Littleton Firm Goes From Web To TV
Vic Odryna, ZeeVee's president and CEO.
Since its founding in 2007, Littleton-based ZeeVee Inc. has landed big clients, including Spanish language TV giant Telemundo, with its cutting-edge web-to-TV technology.
The company has developed an appliance that broadcasts Internet content from computers to high definition televisions.
ZeeVee's technology has implications for the home, but also for business. It simplifies what businesses call "digital signage" - a catchall phrase for information displayed on televisions such as those in airports with departure and arrival information.
"There's a PC box behind every TV you see," said Vic Odryna, ZeeVee's president and CEO. "They're in the ceilings, glommed onto the monitor or in the walls. It's a nightmare for businesses."
The company's commercial product, which goes for about $2,500, can cast up to 135 HD channels to various HD TVs using coaxial cables.
From Consumer To Commercial
Originally the company developed a consumer appliance, the Zv10, which cost about $500 and did essentially the same thing - casting web content from a computer to an HD television, including web browser software that let users manage that content through a remote control.
While they sold a couple thousand units, it was too complicated for the average consumer to hook up to their television and computer, Odryna said.
ZeeVee found that by going to home entertainment system resellers and installers, there was a lot more interest in the appliance. ZeeVee also added more features, such as connections to Blu-Ray players, he said.
The price was increased to $1,000, and that's when casinos and hotels began contacting ZeeVee and the company began making a heavy-duty commercial version for $2,500.
Rivers Casino, a new gaming development in downtown Pittsburgh, was one of the first companies to contact ZeeVee. It purchased a number of the commercial devices to display betting data and other information.
Telemundo, the Spanish language television network, originally used ZeeVee's equipment for its awards ceremony this spring because it allowed them to present the ceremony in HD at an affordable price, according to Mike Siegelman, Telemundo's vice president of operations and engineering. Using ZeeVee's technology, Siegelman said, Telemundo was able to create "an entire HD infrastructure."
Since the awards ceremony, Telemundo has installed ZeeVee's equipment inside its Florida headquarters, where it is used to broadcast the network's programs throughout its 200-plus offices.
While ZeeVee is thrilled to have found a commercial use for its technology, it also wants to help consumers tap into web video content for their HD TVs from the comfort of their living room couches.
It has taken the software from its consumer product, the Zv10, and now offers it as a free download called Zinc.
WBJ Web Partners
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