Live TV pause functionality is the ability of the TV set to store locally a determined amount of live audio/video stream to be re-deployed to the display at the user discretion. Q enhances this functionality by generating lower-bitrates same-quality streams for storage on solid state memories and for sideloading to other devices.

TV sets enabled to pause Live TV incorporate a set of PVR functionalities. They include a digital tuner and a (generally small) hard disk that allows the user to pause, rewind and record live television.

Q adds to this functionality the ability of being able to transcode (if employed with a customer-supplied decoder) the content in order to enable a higher quantity of audio/video play time to be saved on the same disk space. This in turns, opens the opportunity to using flash or flash solid state disks (SSDs) as the storage medium in what would be a tinner, quiter and more durable TV Set. It also allows TVs to store live or prerecorded content onto media cards or USB keys, on-the-fly, through their respective ports.

Key facts:

• Much more than TV pausing
• Store video from Broadcast, HDMI or analogue sources
• Encode and/or transcode and/or downscale and/or preprocess video before storing it
• Allow for different modes for internal and external storage
• 8GB internal flash = ~4 hrs (HD) or ~20 hrs (SD)
• Placeshifting and Sideloading to portable devices
• Protect content with added Digital Rights Management

The diagram below shows a simplified view of a "pause-button" implementation using Q.

In this particular implementation the Q-based customer chip is coupled with a TV decoder which takes the demodulated signal from the TV tuner and generates the uncompressed signal for the TV display. The uncompressed signal is supplied to the TV as HDMI and/or analogue (with HDCP protection where applicable).
The storage for this solution is supplied by NAND Flash memory (or SSD). Memory card and USB flash drives could also be used as removable alternatives.

High-quality transcoding to increase storage

In the scenario depicted above, Aspex Q transcodes the video to best suit the chosen storage device. In most current TV sets, pause functionality is provided by storing the MPEG transport stream to disc and decoding it again on the way out. Q support for MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoding means that the same stream can be stored at a much lower bitrate, while preserving the full quality of the input signal. For example, 8GB of internal flash storage would give the TV set the ability to store ~4 hrs of HD material or ~20 hrs of SD material.

Sideloading to portable devices

Moreover, the customer can integrate support external SD/MMC or USB keys for placeshifting and sideloading. This means that independently of the program you are watching Q can transcode the input stream of any other channel from MPEG-2 to H.264 and save it on-the-fly to the portable medium for loading on portable media players (PMPs) such as iPod, Zune, PSP, Mobile phones, etc.