Pioneer Delivers New DVR Interactive Navigation Suite

26-Jun-03

Pioneer Digital Technologies, Inc. showcased its Passportô Echo at the NCTA (National Cable & Telecommunications Association) National Show in Chicago.Th new Passport software gives cable operators another tool to compete with other types of video providers, with an advanced and user-friendly navigation system and user interface.Passport Echo is platform-independent and is designed to take advantage of the hard drives of advanced next-generation cable set-top boxes equipped with DVR (digital video recorder) capability. Its advanced feature set and refined interface graphics are designed to let cable TV viewers store, archive, and watch what they like, while simultaneously viewing another program.The Passport Echo's feature set includes:- Series Manager: By setting menu preferences in advance, the intelligence of the Passport Echo guide allows viewers to tag and automatically store favorite shows on the hard drive of their cable set-top box on a continuous basis without having to set up timers week after week.- Content Management Priority System: Refined software features enable viewers to prioritize video to be stored on a DVR's specified storage space. Preferences can be set to store first-run episodes of a favorite show, a favorite show on any channel where it appears, a favorite show only in its primetime slot, or all shows any time they air including syndicated cable. The priority system also allows for viewers to set a time limit on storage of programming. An hourglass icon accompanied by the number of days is displayed on the guide to alert the viewers of estimated time remaining to view the program before it's erased from the hard drive.Passport Echo is always capturing the broadcast, which enables viewers to control the action whether it's an instant replay or a pause of live TV. Because broadcasts are continuously being cached, Passport Echo viewers can go back to cached footage and play it back or ""Echo"" it. It's also just as easy to pause live action for unscheduled intermissions. Ultimately, this allows the user to harness and take command of their live programming.""Passport Echo represents one of our company's greatest achievements to date in making the cable TV viewer's experience especially rewarding,"" says Haig Krakirian, Vice President of Software Engineering for Pioneer Digital Technologies, Inc. ""We feel Passport Echo offers a compelling consumer product to attract new customers, and upgrade existing customers, to a new revenue-generating service. By inheriting Passport's video-on-demand applications, Passport Echo provides the most extensive cable TV navigation software available to operators today.""Passport Echo operates on any DVR-equipped cable set-top box and supports all analog and digital broadcast standards including the industry's latest offering, high-definition signals. Passport Echo also provides subscribers access to video-on-demand content stored on servers at the cable head-end. The navigation suite seamlessly integrates video streaming and ""trick modes"" both from the network and the hard disk.For more information about Pioneer Digital Technologies, Inc., visit www.pioneerbroadband.com. For more information about Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., visit www.pioneerelectronics.com.

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