Pioneer Booth To Sport Bevy Of Cool Home Networking, Entertainment And Technology Demos At NCTA
Networked Home, Games, Set-Top Box Innovations and Diagnostic Tools To Highlight Show
Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. and Pioneer Digital Technologies, Inc., leaders in cable television digital set-top boxes and interactive navigation software, will showcase a premiere selection of 'killer' demonstrations in booth #1833 of the Morial Convention Center at this week's National Cable Television Convention Association conference. The latest in home networking technology, entertainment innovations and interactive technology services from Pioneer will be on display.
NETWORKED HOME DEMONSTRATIONS
- PioneerConnect™ - Butter up the popcorn, sit down and relax as you witness ioneer "connecting people with entertainment." Ready to dim the lights? Don't get up. Is your doorbell ringing but you aren't expecting company? Don't get up. Visitors at Pioneer's booth can test the simplicity of turning on and off lights, actively monitoring front door and room-to-room security throughout the house with video surveillance, and controlling home theater electronics by simply navigating the Passport interactive application suite. PioneerConnect is a prototype home networking application that allows viewers to conveniently network home systems and products through digital cable set-top boxes, including Pioneer's Voyager™ series. The home-networking demonstration integrates lighting and home-security applications, and activates supplementary entertainment appliances from Pioneer's consumer electronics division, including a DVD/CD jukebox.
- Home Gateway Device - A 'three-in-one' modem-based product, Pioneer's gateway demonstration will showcase a stand-alone device that integrates a DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 cable modem, router-firewall-gateway, a wireless networking base station (802.11b compliant), and enables four Ethernet port connections (10/100BT) for wired networking. Additionally, it maintains data privacy with 40/128 bit WEP encryption, promoting an ideal platform to bridge devices on the home network, including PCs, printers, set-top boxes, digital cameras and voice-over-IP telephony to the external networks and their services, such as streaming video, gaming, shopping, VOD, and other broadband Internet applications.
ENTERTAINMENT DEMONSTRATIONS
- Passport™ 3.0 navigation and application suite: This highly reliable, industry proven software technology, now includes on-demand services. It offers a comprehensive array of powerful digital capabilities. Features include an easy-to-use interactive program guide with advanced program scheduling and detailed program information, channel banner browsing, parental control features, and advanced integrated VOD and SVOD with DVD functionality. Passport 3.0 also offers downloadable interactive applications such as Web browsing, e-mail, chat, weather, sports, interactive games, stocks, news and more. At its core, Passport's dynamic user interface is comprised of animated graphic transitions that emulate a broadcast TV experience and provide intuitive cues for user navigation.
- PassTime Games: Sit back, relax and take PassTime Games for a little test drive. Designed to retain customer loyalty and cut-down on churn, Pioneer will demonstrate the first in a series of forthcoming interactive games developed for the Passport 3.0 platform to enhance entertainment options for subscribers. The single-user games feature easy to navigate, pause, return and picture-in-picture options that allow viewers to play along while watching their desired programming. The PassTime Games application is an optional add-on to the Passport Application Suite and the latest revenue-generating addition to the currently deployed platform. Featuring animated graphics for Klondike Solitaire, 21 or Bust, and Poker Solitaire, the games are the latest example of Pioneer's commitment to the cable industry.
TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATIONS
- Voyager 3511 HD: Pioneer's new low-cost HDTV enabled digital set-top box offers cable viewers the ability to decode various high-definition (HDTV) TV formats and enjoy maximum picture quality from both analog television sources and HDTV broadcasts. The 3511 HD is the latest digital cable set-top box addition to Pioneer's Voyager 3000 series and features a built-in ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) digital decoder with video outputs that can pass native 1080i signals (1,080 lines of resolution), the highest resolution of HDTV to a video display, or down-convert those signals based on display limitations. To maximize cinema quality transmission, the demonstration will be shown on one of Pioneer's award-winning 16x9 HDTV compatible plasma screens.
- Webnostics: Webnostics is the world's first remote access diagnostic tool for cable TV set-top boxes, allowing cable TV operators to remotely access real-time diagnostic information from an individual subscriber's set-top box through the use of a PC and the locally installed browser. The program allows the operator to diagnose and evaluate performance of the set-top box, from the local head-end facility instead of having to roll a truck for that information.
About Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., Cable and Communications
Pioneer has a 25-year history as a leading hardware provider in the cable television industry. The company has deployed more than 10 million analog and digital cable set-top boxes within the U.S., featuring the Voyager™ series of advanced digital cable products. With its steadfast dedication to technological development, Pioneer's Cable and Communications Group continues to be an innovative leader in the cable television industry. It is a part of Business Solutions Division, which provides professional business-to-business products across a wide range of markets including cable television, professional video/audio, educational, medical, legal and banking. Pioneer enjoys a 12 percent market share of digital set-top boxes in the United States. It is one of only three companies enjoying a major share among digital set-top boxes deployed in the country today. Visit Pioneer Cable and Communications at www.pioneerbroadband.com.
About Pioneer Digital Technologies, Inc.
For more than 25 years, Pioneer has been a leading provider in the cable television industry. Today, Pioneer Digital has deployed more than 3 million copies of its Passport navigation and application suite to several cable systems on a variety of digital cable set-top platforms. With its steadfast dedication to technological development, Pioneer Digital continues to be an innovative leader in the cable television industry. Visit Pioneer at www.pioneerbroadband.com.