure solutions.One of the holdups for a network-based DVR has been content rights. In 2008, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled that a service proposed by Cablevision did not violate copyrights. But the end result of the ruling was that a unique copy of a piece of content needs to be created for an individual subscriber to access and record.Cost savings are still there from eliminating the hard drive from set-tops, and there is increased reliability and fewer truck rolls, but added in is cost of storage for all of these copies. "We have done the modeling on it, and (network DVR) does prove to be viable, but it would be more viable if there was a copy that could be shared across users," Walker said.However, by utilizing the concept of the cloud-based DVR to provide content to multiple devices, operators are able to add screens to their repertoire, which extends the value proposition "above and beyond" reducing the cost of a CPE-based service, Walker said.Additional monetization opportunities arise from dynamic ad insertion. "If you've got content older than three days, there is the ability to go in and replace that or target ads for the stored content," Walker said.Today's solutions are designed for efficiency even though there is a lot of storage involved. "We use high-capacity, high-performance servers with software that is optimized to write multiple copies of these assets very quickly," Owens said.And the video processing occurs in the network. A single copy of content for each subscriber can be stored and processed at multiple bitrates to accommodate the differences in devices. "This happens much easier in the cloud as opposed to off of a CPE-based DVR," Walker said.Monta Monaco Hernon is a free-lance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].