New Ways to Network the Home

New ways to connect and share content around the home will be demonstrated by Pace plc, the leading developer of digital TV technologies, at IBC 2008. From linking existing set-top boxes around the home to connecting with third party devices such as games consoles, Pace will be showing both standardised solutions and Pace’s own proprietary systems to put convergence at the heart of home entertainment.

Expanding the operator footprint

As the number of devices in the typical home increases, from games consoles, DVD players and media adapters to media centres and PCs , the set-top box is becoming separated from the rest of the home due to a lack of connectivity standards for video. Operators are looking for ways to maintain the position as the gateway for content into the home.

Pace has developed a new system which connects the set-top box to other third party devices in the home to bring additional revenues to operators and improve subscriber retention. With this system it is the consumer that is in charge of maintaining the network, not the operator.

The system is based on the latest DLNA standard (version 1.5), which Pace has adapted to enable live video to be streamed to third party devices in the home, such as the Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360 or any other DLNA-compliant product.

Pace will be demonstrating how content from a high definition personal video recorder (HD PVR) can be accessed and shared across an Ethernet network in the home on a Sony Playstation 3 and an HD set-top box with no in-built storage.

Networking existing devices

The need for a cost-effective and secure networked set-top box solution is becoming critical for operators as the number of TVs per household grows and as consumers become more familiar with the concept of networking and sharing content.

Pace has developed a number of multiroom solutions which link existing set-top boxes together to share and network content around the home. By removing the need to deploy a completely new set of products to customers, this is a more cost-effective solution for operators and a more responsible way of increasing the life of a product, thereby reducing potential waste. Pace’s demonstration will use existing set-top boxes, already deployed to customers worldwide, which will be networked together via Ethernet to create a secure and advanced multiroom subscription.