5:00 PM -- Comcast Corp. has unleashed A28, the latest interactive program guide (IPG) for the MSO's Motorola Inc.-based digital markets, but not all of them have it yet.
And some folks out in the Philly area are reporting that they also have access to the MSO's Web-based MyDVR app, which allows customers to manage and set DVR recordings remotely.
Comcast spells out the new features gracing the new IPG version here, but some include the ability to skip back five minutes forward or back on a video-on-demand (VoD) title with one button press; some advanced search functions; the ability to group DVR show recordings into folder settings; and a bulk delete option.
Comcast senior director of video product development Ted Hodgins walks through some of more significant adds that come with A28 (developed by the Comcast-Rovi Corp. GuideWorks LLC venture) on the MSO's blog. It's not in all the Comcast Moto markets yet, but according to Hodgins, it's up in Chattanooga, Tenn.; State College, Pa.; and parts of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
And if those adds and changes don't seem revolutionary, don't be surprised. Part of that's due to the techno-limitations of the box, but it's also because the company doesn't believe in making wholesale changes to the IPG that require customers to then relearn how to use the darn thing from scratch and irritate them even more in the process. (See K.I.S.S. My App! .)
As for the remote DVR feature, Mari Silbey reports on the Moto blog that she's got access to it already. Here in Denver? No such luck:
We're awaiting word on the future rollout plan for A28 and the MyDVR Manager.
UPDATE: As far as the A28 guide goes, Comcast notes that it's deployed to about half of the systems in the East, with its Washington, D.C., property on that list. The company expects to finish its rollout of A28 in Moto-based systems by the first half of 2010.
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News
