REPORT ON PERSONAL DIGITAL RECORDERS

TV-ANYTIME Forum's first draft specification on Content Referencing has brought Personal Digital Recorders (PDRs) and the industry that will serve them a step closer to reality.
Concurrently, the Forum have published an updated review of usage and business models in the PDR environment.
Simon Parnall, Chairman of the TV-Anytime Forum, says: "More than 100 organisations from around the world have joined the TV-Anytime Forum during the last 10 months. Together, we have been building a vision
of the future. That vision moves nearer to realisation today as the Forum achieves a major milestone with publication of its first draft specification on Content Referencing."
The draft defines the process whereby PDRs will be able to identify, locate and acquire programmes automatically from a wide range of sources. The specification defines the Content Reference Identifier (CRID) that is used to identify a specific content item which is then recorded by the PDR.
PDRs are set to revolutionise the way media content is distributed and used. The TV-Anytime Forum is developing open specifications for interoperable and integrated systems to allow broadcasters and other service providers to maximise effective use of high-capacity digital storage in consumer devices.
Beyond the current specification on Content Referencing, future publications will address Metadata and Content Rights Management & Protection.
The draft specification and related requirements documents published by the TV-Anytime Forum, together with the updated description of the TV-Anytime Environment, are available from the Forum's website at www.tv-anytime.org.