Electronic House

Everyone is cutting back these days. According to a recent survey by Parks Associates, about 66 percent of American consumers have tweaked spending habits to adjust to the current economic climate.

“For household services such as Internet and pay TV, recessionary concerns have less impact,” said Kurt Scherf, VP and principal analyst for Parks Associates. “Consumers are more likely to cut back on outside entertainment expenses before trimming household services such as home t ...read more

Move over TiVo and Apple TV; there’s another box in town. Western Digital—you know them for portable hard drives and DVR expanders—today is launching WDTV, a recession-friendly $129 adapter box that takes media stored on a computer or portable USB drive and displays it on TV.

Quoting research from Parks Associates, Rader [Scott Rader, senior product manager of branded products at Western Digital] says less than 3-percent of broadband households currently connect a PC to a TV ...read more

A surprise to me: One-third of consumers still aren’t backing up their digital media, according to a recent study by market research firm Parks Associates ("Managing the Digital Home: Installation and Support Services.") In his May 7 blog, Parks analyst Kurt Scherf says most people are burning backups to CDs and DVDs—which by the way, aren’t safe from theft or fire. Maybe it’s overkill, but I back up to an online service, a thumb drive, and to my free Gmail backup service (e-mai ...read more

Male heads-of-household are more likely than their female counterparts to buy a personal video recorder (PVR) over the next year, according to the upcoming report Video-on-Demand and PVR: Analysis and Forecast from Parks Associates. In a recent survey, 21 percent of male heads-of-household said they are likely to purchase a PVR in the next 12 months, compared with just 16 percent of female heads-of-household.

"Men are more inclined to buy new entertainment products and servi ...read more

The standalone digital video recorder (DVR) will be supplanted by set-top recorders provided by television service providers, according to a report from Parks Associates.

The report, titled "Multimedia Networks in the Home: Analysis and Forecasts," says as cable and satellite operators enter a new phase of heightened competition to attract and retain customers, DVR set-tops will be a key differentiator.

DVRs will also be the platform from which service providers offer a ...read more

Driven by the demand for broadband Internet and high-definition entertainment services, the market for residential gateways is expected to triple in the next five years, growing from 8.6 million units in 2001 to over 33 million units in 2005. The overall value of the market is expected to approach $3 billion. Source: Parks Associates.

From "EH Fact."