Viodi View Newsletter - October 24th, 2007

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By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle at viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View

• GPON Builds Momentum
• Conference Momentum – Reception for a Cause
• Portable Journalism
• HD Overlay
• DVR Addition
• Transparent Video – Seeing Is Believing
• Muni WiFi....Alive and Well
• Calendar Events of Interest – Click Here
• People on the Move
• The Korner -Happy Halloween from the Pyle’s Pumpkin

Five years – that is how long it has been since the publication of the first issue of the Viodi View, which coincided with the first TelcoTV co-produced by NTCA and Shorecliff Communications (now part of CMP). These events are not really a coincidence, however, as that TelcoTV event and all of its informative presentations were the inspiration for that first issue. TelcoTV was and remains a good moniker to describe the independent telco efforts to offer video services; the term TelcoTV is neutral as to the technology, whether IPTV, RF, ATM or wireless. It is about service.

GPON Builds Momentum

Conference Momentum – Reception for a Cause

In my tradeshow youth, one of the ways I judged the health of a tradeshow was by the parties and receptions. The Western Cable shows was always one of the best, because the programmers would throw outlandish parties with big name talent or, in the case of Disney, open up there theme park to invited attendees (one of the few times it was possible to share a beer standing next to Mickey). Ironically, the last year of the Western Cable Show was the first year of TelcoTV.

Perhaps TelcoTV is close to taking the mantle from the Western Cable Show, as an array of cable programmers co-sponsored a lavish evening at the Georgia Aquarium anchored by NRTC, NTCA and SES Americom. This party was different from traditional bashes, as it included a silent auction fundraiser, benefiting the Foundation for Rural Service and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Click here to watch the video.

Portable Journalism As I schlep a studio’s worth of equipment across the country, I long for the portable video journalism solution developed by Nokia and Reuters. Centered on the N95 camera phone, Reuters and Nokia have taken off-the-shelf components and created a solution where a reporter can shoot 640x480 video, record high quality audio interviews and blog about what they saw. In one sense, this is not new, as several months ago, Stephen Streater of Forbidden Technologies showed examples of how bloggers were using the N95 for citizen journalism. The new thing is how this relatively low cost video capture, edit and render solution is moving to the mainstream media.

HD Overlay

Entone and SES Americom's announcement of an High Definition overlay service promises to open up a new channel for SES Americom, while removing a barrier to H.D entry for some of Entone’s customers. Read the analysis here and see what motivates people to get a whole-home DVR.

DVR Addition

As referenced in the HD Overlay article, the whole-home DVR will be increasingly important. Additional storage for those DVRs will become increasingly important, so Western Digital’s announcement of its My DVR Expander product ($0.40/Gbyte retail) is significant. It is compatible with the TiVo HD and TiVo Series3 HD DVRs and has been certified compatible with Scientific Atlanta 8300 Series digital video recorders. Western Digital is planning further compatibility with other DVRs, as those suppliers enable their eSATA (external SATA) ports.

Transparent Video – Seeing Is Believing

Many independent telcos continue to use RF as their method for delivering video to their customers. The upgrade path to all digital and high definition has heretofore been relatively expensive and complex for operators with small subscriber counts. I had a chance to see a recently introduced, end-to-end, all-digital RF cable solution (headend to subscriber management to conditional access to set-top) working at a small Pennsylvania cable operator (ironically, the birthplace of cable – OK, Oregon would argue they are). Check out this video we put together; seeing is believing.

Muni WiFi….Alive and Well by Alan J. Weissberger

"Rumors of my Death have been greatly exaggerated," by Mark Twain.  That quote best summarizes the Muni Wireless Conference held in Santa Clara, CA this week.  Approximately 450 attendees heard that the market was alive and well from city officials, network providers, vendors, and systems integrators.  The new emphasis is on sustainable business models and viable applications.  Hype has been replaced with a focus on enhancing productivity of city workers and (in some cases) economic development. Click here to read more.

Calendar Events of Interest – Click Here

Bookmark http://www.viodi.com/calendar.htm for the events that Viodi will either be participating in or covering. Two events not on this calendar are:

• MOCA Technology Conference & Open House
  November 14-15, 2007, Austin, TX
• Telcos in the Northwest - we are looking at the week of December 3rd for our next Local Content Workshop - it will be held in the State of Washington. Contact us at ken dot pyle at viodi.com, if you are interested in attending.

Rick’s Roundabout Route to RICA - Part 4 Watch Rick Vergin (or at least his animated avatar) make the trek from Wisconsin dairyland to the orange groves of Florida and the sunshine of Jacksonville and find out why he is making his way to the RICA/RTG conference in Jacksonville, November 14th and 15th.
To see all of the videos in this series, click on this link. ViodiTV @ RICA sponsorships are still available � Click here for more info

People on the Move

Moderating a panel of youth at OPASTCO’s Summer Convention in Alaska was a personal highlight from last summer. The insight from the panelists, coupled with the survey results provided insight helpful to independent telcos or anyone interested in the thoughts and motivations of rural youth. With the permission of OPASTCO, the video from the panel and the survey results are now online at:

• Youth Are Our Present - The Report
• Youth Are Our Present - The Video

If you find the reports of value, please donate to the PayPal account or directly to the addresses referenced in the link. the money raised will go to FRED, the Foundation for Rural Economic Development, which helps rural communities served by OPASTCO members. The other half of the money will go to the Tony Atwater Memorial Fund. Many of you saw the article, Father of IPTV, which talks of the premature passing of Tony Atwater. Ironically, Tony was both the opening and closing keynotes at the first NTCA/Shorecliff produced, TelcoTV event.

The Korner - Happy Halloween from the Pyle’s Pumpkin

The user generated content phenomenon is about content that is niche in nature, where the size of the audience might be in the thousands, the hundreds or the tens. The audience for this next video is probably three or four people. Still it speaks to that audience as powerfully as any other form of communication could, because it has a personal message or one that at least resonates with a 7 and 8 year old.

Thanks Roger for putting together this video that will help my family remember the year I got the krazy idea to grow as many pumpkins as our Silicon Valley yard would support.

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The Video Business Case for Independent Telcos – The Report

Viodi’s report, Video Business Case provides results to a survey of independent telcos and their business case for video. Most of the telcos that responded to the survey have figured out a way to deploy video services. This survey provides insight from the independent telcos as well as several of their Engineering firms.

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