Microsoft updated and renamed its IPTV software, now called Mediaroom.
The updated software, formerly called Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, adds functions including picture-in-picture capability, along with music and photo sharing within a home, and digital video recording. IPTV delivers television programming to users via the Internet, allowing for more interactive services such as video on demand .
The update is aimed at expanding Microsoft’s reach into the so-called digital home, allowing a user’s various devices to interact, and to connect hardware, such as the XBox 360, with such online services as Windows Live. Bill Gates outlined the company’s digital-home strategy at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
Microsoft announced in May that it had formed a joint venture with Taiwan’s Chungwa Telecom to bring VoIP to small- and medium-sized businesses and IPTV to customers in Taiwan and China.
