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Motorola Announces Home Media Architecture, Extending Digital Video Recording Capabilities Throughout the Home (4/5/2004)

Motorola's solution provides a cost-effective way to share digital entertainment programming across "connected home" devices.

Motorola, Inc. today announced that it has extended the functionality of its industry-leading digital set-top platform with the introduction of the Motorola Home Media Architecture (HMA). Providing cost-effective hardware and software solutions, Motorola HMA enables operators to bring the experience of multi-room digital video recording (DVR) and media distribution functionality to their subscribers.

As part of Motorola's "connected home" strategy, Motorola HMA allows consumers to enjoy access to stored media on connected devices throughout the home. Motorola's highly scaleable and extensible architecture enables operators to deploy a basic multi-room DVR solution by leveraging legacy digital set-tops and currently deployed interactive program guide (IPG) or video on demand (VOD) applications. The architecture also provides a growth path to enable advanced services and capabilities utilizing technology from Ucentric Systems, a provider of home media networking software.

These advanced capabilities of HMA, enabled by Ucentric Systems Multi-TV DVR technology, add a new level of in-home media networking. In addition to enhanced multi-room DVR functionality such as management of recording and viewing resources across the entire home network, advanced HMA leverages standards based IP technology to enable subscribers to connect a range of compatible devices through their in-home network. Consumers will be able to configure set-tops, digital cameras, camcorders, mp3 players, laptops, PCs and mobile phones through a simple user interface.

With a Java-based open architecture for applications, the advanced capabilities of Motorola's HMA solution offers service providers the ability to introduce new IP-based services in areas such as home security, home monitoring, smart home management, remote education and remote health management.

Motorola's basic multi-room architecture provides an easily-deployed solution for the access of DVR content throughout the home. Specifically, the solution enables content recorded on a DCT6208 or DCT6412 digital video recorder set-top to be accessed from any HMA-enabled DCT digital set-top. Further, the solution allows for the continued use of current program guides and application suites.

Using IP-over-coaxial technology developed by Entropic for the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), the HMA enables "whole-home" networking for core and advanced digital set-tops already in the home. The Entropic technology enables multiple standard and high-definition video and data services to be simultaneously distributed throughout the home, over existing unmodified coaxial cable, without the need for a service call by a technician.

"With Home Media Architecture, Motorola is enabling operators to increase the penetration of digital services in the home and extend their investment in a digital set-top platform," said Carl McGrath, Motorola corporate vice-president and general manager, digital core gateways. "By working with existing application providers as well as integrating technology from companies like Ucentric, Motorola has provided operators a flexible architecture for offering subscribers access to entertainment and information throughout their homes, and a simple software upgrade path to advanced features."

"Ucentric is proud to work with Motorola to provide cable operators with a solution that extends the DVR functionality to anywhere in their home, in a way that is easy to manage and install," said Michael Collette, chief executive officer, Ucentric Systems. "Motorola's leading digital set-top platforms combined with Ucentric technology delivers multi-screen DVR capabilities that not only provide customers with the ability to control recording throughout the home, but to actually leverage the capabilities of the all set-top resources in a simple and intuitive manner."

www.entropic.com
www.ucentric.com
www.motorola.com/broadband