Portfolios :: Scientific Atlanta

Personal Video Recorder Digital Set Top

Overview

Scientific Atlanta identified a potential, high revenue market composed of existing digital service customers desiring in unit digital recording (PVR) capability. This market has been proven by the introduction and demand for the TiVO personal video recorder unit and others like it. The problem with the TiVO unit and other external digital recording devices is that they do not have access to all of the program data (interactive program guide – IPG data) known to the set top box, due primarily to their not being an integrated unit. Scientific Atlanta, realizing the market value of such an integrated product, embarked upon the development of the Explorer 8000 digital set top unit.

Project Involvement

As part of the software architecture team designing the user interface and application development environment for channel application developers, TSI remodeled the existing Scientific Atlanta Resident Application (SARA) from a functionality decomposed limited platform, to a component based distributed framework enabling the demanding software feature functionality required to support internal hard drives, video capture for picture in picture, digital recording, and dual tuner requirements.

TSI authored a new development heuristic for the application development of software onboard all new Scientific Atlanta digital set top platforms. TSI then conducted a series of training programs and produced documents to instruct internal Scientific Atlanta, and external SARA/ PowerTV application developers on the use of the new SARA framework.

Summary

TSI has worked with Scientific Atlanta to enable future pioneering functionality in the form of process and engineering methodology improvements. The Explorer 8000 is only one of the highly successful products of Scientific Atlanta that has benefited from the consultation of TSI.