Time Warner Cable’s path to the video future could soon be paved by Comcast’s X1 platform, but that possibility hasn’t stopped the New York-based operator from trotting out a beefy, new DVR that will help it keep pace with its telco- and satellite-TV competition.
Teeing up a video-focused feature that will play prominently in its “TWC Maxx” upgrades, Time Warner Cable last week began rolling out an “enhanced” DVR in Los Angeles and New York that comes equipped with six tuners, a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and 1 Terabyte of storage – enough to hold about 150 hours of HD video.
And it comes with a multiroom element that will let customers watch, pause, rewind and fast-forward recorded shows on up to four other HD boxes on the home network. The VOD portal on the box will tap TWC’s new cloud-based platform.
The capabilities in TWC’s enhanced DVR will help it match up with offerings from DirecTV, Dish Network, RCN and Verizon FiOS.
Time Warner Cable’s new DVR is one piece of its TWC Maxx upgrade initiative. The all-digital effort also features broadband speed upgrades, including a new 300 Megabitper- second (downstream) DOCSIS 3.0 service that replaces its former 50-Mbps offering and an expanded VOD library.
After New York and Los Angeles, seven more markets are in line to get the TWC Maxx treatment in 2015, TWC said: Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Hawaii; Kansas City; Raleigh, N.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and San Diego.
