Top 5 Tech Articles You Might’ve Missed - Week of March 31, 2014

This week, ARRIS’s next-gen TV technology was featured in top industry headlines -- such as Variety -- following the announcement of Verizon’s new FiOS Quantum TV experience. In other television...

This week, ARRIS’s next-gen TV technology was featured in top industry headlines -- such as Variety -- following the announcement of Verizon’s new FiOS Quantum TV experience.

In other television news, Rapid TV News shared research from Comcast revealing that “an overwhelming majority” of Americans binge-watch television shows. Similarly, MediaPost’s VidBlog highlighted a report by Conviva, stating that the percentage of online video views accompanied by buffering fell to 26.9% in 2013, although buffering inconvenience trimmed 11 minutes from how much a viewer watched.

Separately, Advanced Television discussed the growing market for HEVC encoders, reporting that SNL Kagan MRG expects programmers will use HEVC compression to deliver both Ultra HD and HD signals in the future. Finally, Light Reading shared insight into how the industry can successfully manage the impending IP transition.

Check back next week for the latest industry news.

  1. Verizon’s Mammoth New FiOS DVR Aimed at Absurdly Small Group of TV Addicts (April 1) By Todd Spangler, Variety: Claiming DVR bragging rights in the pay-TV biz — for whatever that’s worth — Verizon Communications has launched a DVR system that lets the truly TV addicted record up to 12 shows at once and store up to 200 hours of HD programming.
  2. Majority of Americans have appetite to binge on TV (April 2) By Staff, Rapid TV News: The rate of increase of online video in the US seems to be matched only by the desire of viewers to totally consume entire series, research from Comcast suggests.
  3. The Myth Of Family Viewing; The Pain Of Ever-Buffering Video (April 2) By P.J. Bednarski, VidBlog: Year-to-year, a study of streaming households, measured by distinct IP address, shows that the number of concurrent streaming devices operating in the same household increased by 28% from 2012 to 2013.
  4. HEVC encoders for satellite distribution worth $2.5m by 2018 (April 3) By Staff, Advanced Television: Primary distribution encoders are used to deliver linear TV signals to the facilities of those who will be redistributing the signals to consumers. In the future, SNL Kagan MRG expects programmers will use the latest HEVC compression scheme to deliver both Ultra HD and HD signals.
  5. Successfully Managing the IP Transition Is a Tall Order (April 2) By Steve Leonard, Light Reading: As the industry and consumers continue to press ahead with greater adoption of Internet Protocol technology all the time, it has become apparent that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must actively balance the drive to innovate with protection for consumers.
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