Jon Iverson

It has repeatedly been predicted that video rental stores are heading for the graveyard, most recently with the advent of small satellite services and online rental competitors such as Netflix. The latest foe that, pundits claim, is likely to deal the fatal blow to rental stores is video-on-demand over high-speed networks.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.2netFX.com">2netFX</A> announced its recently developed 10 to 36 Mbp HDTV-over-IP streaming technology. The company says that with the recent addition of a live high-definition encoder from Motorola, the new system is compliant with industry standard protocols enabling High Definition Television (HDTV) content to be stored for later delivery or multicast in real-time over standard corporate data networks, satellite and the Internet.

In an effort to place the cable set-top box at the center of the home entertainment universe, <A HREF="http://www.scientificatlanta.com">Scientific-Atlanta</A> last week unveiled its new Explorer 8000 set-top, which is expected to begin shipping during the summer of 2001. The company also announced that Time Warner Cable has signed purchase orders, commiting them to buy sufficient numbers of the device to satisfy most of the cable operator's forecasted requirements for calendar years 2001 and 2002 for this class of digital set-top.

While computer makers are still struggling to find consensus for the recordable DVD format, with the front-running rivals DVD-RW and DVD-RAM duking it out, a few consumer electronics products incorporating DVD-R are beginning to appear. Last week, <A HREF="http://www.toshiba.com/">Toshiba</A> announced its introduction of the RD-2000, which it describes as "the world's first combination of hard disk drive and DVD-RAM video recorder" for recording TV programs. The new recorder is planned for sale in the Japanese market only, starting December 22.