MultiChoice`s new Dual View decoder could go a long way to resolving armchair squabbles over programme choices. The new decoder, planned for release early next year, allows subscribers to split the output of the decoder and view different programmes on two different televisions simultaneously.
While subscribers will have to buy a new decoder to be able to take advantage of the new multichannel facility, they will still be able to use their existing satellite receiver.
Phil Nicholson, MultiChoice`s technology, strategy and risk manager, says subscribers will have the option to either continue with a single feed which is then split along its route to the decoder box, or upgrade their existing satellite dish with a new dual-LNB, or low-noise block, which allows the dish to receive two independent satellite feeds.
The advantage of the twin-feed LNB system is that the Dual View decoder is able to simultaneously tune into horizontal and vertical polarities. Without the dual-feed LNB setup, the decoder is only able to pick up on one or other of the polarities at any one time with the effect that different channels on different polarities cannot be viewed simultaneously. The Dual View decoder has two independent tuners built into the box.
"The launch of this new decoder takes place in the context of a constantly evolving decoder and broadcasting technology environment," says Gerdus van Eerden, CTO for MultiChoice Africa.
He says the new Dual View decoder was developed in response to customers` requests "for a decoder that allows parents to watch one channel while children watch another channel on a different television". It will also allow subscribers to videotape one channel while watching another.
The Dual View decoder is in testing and is expected to be released early next year. MultiChoice has not finalised pricing for the new decoder, but says that while it will be more expensive than existing decoders, it will "not be significantly more".
There will also be additional costs associated with the dual broadcasts to twin-feed dishes, but no decision has yet been made on whether this will affect subscription prices.
Nicholson says that with the Dual View decoder, only one of the televisions, known as the master, will be able to access MultiChoice`s new interactive services.
Further into the future, MultiChoice is planning the release of personal video recorder (PVR) decoders which will include hard drives, time shifted viewing and the ability to view two channels and record a third. PVR units are expected on the market only after 2003.
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