In the past, the computer industry has offered solutions to bring together various kinds of content on one device (Think of Apple TV and Media Center PCs). It would definitely be handy to have a central way to access content, whether streaming video, stored video, photos, audio, or whatever.

Earlier this week, Cablevision announced the PC to TV Media Relay service. This LightReading.com article spells out the details.

Cablevision Systems Corp. said it will begin testing a new service in June that delivers all sorts of media sourced from a customer’s PC — including iTunes content, digital photos, and even over-the-top video shipped in from the Web — to digital set-top boxes.

Cablevision’s “PC to TV Media Relay” service will enable cable TV customers to replicate the information and images appearing on their PC screens onto their TV screens without any extra special home networking equipment, other than the cable modems and the non-IP digital cable set-tops they’re already using.

After downloading a special PC software client, you stream content from your computer up to the cable headend, and then that content is fed to a dedicated digital channel you tune to on your set-top box. You could connect your laptop to your TV now, but this service would eliminate the need for a VGA cable.

This VideoNuze post suggests this could have implications for other video services, but Netflix seems quite pleased at the announcement. I wanted to focus on two other elements.

This article on Entertainment Weekly’s site offers some criticism:

…Cablevision’s plan has the disadvantage of, well, requiring that you have cable — it only works if you have both Cablevision cable and Cablevision Internet. Quite simply, Cablevision is in the business of making sure you don’t drop your cable TV subscription when you discover you can watch just about anything online, while other HTPC outfits are in the business of just getting content on your TV.

…does Cablevision’s plan seem like best of both worlds (cable and Web content on your big TV screen), or does it just sound like having to pay one bill too many? Who’s already unplugged the cable from their TV and taking an Internet-only approach?

Yes, I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but every time I read someone claim that you can replace cable programming through the Internet, I have to point out that you can’t. I most recently addressed this issue in a post, but the simple fact is that most full-length cable programming is not available online for free. There is a lot to watch, but not cable programming (for the most part).

My second point is that this new service is another example of cable shifting its resources to manage bandwidth. I have written in the past that cable is having its own “digital transition,” which is separate from over-the-air broadcast television’s DTV transition of last year. One important step is moving from analog to digital, which takes up less space. Another way is through sending content on-demand, such as with VOD or this new PC to TV Media Relay service. Yet another example is Cablevision’s announcement this week of an April deployment for remote storage-DVRs, a service in which content is stored on servers at the headend and then streamed to the home as requested.

This trend will continue, with cable’s infrastructure being used in new ways that will allow even more stuff to be sent over the pipes. Kyle McSlarrow made this point just last week:

Today, a typical cable system has a total capacity of 5 Gbps, meaning our typical customer already has well over 1 Gbps of data available to his or her household. Today, we use that capacity to deliver hundreds of channels of analog and digital video (including high-definition television) and phone service as well, of course, as Internet access. As new applications and services emerge and consumer demand changes, the cable industry is well placed to redeploy bandwidth to meet those changing needs.

Expect more developments along these lines.

One of the big trends in technology is mobility. It’s not enough to have a gadget or a service, you have to be able to take it with you and use it on-the-go.

This has not been the traditional province of cable operators, who have typically provided services to homes and businesses. But that’s been changing recently as operators look to provide community Wi-Fi.

Last September, Cablevision began deploying thousands of Wi-Fi access points in its Long Island, Connecticut, Westchester/Dutchess and New Jersey service areas. Subscribers to Cablevision’s Optimum Online high-speed Internet service can then connect to at no additional cost. “Optimum WiFi” is located in “high-traffic and commercial locations like downtown areas, parks and other outdoor locations,” as well as “hundreds of commuter rail platforms and station parking lots.”

(I’m constantly whipping out my iPod Touch to check for Wi-Fi and I’ve found Optimum hotspots in strip malls in Long Island.)

Yesterday, Cablevision announced “its Optimum Online customers have accessed the Internet more than two million times for free over Optimum WiFi, and are averaging more than one million minutes online per day.”  Plans call for the Optimum WiFi network to be completely deployed throughout its New York-Connecticut-New Jersey footprint by early next year.

Earlier this week, a similar service was announced out west in Oregon. BendBroadband announced plans to provide wi-fi access to their high-speed Internet customers at major public parks, the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, the Les Schwab Amphitheater and other popular locations in Bend, Redmond and Sisters.

Detailed information on Optimum WiFi and interactive network coverage maps are available online at www.optimumwifi.com. Residents of Central Oregon can cast their vote for additional Wi-Fi locations at www.bendbroadband.com.

Earlier this week, Cablevision announced Optimum Online Ultra, a new high-speed Internet product that uses the DOCSIS 3.0 standard to deliver speeds up to 101 Mbps. This is very exciting news, especially when you connect this announcement to the cable operators who have deployed wideband service over the past year – Comcast, Charter and Cox – and those that are planning to deploy in 2009.

And that might be all there is to say about it, but there was a little twist. Our friends over at Verizon seemed really unhappy about the launch. Was it the 101 Mbps that bothered them or the $99 monthly price? At any rate, take a look at this odd post on the Verizon Policy blog.

Besides arguing against the business model for their own FiOS deployment, you’ll note that one of their key complaints is that Cablevision’s 101 Mbps is a “parlor trick” because “there is little evidence of market demand for the speed.” This echoes a PCMag.com argument (referenced in this blog post) that higher speeds are unnecessary: “…no average consumer is going to pony up almost $100 for home broadband service—regardless of speed.”

Now, I’m a little confused here. I seem to remember all these arguments over the past couple years (sarcasm alert) about how horrible it was that consumers in Europe and Asia had so much more bandwidth, while we Americans had to struggle along with our anemic speeds. And now we’re told, “Bah, who really needs that much bandwidth?”

Secondly, Verizon pulls out the long-disproven accusation that cable broadband service is shared bandwidth and so it’s not real. Well, I hate to break it to the fine folks at Verizon, but all bandwidth is shared at some point, even at FiOS. Yes, cable broadband is engineered differently than FiOS is. Cable started deploying modem service about 15 years ago and the intention was always that customers would share bandwidth off a node, but that nodes could be split as needs increased.

Verizon issues a clarion call against “parlor tricks.” Here’s a neat trick for you: If you’re a FiOS customer, with its “all-fiber” service, take a look at the back of your TV or at your modem. You’ll find a piece of coaxial cable, making it a hybrid fiber-coax system. So, wasn’t “fiber optics right to the door, true QAM” a bit of marketing? Especially in light of the fact that cable has generally built its broadband customer base and high penetrations while offering its best services and fastest speeds to the homes passed by its network, while Verizon focuses attention on FiOS’ fast speeds but still offers copper-based DSL service across most of its footprint.

Add the fact that Verizon says that Cablevision “claims” they deployed the service across their footprint (when a Cablevision spokesman confirmed that the service will be available across their service area on May 11) and you get the idea.

But this is competition in action. When Verizon thought they had the edge, they bragged pretty loudly. Some blogs, such as GigaOM and CrunchGear, noted that Verizon seems to be protesting a little too much this time.