Developed over a period of two years, MultiChoice’s recently released next generation
HD PVR, the DStv Explora, was specially designed to provide the pay-TV operator’s
subscribers with additional recording space and much more video on demand (VOD)
content.
Says MultiChoice chief technology officer Gerdus van Eeden: “In developing the Explora
we took into account customer feedback through user experience focus groups. With
Explora, which has a 2TB hard drive, customers can now have up to 220 hours of
personally recorded content on the decoder and three times more content from DStv’s
VOD services, Catch-Up and BoxOffice. Our previous decoder only catered for 130
hours in total.
“It is also our intention with the Explora to give customers an internet-like experience, in
terms of the breadth of content selection, without the internet.’
Van Eeden notes that the software for the Explora has two main elements: the
operating system (Linux) and the decoder application based on Java (the part the user
interacts with). The latter was developed locally by MultiChoice.
He continues: “The new decoder has more open source (Linux) and more standard
development environment (Java). This also allows for better connectivity, for example to
the internet.
“The Explora eliminates the problem of buffering by downloading content onto the hard
drive via satellite, using a dedicated high-speed data stream directly to Catch Up and
BoxOffice.’
According to Van Eeden, the Explora went through an array of development validation
testing, consumer focused testing, TV compatibility testing, as well as extensive field
trials.
Vektronix was contracted by Pace, MultiChoice’s hardware provider, to assemble the
Explora locally.
Lots of thought went into the new remote control device for the Explora.
Says Van Eeden: “Our previous remote requires customers to use the shift button to
navigate to audio channels or to change settings – such as aspect ratios, etc. The new
Explora remote provides customers with direct access to the functions required; the
shift button has been removed and more direct buttons have been inserted. These
buttons make it easier for the customer to navigate his way through the DStv line-up
and service offerings.’
“The new platform has also been designed to connect to the internet in the future.
Although we did not expose any internet dependent apps at launch, these functions will
be available in the future,’ concludes Van Eeden.
