Cable company Cablevision Systems are launching a PC to TV multiscreen service which allows users to send content from pc – including video and tv streams like Youtube videos and Hulu shows straight to the television set. The PC to TV Media Relay software allows pc apps to be seen on a dedicated TV channel, provided that Cablevision is both the broadband Internet and TV service provider in the home.
Media Relay lets you watch PC streams on TV
“With our PC-to-TV Media Relay service, we are putting an end to the need for families to huddle around their laptops or PCs to watch content together,” Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said in a statement. “This new service will make it easy for our television customers to take broadband services, including Internet video, as well as family photos or anything else displayed on a computer screen and move it to the television with the click of the mouse.”
Cablevision will start trials of the PC-to-TV Media Relay in June. Further details including pricing was not revealed, although anyone wanting the service would need to be a subscriber to both broadband and cable TV.
There could be issues with some content providers though as the service allows unrestricted viewing of any internet based content. Hulu could be one, after it already stopped Boxee’s Internet software from streaming Hulu content on television sets. And if you take a look at Hulu’s terms of service, they say that users may not “stream or retransmit the content via any hardware or software application.” Cablevision’s stance will be that as the PC-to-TV Media Relay service only allows content that can be viewed on pc to be viewed on a different screen in effect, it would be covered under fair-use provisions of the copyright code.
Cablevision are no strangers to controversy as previously they hit legal problems after a large trial, RS-DVR that was a new kind of DVR model based on local network storage of content sharing – however the project received legal challenges from content companies. Cablevision last year fought off this battle and gained the right to launch its servic.
The PC-to-TV Media Relay service is wireless and eliminates any set-top box or wiring installation, as opposed to other transfer systems like Vudu, TiVo, Boxee, Roku and Apple TV which all require an additional device to connect to the TV as well as a network connection.
Other providers, such as Verizon’s FiOS TV and AT&T’s U-verse TV, provide access to some Internet-based content and PC media on TV. But Cablevision’s service would provide full access to any Web site or service, although it wouldn’t let users control the PC using the set-top remote control.
Cablevision have revealed that the PC-to-TV Media Relay allows subscribers to access content and applications on their computers, including: personal media such as photos, home videos and music; Internet content, including streaming video sites and audio such as Internet radio, emails and other widgets and apps. The trials will just be for windows pc’s, but a Mac version also is in the works. The company said the technology that enables TV-to-PC Media Relay may also be extended to other consumer devices in the home, including handheld devices.
[…] Cable company Cablevision Systems are launching a PC to TV multiscreen service which allows users to send content from pc – including video and tv streams like Youtube videos and Hulu shows straight to the television set. The PC to TV Media Relay software allows pc apps to be seen on a dedicated TV channel, provided that Cablevision is both the broadband Internet and TV service provider in the home. View the Original article […]
I am glad that Paid TV providers are heading in this direction. Cablevision has not slowed down in their progression from the android releases to this. Though they are still following footsteps already laid. DISH Network, my employer, has full integration features with the Google TV, but best of all they also work the other way! I can stream live TV, on demand content, and DVR recordings remotely to my laptop and Android!
I want one of the streamer box to buy, so how can l make payment