Altech MediaVerge announces the deployment of the Showtime Arabia Show On Demand service

With the launch of the SHOW ON DEMAND service on August 1st, SHOWTIME customers will be among the first in the world to access a video on demand service via satellite, with the SHOWBOX (DSR3000 digital video recorder) developed and manufactured by Altech UEC. The complete SHOW ON DEMAND application, head-end utility and network integration services were provided by Altech UEC’s software development division, Altech MediaVerge and were designed to compliment SHOWGUIDE, the integrated Arabic and English Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) also developed by Altech MediaVerge.

Altech UEC Selects Hitachi CinemaStar HDDs for PVR Products

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) today announced that Altech UEC – South Africa’s largest set-top box manufacturer – has selected Hitachi’s CinemaStar™ hard drives for its line of personal video recorders (PVR). With capabilities like Smooth Stream™ technology and “bedroom quiet” acoustics, the CinemaStar hard drive is optimized for PVR applications and allows Altech UEC customers to record and store up to 80 hours of their favourite shows.

Altech UEC Selects Hitachi CinemaStar HDDs for PVR Products

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) today announced that Altech UEC – South Africa’s largest set-top box manufacturer – has selected Hitachi’s CinemaStar™ hard drives for its line of personal video recorders (PVR). With capabilities like Smooth Stream™ technology and “bedroom quiet” acoustics, the CinemaStar hard drive is optimized for PVR applications and allows Altech UEC customers to record and store up to 80 hours of their favourite shows.

Altech UEC a finalist in the Technology Top100 Awards

Altech UEC has been nominated as a finalist in the annual TT100 Awards in the category of Leaders in Innovation. This category recognises new products introduced to the market and is based on the results of new technological developments. Altech UEC’s nomination recognises the high degree of technical innovation and the remarkable market success of the DSR3000. The DSR3000 is highly versatile and easy to use digital satellite decoder with integrated hard disk drive offering full Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality at two independent television destinations within the home. Simply put, it is two PVRs in one, providing over 80 hours of recording capacity and managed by a single subscription. The DSR3000 is the world’s first multiple input, dual output PVR.

SATCOM - Race to Find Killer Application

“The satellite industry should progress in two parallel directions. First, to penetrate aggressively to those developing areas that suffers today from a lack of telecommunications connectivity. Second, to develop innovative new services and to find a killer application that will allow the satellite industry to do business in conjunction with terrestrial and submersible infrastructure”
Amol Lasker, CEO, Gilat Satcom – Communications Africa, Aug/Sept 2006

SATCOM - Bringing together the satellite community

The emerging market that the African continent falls in creates exciting new business opportunities for satellite telecommunications and internet based services. The need for information in this area is growing due to more and more African businesses turning to satellite communications in an attempt to cut costs and increase the quality of their services.