At its developer Forum last week, Intel showed prototypes of a DVR set-top box for pay-TV that uses its CE3100 Media Processors and supports the cableco Tru2Way interactive platform, which is also MoCA network compatible.
The unit had three digital cable tuners, each of whose videos can be streamed uncompressed to three separate TV sets or DVRs over a wireline gigabit Ethernet or MoCA network. The streams can also be sent to DLNA-compatible devices like laptops and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Each of the three users/viewers has full control of a tuner. Additional users can be simultaneously watching videos that were previously recorded on the DVR.
Tru2Way provides Internet-like interactivity to pay-TV. It also supports multiple user interfaces like Rovi’s, which Comcast uses, or Digeo’s.
Intel said cable TV services are interested in the product, which is expected to be on the market next year. Intel often makes products to show what can be done with its chips but rarely sells them directly.