SA Introduces New MCP-100 Media Center

[dkennedy]

Press Release Source: Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.

Scientific-Atlanta Introduces New MCP-100 Media Center With Built-in DVD Burner

Saturday April 2, 8:00 am ET

- Scientific-Atlanta will expand its set-top leadership position with innovative new DVR with DVD -

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The National Show -- Booth #6158 -- Building upon its award-winning Explorer® 8300(TM) digital video recorder (DVR) platform, Scientific-Atlanta today announced its new MCP- 100(TM) Media Center DVR with a built-in DVD burner. This market-leading product will combine all of the great features of the current Explorer 8300 platform, including multi-tuner DVR, optional high definition DVR, DOCSIS (DSG) and Multi-Room(TM) DVR capability, with a new built-in DVD player and burner.

"Our new MCP-100 Media Center will completely change the way consumers think about cable television," said Dave Davies, vice president, strategy and product marketing for Subscriber Networks at Scientific-Atlanta. "Consumers will be able to easily record their favorite programs on DVDs to watch in the mini-van, on the train, on the bus or on an airplane. Cable television has always been about entertainment in the home. We will make it easy for cable consumers to enjoy their favorite television programs wherever they choose."

The new MCP-100 Media Center will add DVD burning functionality for standard and high definition content that will give consumers the ability to simply and securely record their favorite shows and movies onto writeable DVDs. The MCP-100 Media Center will support the majority of writeable DVD formats and will also play off-the-shelf DVDs and CDs. In addition, the product is being designed to respect key content protection flags including 'copy freely,' 'copy once,' and 'copy never' tags.

"The combination of DVR with a DVD burner in our new MCP-100 Media Center will help create exciting new revenue opportunities for cable operators, including the potential for future DVD video downloads and the distribution of other content," added Davies. The MCP-100 Media Center is currently scheduled to be available Q4 CY2005.

[dkennedy]

CNET editors' take for Scientific-Atlanta MCP-100

January 10, 2006

By David Carnoy, CNET Magazine

The Scientific-Atlanta MCP-100 may not look all that sexy on the outside, but if you're a cable subscriber, this set-top box should give you reason to salivate. That's because the MCP-100 is an HD DVR that also has a built-in DVD burner. We heard about this one long before the show started, but Scientific-Atlanta is officially taking the wraps off of it here, saying that the MCP-100 "combines all the great features of Scientific-Atlanta's Explorer 8300 platform, multituner DVR optional high-definition DVR DOCSIS (DSG), and Multi-Room DVR capability with a new built-in DVD player and burner.

This product is initially targeted at cable operators (MSOs) and enables subscribers to archive DVR content to writeable DVDs. This progressive, set-top device combines a dual-tuner DVR [with] access to DVR programming from any room in the home (via a multi-room server), delivers HD programming, plays commercial DVDs, and enables consumers to record their own DVDs from the DVR for both standard- and high-definition content. The DVR with DVD supports Multi-Room DVR enabling viewers in three other rooms in the home to simultaneously access content stored on the DVR hard drive and even view the same program, time-shifted at different points in the show."

Of course, while the whole idea of easily making hard copies of your HD recording (down-converted to DVD resolution) certainly sounds enticing, the movie and TV studios are not so enthused about it, so the big question remains when cable operators will actually adopt this killer product--and whether they plan on charging you extra to make those hard copies. Currently, the folks at Time Warner Cable bill me $18 a month to use my Explorer 8300. For that price, I think they should throw in a little DVD burning, don't you?

[dkennedy]

Scientific Atlanta MCP-100 datasheet:

www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/Source/7007081.pdf