CableLabs® Approves VCPS
Recording Technology for Use
in Digital Cable-Ready Products

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CableLabs® announced recently that it has approved a recording technology jointly developed by Philips and Hewlett-Packard that enables consumers to enjoy home recordings of certain high-value cable programming. Under the FCC Plug & Play Rules, CableLabs may approve new digital outputs and recording technologies for use in unidirectional Digital Cable Ready (DCR) devices.

The Video Content Protection System (VCPS) allows cable content marked as “copy once” to be burned onto VCPS-enabled DVD+R and DVD+RW optical digital media. The CableLabs approval extends to all DCR products built in compliance with standards and regulations applicable to unidirectional digital cable products, as well as to both unidirectional and bi-directional products built to the OpenCable™ specifications.

“We’re very pleased to add VCPS as an approved recording technology for digital cable-ready retail products,” said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green. “Secure recording technologies like VCPS are essential for home copying, while maintaining the integrity of cable networks to provide high-value programming to customers who purchase retail products for use with cable,” Green added.

Under license agreements with CableLabs, DCR manufacturers may obtain the confidential information necessary to build products compatible with the cable industry’s CableCARD™ removable security modules, and may include secure outputs and recording technologies as approved by CableLabs and added to the CableLabs agreement. A separate license from Philips is required for VCPS adopters to obtain the information and licensing rights needed to implement the recording technology.

Information about VCPS is available from Philips at www.licensing.philips.com/vcps/.

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