We were given the first view of Sling Media’s new Slingcatcher device yesterday at a presentation in London. We’re not allowed to tell you the launch date although it is now available for pre-ordering in the UK so you can assume you won’t have to wait too long. I won’t repeat all the technical specs and capabilities. There’s a good summary here. The Slingcatcher concept was first introduced at CES 2007 as the “projector” application, which basically takes whatever is on the PC screen and shows it on a TV. This became the Slingcatcher device and was originally planned for launch in late 2007. But when it came to preparing for launch, the company (or specifically, its founder, Blake Kriokorian) felt that the user experience was not up to scratch and went away to re-think the design and software interface. The Slingcatcher is a digital media player which takes whatever is showing on the PC on the TV to which it is connected. The software does a few tricks to work out where video windows are and how best to show them on the TV display. Aspect ratio preferences can be set by the user, and any part of the PC can be rendered on the TV. The BBC’s iPlayer makes a natural test case, and we viewed a downloaded Top Gear show streamed over 802.11g to the Slingcatcher connected to a large screen plasma TV. The experience is watchable (if you can put up with Jeremy Clarkson for a moment longer), though not without its problems. It's certainly not even standard digital TV quality, and there was occasional jerkiness during the demonstration. Such faults become much more noticeable on the big screen than on a 14” PC display where the online video is normally viewed. The question for Sling will be whether more traditional TV viewers at which Slingcatcher is aimed will accept these problems when watching “TV”. We suspect that people familiar with the problems of online video will be happy enough, but it will be tough to explain the challenges of home network video streaming to the TV audience, who are ready to complain about the tiniest fault in television picture quality. Another challenge for Sling will be to communicate the benefits of Slingcatcher effectively. The retail market is tough for any new technology category, as stores often aren’t sure where to position new products or how to get their sales staff to understand and communicate the benefits. We suspect that Sling's marketing campaign will make much of the Slingcatcher’s ability to put catch-up TV, such as the BBC’s iPlayer, onto the big screen. This should sound appealing enough to persuade a few technophobes to want to know more. How many of them are scared away by the complexities of home networking and online video remains to be seen. Client Reading: Online Video: Global Market Forecast

...and not before time. The BT Vision Philips set-top box (V-box) has had HD capability built in from day one, as have most IPTV set-top boxes around the world. So it's taken more than 18 months since the launch of the service to offer HD quality. BT's first deal is with NBC Universal "for a broad selection of feature films" on the VOD service. Specifically, that means The Incredible Hulk, Wanted and Charlie Wilson’s War, alongside library titles such as E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial, Shaun Of The Dead and Miami Vice. Prices for new films will be £4.95 and library titles £2.95. BT says they are "competitively priced", but Sky HD Box Office movies are priced at £3.99 so users will soon decide whether £4.95 is too much for a recent release. BT's model for Universal movies is the usual "unlimited viewing" during a 48-hour period. It's good to see broadband television in the UK catching up with other European countries like France (though, as I have pointed out many times, BT Vision is not really "IPTV" - it's IP VOD combined with DTT). It will require a lot more choice of HD content for BT to start deploying its HD service as a marketing weapon, but this is at least a start. BT should also be commended for not falling into the "four-letter word" trap: there is no mention of "full HD" or 1080p. The BT Vision V-Box can present HD content in 720p and 1080i via HDMI. All HD content is encoded and delivered to the V-Box in 1080i. So the UK's Blu-ray fans can rest easy for now. Client Reading: Full HD: Blu-ray Camp Claims Broadcasters "Mislead" Consumers

Following on from my previous discussion of Blu-ray quality broadcasting claims, here is a further sign that confusion reigns when it comes to discussing what is and what isn't "Full HD" video. On September 1st Motorola issued a press release about a deal to provide Deutsche Telekom (T-Home) with IPTV set-top boxes which included the following statement: "Within the scope of the contract, Motorola will provide T-Home with its VIP1616E set-top -- known to T-Home customers as Media Receiver 300 Typ A. With the device, subscribers to T-Home's Entertain service will be able to view premium sporting content in full HD." Now my ears are obviously attuned, given the attention the Blu-ray/DirecTV/Dish saga has attracted, to any mention of the phrase "Full HD". I was particularly impressed with the suggestion that sports content would be available in 1080p, since I know of no regular capture of live sporting events in this format. With less than 2% of European homes watching (720p/1080i) HDTV today, the industry desperately needs to make its message clear. And major TV manufacturers like Samsung are using terms like "Full HD" to market the 1080p-capability of their large screen TVs. So what are consumers supposed to make of suggestions that Deutsche Telekom is now offering sports content in "full HD"? I would not blame them for thinking that football matches would be available in 1080p, and it has taken a week for Motorola to confirm to me that this is indeed not the case. The company admits that it was wrong in using the words "full HD", and its press release has now been amended. I don't believe Motorola was trying to mislead anyone. What is concerning is that this market-leading technology provider can use terms which can be so easily misinterpreted, and is apparently unaware of the confusion that surrounds HDTV marketing. Motorola’s service provider partners will not find it easy to upsell their subscribers to HDTV services unless they and their technology partners can show consistency in communicating exactly what it is television viewers are supposed to be getting from HDTV. Visit us at IBC: Web TV and Virtual Worlds Analyst Presentations

While less than 1% of European TV viewers have ever seen the current generation of HDTV, the first live transmission of the next generation standard, Super Hi-Vision, was taking place this morning at the RAI in Amsterdam. Two separate paths were chosen to demonstrate live feeds from Turin and London. Live on camera from the rooftop of London's City Hall was the BBC's Erik Huggers, Director of future media and technology. Erik was fortunate that the rain held off for a change (it has decided to sit on top of Amsterdam most of today instead) but the multiple sound microphones picked up tremendous wind noise. This was more than adequately rendered by the 22.2 speaker system in the NHK Theater at the IBC, so that the audience felt surrounded by swirling winds. A real breeze would have been even nicer as the temperature in the small, packed theater rose steadily over the next hour. Siemens IT Solution and Services compressed the native 24Gbps 7680x4320/60Hz images and 22.2 channel audio to a 600Mbps signal, which was carried via gigabit ethernet fibre connection from London to Amsterdam. Needless to say, the picture quality and sound were stunning, and they were just as effective during the second demonstration of a live satellite transmission from Turin using two full transponders on Eutelsat's Atlantic Bird 3 satellite. In this case the video feed (pre-recorded rather than live) was compressed using MPEG4 encoders to 140Mbps. NHK's Dr Keeichi Kubota, Director General of the Science and Technical Research Laboratories of NHK, was honest enough to admit that initial applications of the SHV system were likely to be found in public and commercial displays. He estimates that the consumer market should begin to emerge in 10 years' time, when displays and content are able to benefit from SHV's capabilities. Critically, he also indicated that the target consumer market would be 70" to 100" displays. Displays of that size are likely to appeal to some US viewers, but I'm not sure many Europeans will see them in their homes, however good the pictures. Visit us at IBC: Web TV and Virtual Worlds Analyst Presentations

New research from NDS suggests that digital video recorders have improved relationships for nearly 80% of couples. In NDS's survey of DVR owners in the US, UK, Italy and Australia, the question was asked: If you have a DVR, has it improved your relationship with your partner? The responses were: If you have a DVR, has it improved your relationship with your partner? United States Yes 79% No 21% United Kingdom Yes 62% No 38% Italy Yes 78% No 22% Australia Yes 78% No 22% The survey offers no explanation as to why fewer UK DVR owners feel their relationships are improved than in other countries. Perhaps UK couples already exist in such a state of cohabiting bliss and harmony that nothing, not even the miraculous ability to record television programmes, can possibly improve their sense of well-being. Unfortunately the official divorce figures would suggest otherwise. You may be wondering why this motley selection of international markets was chosen for the survey. Not entirely coincidentally, they happen to mirror the leading countries in which NDS’s DVR software is deployed, namely on the Sky (UK and Italy), DirecTV (US) and Foxtel (Australia) platforms. The survey’s other findings highlight the relative importance of different household gadgets and appliances. The report says the DVR is second only to the mobile phone as something people could not live without. The iPod and games consoles are ranked amongst the items people are least likely to want to keep. These surveys are always good for press headlines, but the results should be treated with great caution (hence the general tone of this entry). The survey respondents were all owners of DVRs, who represent much less than half of the population in each of the countries surveyed. They are not representative of the population in general and the results should be treated accordingly. A survey of all iPod owners would undoubtedly find that a majority would want to keep their iPods, while I know of few children who use games consoles who would be happy to see them banished from the house. I imagine we are some way from DVRs being mandated in every household by governments and regulators anxious to reduce the impact of family breakdown on social security budgets, although we should never underestimate the ingenuity of our policy makers, and I’m sure DVR manufacturers would welcome such an initiative. Putting cynicism to one side, there is no doubt the digital video recorder has helped to transform television usage for the minority of people who own one, and it is one of those technologies from which there is no going back. Having used Sky+ for seven years, I am still bemused every time I have to watch television where a DVR is not available – pausing and rewinding live TV quickly becomes second nature and is sorely missed. Whether it saves marriages or not, I had better refrain from further comment… Visit us at IBC: Web TV and Virtual Worlds Analyst Presentations