TiVo will continue to support ATSC in future products, in some way, shape or form. I asked about this because the TiVo Premiere XL4 is a QAM only product, and knowing how hardware development and refresh cycles work I fully expect the Premiere and Premiere XL to be refreshed at some point and migrate to a shared design with the XL4. It is much more cost effective to produce one board and simply populate it differently for different products. The Premiere and Premiere XL will clearly be updated to add MoCA at some point, and it makes sense to go to a shared design. But that had implications for ATSC, hence my query.

TiVo can’t say, probably because at this point they honestly don’t know, what form an ATSC-supporting product might take, but they know there is a solid niche of ATSC users. Clearly the majority of their business comes from cable subscribers, but they do not plan to abandon ATSC users. There are issues with supporting ATSC however. ATSC tuners are more expensive than QAM tuners, and aren’t available in the same densities. We’re seeing single QAM tuner chips with six QAM tuners, even fully integrated SoCs with six, or more, integrated QAM tuners – but not ATSC.

This makes it harder, and more costly, to design and build a product with ATSC support. And the more ATSC tuners you include the higher the cost and complexity. And there are often knock-on costs – additional RAM, ancillary chips, etc. Add to that the effects of economies of scale. There are more QAM-enabled products than ATSC, that means there is more demand for QAM chips. The greater demand drives higher production levels of QAM chips, and the per-unit costs keeps coming down. ATSC components aren’t following the same decline, but remaining at higher price points.

And that’s why we don’t have an ATSC XL4, and probably won’t see one. And also why the bulk of products going forward are likely to be QAM-only, with specific SKUs to address the ATSC market niche.

On a different note, the new TiVo SDK will be released ‘this fall’. TiVo has hired someone who is working full time on running the SDK program and driving it to release. They’re serious about getting it out there and attracting more developers to create apps for TiVo.

TiVo would like to support Amazon Prime Streaming as much as users would like them to, but at this time they have nothing additional to announce.

My own take is that it is in the road map but they need developer support from Amazon to get it done. Remember the situation with Hulu Plus? Same deal. It will almost certainly happen, the question is when, but TiVo isn’t going to announce anything until there is something firmer to stand on. Like I said, that’s my read on the situation.

As for HBO Go – they know there is demand but they have nothing public to announce right now. My take is they will probably do it but won’t be saying anything until there is ink on paper to authorize it.

While I’m on the subject, TiVo says to expect a lot of additions to OTT content and, further out, extensive changes to the UI for selecting OTT content. I’m heartened by this, as the weak support for OTT content has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. For myself, I’d love to see content like NASA TV and Crunchyroll supported. I know others would love sports channels, such as MLB.TV. And the UI for Web Video is very creaky now. Next to something like Roku it is kind of sad.

I think the ’tile’ HD UI for ‘browse’ that TiVo has now could make for a decent web video UI. You could have a tile for a provider, and then tiles for each ‘show’ from the provider within that screen, etc. I think that if TiVo can really enhance the UI and expand the content list, the IP STB could have a secondary life as a general purpose streaming STB even for non-TiVo households.

As I reported back in February, TiVo continues to consider adding support for DLNA/DTCP-IP but doesn’t have anything more to say at this time. However, I have to say that, after talking to many vendors at the show, TiVo will add support for DLNA/DTCP-IP. It is a question of when now, not if.

Why do I say that? Because everyone else is doing it. It is really taking off, it seems like every vendor I talked to had something to say about DLNA/DTCP-IP. Just one example, the Pace XG1 box that runs the TiVo software can also run several other software stacks. On every other stack it uses DLNA/DTCP-IP for whole home streaming – but when running the TiVo software it uses TiVo’s proprietary system. ARRIS’s Moxi DVRs use DLNA/DTCP-IP – and therefore you can use a PS3, DLNA/DTCP-IP-enabled Smart TV, etc., as a client.

The stack is rapidly becoming MoCA+DLNA+DTCP-IP – and with RUI coming on strong as the next likely standard component. Since TiVo is serious about playing in the MSO market, and MSOs all seem to be extremely interested in standardizing on these components, I believe TiVo will simply have to adopt them to remain a player. It is almost painful to say, but the big, legacy players seem to be adopting standards faster than TiVo. You’re going to see DLNA everywhere before long, and TiVo needs to invite themselves to that party or risk being on the outside looking in.

Oh, a little side note. I was in Pace’s booth today, looking at the XG1 (there will be a post eventually), and I got crowded up for a bit by a gaggle of suits who came in for a demo. I noticed they were with Suddenlink, and they were quite interested in the XG1 running the TiVo software. I overheard some generally favorable comments about TiVo as a solution, but they seemed to like the idea of more ‘MSO-friendly’ hardware like the Pace unit. Which is kind of the whole point of TiVo’s partnership with Pace, so that’s a good thing.

Another good thing is that the Pace reps I observed doing the demo for various groups were all pretty gung ho about the TiVo solution. While they had an number of units setup, running different UI stacks (Comcast X1, a few Rovi solutions, etc.), they really stressed the TiVo solution. I head things like “TiVo is the one we’re really excited about” from the reps talking to MSO people dropping by for a demo. So that’s good to see & hear; it is good to see TiVo with an enthusiastic partner.

On a different note, unsurprisingly TiVo wouldn’t comment about future DVR products, aside from indicating it was likely transcoding will be ‘baked in’ to some future box, as I previously reported. But reading between the lines I think we can expect to see more tuners in a future box as well – an XL6 if you will. There are chips available now with six, or more, integrated QAM tuners. And an M-Card supports a maximum of six streams.

In addition there are a growing number of units from other vendors appearing with six tuners, which means competitive pressure on TiVo. Their MSO partners are going to want to “keep up with the Joneses”. While they could do that by using a box like the Pace XG1, those that have based their solutions on TiVo hardware are likely to want commonality.

My speculation is that sometime in 2013 we’ll see an ‘XL6′ using one of the newer chips, such as the BCM7435, with six QAM tuners, MoCA 2.0, and on-board transcoding. It probably will not have built-in WiFi as TiVo is trying to steer users away from WiFi and toward Ethernet or MoCA, to avoid customer experience issues and support headaches with streaming and flaky WiFi networks.

The tablet version of the Android app is actively being worked on. I reported in March that TiVo was saying ‘spring’ for Android tablets, but that’s clearly slipped a little. They recently made changes to the way they handle app development and they’re committed to iOS and Android. When the TiVo Stream is released this fall there will be clients for both, on phones and tablets. The streaming functionality will be incorporated into the existing TiVo apps.

TiVo is aware that the new YouTube and Netflix apps have long start-up times, and they’re working on ways to speed that up. The apps themselves are out of their control, that’s Google & Netflix, but they are working to improve performance, especially the start-up.

TiVo is updating their software more frequently, and we can expect more and more of the UI to migrate to HD with the coming releases. Screens such as the Season Pass Manager, To Do List, and screens from a remote unit (such as when using MRS), will be made HD this year. I think TiVo has made some real progress with the migration over the past couple of releases and I look forward to seeing it continue to progress.

OK, I think that’s it for now – and I really need to get a few hours of sleep before I return for the last day of the show. I have plenty more to write up as posts – such as my visits with Humax, Pace and Arris – but that’ll have to wait.

Keeping terrestrial TV broadcasting relevant will require “making it more mobile, making it more on demand, personalizing it more and making it more interactive,” said Kutzner, who has chaired several ATSC 3.0 working groups.  “We do need to deliver higher quality, and we certainly need to make it more efficient.” ATSC 3.0 will be targeted at both fixed and mobile receivers, and will need to encompass “state-of-the-art compression,” Kutzner said. It also will need to be “fully converged with broadband” and it will need to be upgradable to keep pace with fast technological developments, Kutzner said. “Looking ahead,” ATSC 3.0 is “likely to be a complete replacement” for ATSC and ATSC 2.0, “and so it does need to be worth the effort in terms of time and expended resources,” he said.

To accomplish these goals ATSC 3.0 is looking forward to the new High-Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) being developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group, with the first version expected to be published in January. HEVC is expected to be twice as efficient as today’s MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec. That is vital if 4K & 8K video is expected to work over terrestrial broadcast, but it would also be a major advance for ‘standard’ 1080p HD video. Of course, HEVC content will require new hardware to support it.

The article also covers UHDTV delivery over IP, the possibility of using Blu-ray as physical media for UHDTV, and James Cameron talking about the adoption of 3D. Check it out.

14.) How can a DVR be free? Most DVR’s on the market today require a subscription fee in order for it to be functional.
Last Updated: 09/13/2011

DVR manufacturers and service providers are required to pay fees for the television guide data that is delivered to the box via the internet or a service provider network. This expense is passed on to the consumer as a monthly DVR fee. With Channel Master TV, basic television guide data is transmitted free-of-charge by the broadcaster and our device receives this info and appropriately inserts it into the on-screen guide. While this info is basic and all depends on what the broadcaster decides to send, it is free. This being said, there may be times that some channels will not broadcast program information or it may be limited, but again, there are no fees for this. If you desire additional program information, Channel Master TV will have a Premium Guide upgrade for a fee of $99.99 annually. The Premium Guide offers additional program information including a 7-day viewing and recording window.

So you have a choice – you can take your chances with the free guide data, which in many areas only goes out for maybe 12 hours and is often incomplete and unreliable – or you can pay $99.99 a year for a Premium Guide with richer data that goes out for 7 days. That’s on top of the $399.99 purchase price of the box.

Alternatively you could buy a $99.99 TiVo Premiere, which as I covered in my previous post has more features and functionality, and then take advantage of the $9.99/month antenna-only rate from TiVo. You can use the TiVo for *15* years before you’d pay as much as the CM-7400 over the same period. (400+(100*x) = 100 + (120*x)) Even better, buy the TiVo with lifetime for $600 and after two years you’re saving money over the CM-7400 and getting more for what you spent. And the TiVo’s guide goes out up to 14 days, in my experience 10-14 is normal.

I thought the TiVo was a better deal compared to the CM-7400 with the free data, just on features and usability, but if you’re going to pay for the Premium Guide I think you’d have to be crazy to pick the CM-7400 over the TiVo.

EDIT: Even Channel Master must’ve realized how much their pricing sucked. They’re dropped the data pricing from $99.99/year to $49.99/year. Not that it really changes my opinion. It may stretch out the break even point with TiVo a little, but I’d still recommend TiVo over the CM-7400, hands down.

So Channel Master is launching a new box, the Channel Master TV, aka CM-7400. This new model moves Channel Master a bit further up market. The biggest change is the addition of networking support, with Ethernet as well as built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Note the three antennas you can see in the image gallery are for the WiFi, not ATSC, you need an external ATSC antenna. WiFi support something they can claim over TiVo. While the CM-7000PAL is a dual-tuner ATSC-only DVR, the CM-7400 is a dual-tuner ATSC & clear QAM DVR. No CableCARD, so you won’t be recording any encrypted digital channels, but you’ll be able to record any digital channels your cable provider sends in the clear. Note that it is digital only, so no analog cable support. It has a 320GB hard drive, which they claim provides up to 35 hours of HD recording, or 150 hours of SD.

Taking advantage of the networking support the CM-7400 includes Vudu support. No Netflix, no Hulu Plus, YouTube, etc. So none of the more popular services you might expect, but Vudu. That includes Vudu’s movies as well as Vudu Apps. Vudu Apps gives the CM-7400 access to a number of services, such as Pandora, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Daily Motion, etc.

It still relies on the free guide data included with broadcasts to populate its guide. The new box claims“Advanced search features, schedule recordings, and parental control settings”, but it isn’t very specific so it isn’t clear how much of an improvement it is over the old box. However, as you can see from the image gallery, the UI is new and much improved.

The unit has two USB ports, which the documentation indicates can be used to attach a USB mass storage device, but there is no indication of what it would be used for. I’m presuming accessing media files, such as photos, for display. The unit does have an eSATA port, but the docs indicate it is for possible future expansion and not usable today.

The Channel Master TV CM-7400 is available for pre-order direct for $399.99, shipping in November. The dedicated ChannelMasterTV.com site has not yet gone live. If you’re curious you can check out PDFs of the Product Sheet, Brochure, or Quick Start Guide.

So, a worthy upgrade from the CM-7000PAL, but would I recommend this instead of a TiVo Premiere? No, I would not. The Channel Master TV is $399.99, while the TiVo Premiere is $99.99. Channel Master makes the argument that the TiVo requires monthly service, while the Channel Master TV does not, but that’s only half-true. First of all, you can currently get monthly service for just $9.99, instead of $19.99, if you use antenna only. So that would give you 30 months of service on the TiVo until you’ll have paid the same as the Channel Master TV. But that’s still not what I’d do.

No, I’d spend $99.99 on the TiVo Premiere (really less on Amazon and other sites) and buy product lifetime service, which is $499.99 for new subscribers, so $599.98 all paid for. Yes, that’s $200 more than the Channel Master TV. But for that $200 you get support for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant View, Blockbuster On Demand, YouTube, Music Choice, and web videos. TiVo lacks Vudu, but for cord cutters these other services, missing from the CM-7400, offer a lot more choices, especially in TV content. TiVo also offers Pandora, Rhapsody, and Live365 music streaming, and photos from Photobucket and Picasa, as well as other services. And TiVo will stream video, music, and photos from devices on your LAN. Offers an official app for iOS (iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch), with one coming for Android, as well as third party apps for iOS and Android. Online scheduling support, season pass management, etc.

Speaking of Season Passes, that’s a basic feature of TiVo that is a huge advantage. TiVo has Season Passes, Wish Lists, Suggestions, etc. And TiVo has a detailed 14-day guide, with much more information and a longer span than the free guide data. These are all features you won’t find on the Channel Master TV, and I think they’re easily worth $200. Though you can cut $100 off the difference if you get a unit with MSD pricing, where lifetime is $399.99. You don’t have an active TiVo on an account to qualify? Do you know anyone with an active TiVo account? They can get MSD, and lifetime is tied to the unit, if they were to happen to pass it on to someone else. I’m just saying.

So for $100-$200 more than the Channel Master TV you can have a TiVo Premiere DVR with nothing more to pay – just like the Channel Master unit. Only you’ll have all of the advanced features of the TiVo software, and access to much, much more OTT content, which is key to cord cutting. And if you ever decide to go back to cable the TiVo is ready, just add CableCARD – the Channel Master TV can’t do that.

If cost is the overriding factor you can’t argue with the fact that the CM-7400 is the lower cost option. But, in may ways, you get what you pay for. You’ll pay less, but you’ll get less in the way of features and functionality. Channel Master’s one big edge over the TiVo Premiere is the built-in WiFi, but it is easy enough to add WiFi to a TiVo with an adapter or external bridge. They also have a few apps, through Vudu Apps, that TiVo currently lacks, but TiVo has a number of web video channels not included in Vudu Apps. So I’d call that a draw. The TiVo does require a broadband or phone connection for guide data, and you really want to use broadband as it is required for all the OTT features. But if you don’t have broadband why would you use the CM-7400 anyway? You may as well go with the cheaper CM-7000PAL if you just need an OTA-only DVR with no additional bells and whistles. And without broadband that’s all the CM-7400 is too.

The CM-7400 looks like a solid product, but I’d still have to recommend paying a bit more for TiVo.

Via CNET Crave.

The Channel Master press release announcing the Channel Master TV:

Streaming Web Content and a Subscription Free DVR.

Tired of paying for cable? Channel Master offers a new subscription free HDTV solution.

Mesa, AZ–(September 12, 2011)- – Channel Master has developed Channel Master TV™, the most advanced subscription free HDTV solution available. Channel Master TV enables free over-the-air HD broadcasts while adding full DVR functionality including the ability to pause, rewind and record live TV. Channel Master TV also allows users to store and manage personal media content, plus access OTT (over the top TV) web content through VUDU™, delivering On Demand Movies and TV shows and more right to the TV.

Consumers think they need a cable provider to enjoy HDTV, most are unaware the highest quality HDTV is available over the air for free. Channel Master TV gives users access to free, live, over-the-air broadcasts via an antenna (purchased separately). As a subscriber of basic cable or satellite, you pay a monthly subscription fee for major network broadcasts including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and other cable-only provided channels. Based on regionality, Channel Master TV allows you to watch these channels on your digital or analog TV without monthly fees. In most major networks this amounts to more than 30 free stations.

Channel Master TV has also integrated DVR functionality that allows you to pause, rewind, and record live TV. With service providers (like cable or satellite), or TiVo®, you pay for this functionality. With Channel Master TV, you have all the same integrated DVR functionality without paying monthly fees. The Channel Master TV has a 320GB HDD; storage hours vary based on the format of the content but are estimated at up to 35 hours of HD recording and up to 150 hours of SD recording. Users can also schedule recordings and watch one program while recording another. The onscreen Electronic Program Guide (EPG) with Picture in Guide offers search features and parental control settings.

“This is a one-of-a-kind solution,” stated Channel Master VP of Marketing Joe Bingochea. “No device today offers integrated web content, free broadcast TV and DVR without a monthly subscription.”

While 90% of American households have some form of subscription television service, many of them are not happy with their pay TV service. The prevalence of DVR usage shows that consumers don’t adhere to broadcast schedules. They are ready to move from a linear/live TV to an all on demand solution ensuring they get to choose their content whenever they want to watch it.

“The average pay TV subscriber in the US pays approximately $74 per month,” added Bingochea. “Consumers are often left feeling like they are paying for far more than they are getting, or even need. With Channel Master TV, consumers have the luxury of choosing what they want, when they want it.”

If users already have a Broadband data plan, the transition to the Channel Master TV solution is simple since many of the parts they need are already in the home. Channel Master TV has partnered with VUDU to deliver the largest online HD movie library right to the home. In addition to day of release titles, VUDU also offers network specials and series. Through the integrated VUDU application, users gain access to a wide range of Internet services including streaming video, music-on-demand, photo browsing, social networking and much more.

Also available on Channel Master TV is a growing list of OTT content such as AC360, Mike & Mike, MTV news, Associated Press, and more. Users can even manage their personal content such as pictures and play saved videos, music and more.

“Channel Master has catered to over-the-air users for over sixty years and has learned from our customers that they do not like monthly subscriptions. We now have the best solution for the way people want to watch TV today,” concluded Bingochea.

Channel Master TV has an MSRP of $399 and a full one-year warranty. It will begin shipping on November 1. For more info visit www.channelmastertv.com.

Channel Master TV will be unveiled and demoed on Wednesday, Sept. 14th, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the PepCom Holiday Spectacular Event at the Metropolitan Pavilion in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.

About Channel Master
Established in 1949, Channel Master has evolved from a trusted terrestrial antenna manufacturer to a leader in the production of set-top boxes, home networking accessories and digital media devices that connect consumers, businesses and service providers with a multitude of content. Access to streaming off-air HDTV channels, streaming media, movies on-demand, stored digital content, music and more is possible from Channel Master. Today, Channel Master has Channel Master TV, the most advanced subscription free HDTV solution that enables consumers to access free over-the-air broadcasts with DVR functionality in addition to web delivered content and Apps all from a single user experience.

But the ‘about’ in the subject of the post is quite relative, since we’re talking years before ATSC 3.0 is finalized. Keep in mind that the ATSC was formed in 1982, and the first standard was accepted by the FCC in 1996. Granted, developing the first generation of the standard was a lot more work, and a lot more contentious, than developing the next generation should be. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see ATSC 3.0 emerge closer to 2020 than 2012.

Via TWICE.

Solid Signal, recently mentioned for listing the THR22 DirecTiVo, is running the promotion on their site. Details as provided on the site:

How to Get TiVo for Just $9.99 a Month?

To qualify for the $9.99 a month TiVo Service you just need to purchase a TiVo Premiere, and sign up for a 1-year TiVo Service 11-15-11, using the activation code: Antenna
|
**Service Bundle Offer for Antenna Owners: Save 50% off TiVo service (regular price $19.99) when you purchase a TiVo Premiere box for $99.99 and sign up for a new 1-year monthly service subscription commitment to the service at $9.99 per month, plus tax (renews monthly after 1 year at the same rate). Discount on TiVo Service pricing available for antenna customers only. Use of a CableCARD™ decoder will result in your monthly service fee being raised to the standard rate of $19.99/mo plus tax. Early termination fee and terms and conditions apply. See sales associate and tivo.com for complete details. Offer valid for TiVo Service activations on TiVo Premiere boxes through 11/15/11. TiVo reserves the right to terminate this promotion at any time without notice.

What’s not clear is what happens if you use it with analog cable, or clear QAM, without using a CableCARD. The wording of the deal sounds like you need to use a CableCARD to be disqualified, but I think the spirit of the deal is clearly meant to be antenna and no cable in any form.

TiVo is one of the best DVR solutions available to cord cutters as, aside from rolling your own with a PC, there really aren’t many ATSC DVR options available. These days TiVo is really pretty much it, at least for anything that isn’t bare bones, like the Channel Master CM-7000PAL. (It is basically a rebranded version of the discontinued Dish Network DTVPal.) For the price of the Channel Master you can get a TiVo and nearly two years of service at the lower rate, and you get lot more features. And with the OTT services supported by TiVo it is great for the antenna-broadband combo cord cutters.

While the promotion is running on Solid Signal’s page, you enter the code on TiVo’s site when activating service. I suspect you can actually use the promo code with units purchased elsewhere, such as via Amazon for $81.99.

Perhaps a better choice would be BestBuy.com though, as they’re now offering a free long-range antenna with the purchase of a TiVo Premiere. Sold as a bundle, you get the TiVo and antenna for $99.99, the price of the TiVo, saving $105.99. Presuming the ‘Antenna’ promo code does work for units purchased elsewhere you could get a TiVo, antenna, and half-price service – everything a beginning cord cutter needs.

Via Zatz Not Funny.

The groundbreaking work on the new 3D-TV broadcast standard builds on the extensive efforts over the last year by the ATSC 3DTV Planning Team. This new standard, which could be completed in a year, will allow:
3D content delivered on one ATSC terrestrial channel to fixed receivers, with delivery of both views (left and right eye) in real-time, and;
3D content delivered on one ATSC terrestrial channel to Mobile/Handheld receivers, and delivery of both views in real-time.
3D content delivered in non-real-time.

While HDTV in the US is often called ‘ATSC‘, it isn’t a single standard, but rather a collection of standards. The standards for mobile/handheld are collectively known as ATSC-M/H.

It isn’t clear yet just what the final 3DTV standard will entail. Today’s broadcast ATSC for fixed receivers uses MPEG-2 with a maximum resolution of 1080p30. However, back in 2008, MPEG-4/H.264 was added to ATSC with support for up to 1080p60, but this isn’t in use today as main ATSC receivers don’t support MPEG-4/H.264. Most stations are using 1080i or 720p MPEG-2 today.

As with the existing ATSC standards, which give broadcasters numerous choices in resolution, frame rates, etc., the 3D standards will likely do the same. I expect the final standard will give broadcasters a choice of a few different ways to encode 3D video.

As I discussed in my recent post on the state of 3D, 3D broadcasts in the US to date have used a de facto standard known as frame packing. In this system two video frames, left and right eye, are ‘packed’ into one video frame for encoding. So you might take a 1080p frame, which is 1920×1080, and pack two 960×1080 frames into it in left-right packing. Or a 720p frame, which is 1280×720, might have two 1280×360 frames inside in top-bottom packing. The end device handles splitting the frames and displaying them. The obvious drawback is halving the resolution in one direction.

The final standard may include frame packing as one option, albeit a low quality one. I note that backwards-compatibility is mentioned:

“The addition of 3D-TV capability to the DTV broadcast standard will foster new broadcast services while preserving the integrity of legacy TV receivers by adopting a system that allows for simultaneous delivery of 2D HDTV, Mobile DTV, and 3D programs within the same channel while ensuring backwards compatibility,” [ATSC President Mark] Richer said.

To be backwards compatible with today’s receivers, this probably means MPEG-2 using one of three systems – left/right frames, 2D+Delta, or 2D+Depth. Left/right frames is basically frame packing, transmitting two full video frames (one per eye). For 2D display just one frame is used. The drawback is the bandwidth, broadcast ATSC maxes out at 19.4Mbps; by way of comparison Blu-ray supports up to 48Mbps. Sending two full frames means you have to sacrifice the resolution and/or turn up the compression.

So the most likely systems are 2D+Delta or 2D+Depth. Both transmit one full 2D frame, which is displayed on 2D sets. They differ in how they provide the 3D effect. +Delta transmits encoding for how the other frame differs from the full frame that is sent. So if the full frame is the left eye, the encoding is the delta, or difference, to produce the full right eye image – left+delta = right. +Depth instead transmits a ‘depth map’ that overlays the image. This basically tells the display the ‘z-index’ of items in the image. From that it computes the 3D version of the image and generates the left/right images. This is a lot more work for the display device, but can save on bandwidth and allow for higher resolution/quality images. Since Europe standardized 3D for DVB-T on 2D+Depth, it seems likely the US will do the same – or at least include it as one option.

While this would allow broadcasts compatible with all existing MPEG-2 ATSC receivers, it would not provide an optimal 3D experience due to the compromises involved.

Since H.264 isn’t in wide use today, I think there is still a chance for a clean H.264 3D solution. Since 1080p60 2D images are supported, it would be possible to do 1080p30 3D with two full frames – every other frame is left/right. Even better, 1080p30 3D using 2D+Delta/Depth would allow reduced compression in the base 2D image, for a higher quality image.

Since the pipe is the same size for MPEG-2 or MPEG-4, using MPEG-4 will always provide for a better quality image. No matter which video codec or 3D system is used, the 3D image quality will necessarily be lower than plain 2D as you need to encode more data with the same fixed maximum. All else being equal, of course. In other words, if you use the minimum compression required to fit the stream in the pipe the plain 2D image will be less compressed than the 3D image of the same resolution and frame rate as the 3D image needs to fit both the image and 3D data into the pipe.

H.264 will provide the best possible quality; but no matter what they do they won’t be able to match Blu-ray’s 3D quality as it can push full 1080p60 frames to both eyes, with each eye having more available bandwidth than an entire ATSC channel.

Via TWICE.

However, most ATSC tuners on the market today have no H.264 support. And that includes the digital converter boxes available now for users preparing for the digital transition next February. That means we’re unlikely to see H.264 used for broadcast ATSC in the US for many years, if ever. It would make the content unavailable to the installed base of receivers. H.264 is more likely to be used in other countries still considering ATSC as a possible standard (though DVB-T is really dominating the global markets, so I don’t really expect a lot of ATSC usage).

In the US ATSC with H.264 will most likely see usage in new services such as ATSC-M/H (mobile/handheld) and ATSC-NRT, which will utilize new receiver hardware anyway. ATSC-M/H is fairly obvious, the concept would have an ATSC tuner incorporated into phones, etc. This is like DVB-H deployed in some other countries. The broadcasts would be specially formatted for handhelds and would use dedicated sub-channels, so they don’t need to be compatible with existing receivers. ATSC-NRT is for Non-Real-Time content delivery. Basically a ‘trickle-cast’ of content which can be carried on a sub-channel for use later. This is similar to how DirecTV or DISH Network will deliver ‘OnDemand’ content to their DVRs ahead of time. New devices with ATSC-NRT support could receive content in advance for OnDemand movies, special content, etc. It could be used to download interactive content for ACAP, advanced advertising (similar to TiVo’s capabilities today), or other data content. Since these would be new devices anyway they could use H.264 to take better advantage of the available bandwidth.

It is possible that we might see H.264 used for secondary sub-channels for additional broadcast content. That way customers with existing content would not lose anything, they just wouldn’t gain the new stuff. This is similar to satellite companies adding new content using H.264, leaving customers with existing MPEG-2 receivers to keep existing content only. Or cable companies using SDV for new content, so existing customers only have their pre-existing channels. The H.264 subchannels could be used for things like alternate angles on sporting events, re-airing popular shows (air the new episode on NBC1 on Monday, re-air it on H.264 NBC2 on Wednesday – get more total viewers), or even special content – movie on main channel, movie with commentary on subchannel. Of course it is a chicken-and-egg issue – channels won’t do this until receivers handle H.264, and the only H.264-enabled ATSC receiver I can think of off hand is TiVo. Wait, and the newer satellite DVRs that have ATSC tuners as well.

I don’t expect to see it used on primary channels for a long, long time, if ever. Not until nearly all receivers in use in the field support H.264. No one wants another major transition any time soon, we haven’t even completed the first one yet. And ATSC is 25 years old already. (Yes, work started in 1983, believe it or not.)

Of course, the committee is working on ATSC 2.0: “ATSC-2.0 will define a complete suite of ‘Next Generation’ services for the conventional fixed DTV receiver viewing environment.” But I suspect ATSC 2.0 will be a super-set of ‘ATSC 1.0′, adding interactivity, etc, to the content through ACAP (think OCAP for ATSC).

From NAB by way of EngadgetHD.

As an aside, I asked about the Moxi OCAP port that was reported back in May and was told that work had ‘just started’ on that so it was far too early to provide any details.

There are three products in the line-up, the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR (and associated Moxi Mate client box), the Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR, and the Moxi TV for PC software.

I know I’ve been harsh at times in the past when posting about Moxi, so I thought I’d start with some of the things I like.

First, as it is what you notice first, their UI looks good. It has been engineered for 16:9 HD displays and it really ‘pops’. All the graphics are sharp, the colors are bright, text is crisp – it just looks damn good. And, frankly, as much as I like it, TiVo’s UI is looking a bit dated. TiVo really needs to fully rework their UI for HD. At home I have my Series3 on HDMI1 and my PS3 on HDMI2 – and if I switch between the TiVo UI and Sony’s XMB UI on the PS3, which is all HD, I really notice the difference. So Moxi gets points for the look of their UI. And, while I didn’t think it was as intuitive as TiVo’s UI, I found it fairly easy to navigate.

While they weren’t demonstrating it yet, the concept of being able to stream HD video for multi-room playback to a simple client box is nice. That’s something I’ve wished TiVo would do for several years now. I like TiVo’s ability to copy shows between units, and I don’t think it should go away, but I think it would be nice if streaming were an option as well. Being able to have a simple client box, instead of a full-fledged DVR, in another room would be nice. (Maybe TiVo should hook-up with Sling and find a way to make the SlingCatcher a stream client for a TiVo.) I’m not sold on Digeo’s planned implementation, but the overall concept is nice.

The unit I played with was also fairly responsive to the remote, pretty good performance. Selections came right up.

The units support clear QAM tuning, with guide data, unlike TiVo. With the TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD you can manually tune clear QAM channels without CableCARDs, but need the cards for any guide data and real TiVo functionality (Season Passes, etc). So it is nice that the Moxi units have this.

The way the Moxi UI works is kind of two dimensional. There is a horizontal ‘bar’ that you scroll across, and each item on the bar then has a vertical menu in that category. There also isn’t much ‘drill down’ on the Moxi menus, they toss things left and right on the screen more often. So you may select something from the vertical menu, which is on the left side of the screen, and that opens selections on the right side of the screen. It doesn’t really feel like you’re navigating a hierarchical menu as much as TiVo does. Sometimes it felt easier to get ‘lost’ than on TiVo, but overall it was fairly good. Fortunately, TiVo has been moving in this direction too, collapsing more of their menus and doing more of the side-by-side style of screens. This is seen more in their OCAP software, but it is working its way into the standalone units too. The new Web Video UI on the TiVo uses this kind of flow for example.

Moxi will have online scheduling, like TiVo. Unlike TiVo, they will have instantaneous conflict notification. So if you try to schedule a show on the web and it conflicts with a show already scheduled on your DMR, the website tells you immediately and asks you what you want to do. This is accomplished through communication with the DMR in real time. So there is no delay as there currently is with TiVo, where you have to wait for a confirmation email to see if the request worked or not. Now, this could change with TiVo with their coming implementation of XMPP as part of the web video work. With XMPP the scheduling server could IM the TiVo with the request immediately – and immediately be notified of any conflicts. I am hoping TiVo goes this route, it is a nice feature. I’ve never liked that aspect of online scheduling for TiVo.

I also like the physical design of the Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR. It is basically an AMD Live! PC, but the chassis is very nice. There is a small LCD display on the left front which can display the time, channel, etc, and you can even set the background to any photograph you want to use. I think they did a nice job on the physical design of the box.

Unfortunately, there were more issues I didn’t like, or found unsatisfying. I couldn’t recommend Moxi over TiVo to anyone based on what I saw today, there are too many missing features or rough edges for what is being billed as a premium product.

The Moxi TV for PC software I had the least issues with. It is the full-blown Moxi interface, running on Windows XP – Home, Pro, or Media Center. It does not run on Vista at this time, but I was told that is being worked on. I hope they can tackle that soon, since it does kind of look weak not to support Vista this long after it has shipped. Apparently all three products use the very same code base (C++ I was told) and it is just compiled for the different products. The PC software has some minor differences due to the fact that it is running on a PC. The on-screen information browser for news, etc, is not there – since you’re on a PC and can use a real browser, after all. Frankly, I can only hope that the TiVo for PC software being developed by Nero comes as close to reproducing the TiVo experience on a PC.

The number of tuners cards supported at this time is limited, but I was told that is being worked on to expand support to additional cards. Now, the person who gave me the demo indicated that HD tuners would work – but the spec sheet and web site both say it only supports SD antenna or cable, no HD at all. I did catch her in a couple of mistakes, so I tend to believe the spec sheet in this instance. They really need to enable HD support, at least OTA ATSC, especially if this isn’t going to ship for several months. OTA NTSC is going away, remember. Who is going to want to buy a product that might no longer work a few months later? Or even work now for channels that have switched already, the FCC says it is OK for channels to turn off their analog signals before the deadline.

It does provide you with a single interface to your media – it plays back MP3s, views photos, even plays CDs and DVDs. And the rep told me it’ll play Blu-ray or HD DVD discs – whatever the hardware it is on can play. One nice feature is that it will work with Microsoft’s Media Center remote control, and apparently other PC remotes, so you don’t need to drive it from the keyboard. The demo was run using the MS remote. It is a nice effort, and I see potential, but they really need to get it working on Vista and get HD tuner support in there before they ship the first version commercially.

OK, moving on to the Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR. I still don’t think the Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR makes a lick of sense in today’s market. It is hobbled by lacking any support for CableCARD. It is NTSC/ATSC OTA and analog cable and clear QAM only. NTSC OTA is going away in a year, of course, so that’s not really a factor. Just how many people are looking to record OTA ATSC and analog cable and clear QAM, but no encrypted digital cable channels? On many cable systems, that’s a number of channels, and usually all of the premium channels. I think the lack of CableCARD will be a big deal for a product at this end of the market.

The design is very nice, as I said, but I don’t understand the niche it is trying to fill – and the reps I talked to really couldn’t explain that either. I even had two Digeo reps say to me that they don’t expect it to be a big seller. It is something of a ‘home theater in a box’ with a CD/DVD drive, DVR functionality, and built-in receiver functions with direct speaker connections for 5.1 audio. But it has some failings even in this regard. It has a single stereo L/R input and a single S/PDIF optical and coaxial input – both ‘for future use’, but that’s it. It isn’t really a full A/V receiver replacement.

It doesn’t work with the Moxi Mate, so there is no mutli-room support on this product. I think that they got some things very right, but other areas left me scratching my head. I’m really curious as to how they’re going to position it in the market when it launches.

It upscales DVDs – but only to 720p, not 1080i or 1080p like most upscaling DVD players. Why only 720p? No idea. The HDMI output is 1.1, while most newer products have 1.3a at this point. Keep in mind the box isn’t out yet, and it has just gone into beta. One of the reps told me they’d been hoping for an early 2008 release, but that based on feedback during testing it was pushed back to later in the year. See the aforementioned ‘May’ time frame another rep mentioned. Since it was originally due in late 2007, and it seems they did some refreshing of the design from the prototypes shown earlier, I don’t know why they didn’t do a little more work to smooth some of the rough edges.

It just seems like an awkward combination of features, with some odd omissions. It seems to be a Jack of all trades, not quite a master of any. Which might be OK otherwise, but it is being pitched as a premium product, and it is coming to market later than planned so there is more time to get it right. Some specs, like hard drive capacity, have not been finalized yet. Nor has the final pricing. Both will be determined just before release, based on the market at the time.

Then we come to the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR and associated MoxiMate, which is their flagship product. This is the unit with the expected $1000 price point. While the PC software and the Home Cinema unit are currently both in beta, this unit is not yet in testing. In fact, when I asked about that, one of the Digeo reps said “We just barely got development units of that one.” And this was announced last year for release in late 2007 – sounds like there was quite a delay.

Additionally, while the Moxi TV for PC and Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR units at the show were live and running, the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMRs that I saw were seemingly all dummy units. Some of them had cables connected to the back at the demo stations, seemingly running the demos, but it was being smoke-and-mirrored. The ‘shelf’ they sat on had a compartment underneath with an IR transparent white plastic front. Inside that compartment was a Home Cinema box that was really running the demo. The people doing the demos sure made it sound like it was the multi-room box doing the work, which I felt was a little deceptive. Based on the comments from the reps and the state of the units at the show, I got the feeling that the mutli-room boxes are much further behind on the development curve than the two in beta and we won’t see it available until 2H08, maybe late in the year, barring more delays.

Speaking of delays, how about the looks of this box? Bear with me, it ties together. As much as I like the looks of the Home Cinema, I hate the looks of the Multi-room. You might say it is minimalistic – I say it is fugly. Seriously, I think it is an extremely unattractive box. To me it looks cheap, like a lab-mule prototype. It is way too big with that dull, plain face. And it is kind of silver/white – it’d stick out badly next to most A/V gear which tends to be black or silver. Fugly. The same design cues work well enough on the MoxiMate because it is compact, but damn it doesn’t scale well. And I’m not the only one to think so, I over-heard the same thing from a couple of other attendees while I was there.

I even observed a demo being given (to Gizmodo, actually) and they mentioned the looks and size of the box. Digeo’s rep said that it the size was due to the layout of the components in the original design and that they’d decided to stick with it rather than re-do the layout because then they could “bring it to market faster”. Seriously? Mock-ups of the box with the same look and feel were first shown in late 2006, and you had them at CES 2007. Now you have them at CES 2008, and the box won’t be out until sometime later this year. You’ve had major delays, how is that bringing it to market faster? The time was there, this is supposedly a premium box. (I told you it would tie together.) That excuse doesn’t hold, especially for a premium product. Give it the attention due a premium box, re-do the layout to shrink the currently massive size, and get whomever did the industrial design for the Home Cinema box involved to make it look good. Seriously, look at that thing, it has the size and personality of an old desktop PC! If I had any Photoshop skills I’d slap an old IBM PS/2 logo on there. I’d just write it off as a prototype chassis, but Digeo says that’s the intended final look. I wouldn’t want it in my entertainment center.

Functionally, unlike the Home Cinema box, the Multi-room supports a single M-Card CableCARD to support encrypted digital cable on its internal tuners. However, unlike the Home Cinema box, the Multi-room does not support antenna – no ATSC. So that’s one big knock against it compared to TiVo. Why? This is one of the things I don’t understand. They have one box which supports antenna, but not CableCARD, and another box that supports CableCARD but not antenna. TiVo supports both in the Series3 and TiVo HD. Hell, DISH Network supports satellite and ATSC in the VIP622/722 DVRs, and DirecTV supports both in the HR10-250 and HR20 DVRs – and now with the AM21 add-on to the HR21. Even XStreamHD is supporting ATSC on their new satellite product! Digeo, what the hell? This is a ‘premium product’, right? You clearly have the ability to handle ATSC, how much would it really cost you to put ATSC tuning in? Not enough to warrant leaving it out.

My past concerns over the reliance on M-Card are fading with time. By the time this unit ships, M-Card will likely be universally available. When it was originally slated for late 2007, it was a concern as a number of MSOs still weren’t supplying M-Cards and only had S-Cards. It may still be an issue when the box ships, but I suspect it will be in limited areas.

Unlike the Home Cinema unit, this box will upscale DVDs to 1080i, which is the best output resolution it has. That’s decent enough.

Now, the Moxi Mate is a nice concept, as I said above. It is a simple box with no drive and no fan, so it is very quiet. And since it has no moving parts, it should be very reliable. It has just enough memory to cache a video stream from the Multi-Room HD DMR, and it provides all the functionality you get sitting in front of the main unit – full access to everything. It should be a lot more affordable than buying another full DVR. And streaming gives you instant access to everything on the main box, no delays. And, online TiVo where you can only access video off other units, as I said, you have access to everything – scheduling, etc. So you can be in the bedroom and setup a recording on the DMR in the living room. All things I’d love to see TiVo do.

However, the way Digeo is planning to go about it seems iffy to me. They’re basically inventing their own system. Instead of using an established system like Ethernet, WiFi, or MoCA, they’re planning on sending FireWire signals over the coax cables. There will be a dongle that connects to the FireWire port on the units, and then to the coax cabling, to handle that. They claim it is because FireWire is approved for transport of content protected by DTCP, aka ’5C’. Well, yes, but there is also DTCP-IP which is approved for the same content transported over IP networks. If they implemented their streaming system using industry standards then there is a chance they could interoperate with other vendors at some point. But rolling their own solution makes that unlikely.

And what if you want to use the Moxi Mate in a location that doesn’t have a coax drop? You’re out of luck. I know from experience that running coax cabling is a lot more of a pain than running Cat5 Ethernet cable – let alone using WiFi. If it weren’t tethered to coax, the Moxi Mate would be great for adding a set in rooms where you don’t have the cabling for a direct feed.

While the main unit has reportedly been engineered to support multiple Moxi Mate units ‘in the future’, when it ships it will only support a single Moxi Mate. So no putting the main unit in the living room with one Mate in the bedroom and one in the office, etc.

Finally, the software itself. While I like the design of the UI overall, there were several issues. The horizontal bar you scroll through to switch categories has several pre-defined category filters such as sports, movies, and news. I found that annoying after about 30 seconds. First of all, the filters lump together both upcoming programs and your recordings. Many people who use DVRs, myself included, never use Live TV – we only watch recordings. And in six years of using TiVo I have never used a ‘Movies’, ‘Sports’, or ‘News’ filter, nor have I had any desire to do so. And I have especially not used a ‘Kids’ filter. Having them as unavoidable elements of the main UI navigation was really quite annoying. I asked if there was a way to disable them and was told no. There needs to be. And, while Digeo is at it, for those who do use such things, there should be a way to customize the filters. Maybe I’d like it if I could have an ‘Anime’ filter or a ‘Sci-Fi’ filter.

The list of recordings is sorted chronologically. I asked about it and was told there is no way to change the sorting – no alpha sorting. Scrolling through screens of content to look was a bit annoying. Especially if someone sticks an eSATA drive on there and has hundreds of recordings. There is a kind of grouping in the list. When you highlight a series you record the recorded episodes pop up in a box to the right. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I really didn’t like the way recordings are listed. It didn’t feel as clear and intuitive as TiVo’s Now Playing List. I don’t know if it is because the screen is a lot ‘busier’ or what. Maybe you get used to it.

The Moxi equivalent of Season Passes looks pretty solid. It seems to have all the options TiVo provides, plus a few more. You can tell it to keep recordings some number of days, in addition to the basic ‘space needed’ and ‘until I delete’ option. You can adjust the start and end times, record just first run or allow repeats, set how many episodes to keep, and set the SP priority. So scheduling SPs is very much like TiVo. There is a time slot restriction option which, if I understand correctly, would allow you to limit the unit to recording a show to within a specific window. Useful for shows which often have bad guide data and air several times a day. I know this has been an oft-requested feature on TiVo. So Digeo seems to have done a decent job there.

Conversely they did a terrible job on WishLists. How terrible? Well, they don’t exist at all. I explicitly asked about this one because I make heavy use of Auto-Record WishLists on my TiVo and not having them would be a show stopper for me. Consider my show stopped. While they have a fairly powerful search functionality – keywords, actors, etc – which are similar to TiVo’s WishList searches, I was told there is no way to save those searches, let alone set them to record automatically. And just to make sure I wasn’t mis-understanding I asked the question multiple ways – no, there is no WishList-style functionality. That’s huge, IMHO.

Another issue – while the Moxi Multi-room HD DMR can stream to the Moxi Mate, and it can access digital music and photos from a PC, it can’t do anything with video. There is no TiVoToGo/TiVoToComeBack functionality. You can’t copy video to a PC from a Moxi, or to a Moxi from a PC. And that includes Moxi TV for PC – even if you have that on your PC you can’t share video with a hardware Moxi unit. There is also no Multi-Room Viewing style functionality with the main units – Home Cinema units cannot share video – copied or streamed, with each other or with Multi-room boxes. And, if I understand correctly, even the Multi-room units cannot share video – it is just from a Multi-room unit to a Moxi Mate. But I’m not 100% sure on that one, I didn’t think to ask specifically about that scenario.

Of course, that means no transferring video to your iPod, PSP, etc. And no transferring your downloads, rips, and home videos to your Moxi to watch on your TV.

The Flickr viewing, FineTune music, casual games, etc, were extremely similar in functionality to the Music, Photos, Programs & More applications on a TiVo. Moxi does have a lot more games. If TiVo would re-invigorate HME development, that wouldn’t be an issue. *ahem* Same concepts, very similar implementations. So they’re decent enough. With music and photos, since the unit has a CD/DVD drive, it can rip music from your CDs and build a library. However, as I understand it, that uses space on the Moxi’s drive. It can also display photos from your digital camera, apparently via the front-panel USB port.

There is a ‘SuperTicker’ that can scroll across the bottom of the screen as you watch TV – like the tickers on news channels – with news headlines, sports info, etc. That actually seems like a neat concept. Except that it isn’t customizable – I asked. So you get the pre-selected categories. I have no interest in sports, I wouldn’t want to see that scrolling by. Conversely, I could see sports fanatics turning it off just to avoid spoilers for games they couldn’t watch live. Nice concept, needs work – allow users to (de)select which content shows up in the ticker.

Moxi has no KidZone functionality, of course, But it does have basic parental controls which allow you to lock out content by rating or by channel. Your standard V-Chip kind of thing. You can also (de)select which channels show up in your listings – almost exactly the same as TiVo’s ‘Channel List’, as well as setting Favorites – just like TiVo.

Digeo was also demonstrating the home control abilities built into the Moxi software through their partnership with 4HomeMedia, announced last September. 4HomeMedia uses Z-Wave modules to control devices in the home. Moxi’s demo including controlling some lamps – you could turn them on and off, and control the dimmer settings. You could also setup macros so you could have ‘Movie Time’ which would automatically adjust the room’s lighting with one selection. Z-Wave modules can control other items as well. As a geek I thought this was very cool. However, even as a geek, I haven’t bothered with home automation in my own home. It is on my list of things that might be fun to play with – but not even close to the top. So while this is a nifty gee whiz feature, and it makes for a fun demo, I’m not sure it is going to sell boxes. It is cool, sure, but how many people not only have home automation, but have Z-Wave based systems, and not one of the competing technologies?

Part of the same system, and probably far more useful, is the ability to communicate with IP based devices such as IP enabled web cams. They had a demo with an IP enabled, remote controlled web cam. You could see the web cam’s video on the screen, and control it – pan/tilt, etc. Now that is something I could see being a lot more useful. Put security cameras around the house, parents can put one in the baby’s room, etc. I definitely can see this being useful, and it is one of the few things I really felt was both cool and useful, and made me wish TiVo did something like that. What would be even more cool is if it could record the camera’s feed based on some trigger, like a motion detector. Then you could setup exterior cameras and the video would be saved it anything triggered them, to review later.

So, overall, a decent job with some real high points, but also some show stopping faults in my opinion. Because of missing functionality like WishLists and video transfers, I could never switch to Moxi from TiVo, and it would be hard for me to recommend Moxi to anyone with the current implementation. As a ‘premium product’ (Have you noticed how much I’ve repeated that in this article? That’s no accident, it seems to be a Digeo mantra – I heard it over and over from the various reps in response to many questions) I’m disappointed by the missing features and some of the product design decisions – both functionality and appearance. I think there is a good foundation there to build on, and hopefully Digeo will continue to do so, but they have a ways to go to really compete head to head with TiVo. And TiVo won’t be sitting still either. The longer it takes to being these products to market, the higher the bar gets. And it isn’t just TiVo, Digeo is competing with the next generation of cable and satellite DVRs which are entering the market, or being shown at CES right now. Many of them will be deployed by the time Digeo ships product, and they are better than the last generation.

If they’re going to sell the product for a premium price, seemingly for more than a high-end TiVo, then they need to be more competitive on features. There was certainly a lot more steak this year than last, when it was all sizzle with nothing real to show, and that’s good to see. Competition is a good thing, it drives innovation, and right now I think Digeo is the only company with any chance of offering TiVo competition in the standalone DVR market. So I’d like to see them address some of these issues. I still think they should smash the Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR and the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR together and produce one top-notch box instead.

On a final note, I did get a little perturbed listening to one demo. Obviously Digeo knows they’re competing with TiVo, so they do a lot of “this is how we’re better than TiVo” bits in their demos. Which is fine, really. But if you’re going to do that, get your damn facts straight, OK? Key points:
- TiVo does, in fact, allow HD video to be transferred between units and is not limited to SD only.
- TiVo does, in fact, officially support eSATA expansion of the Series3 and TiVo HD and it is not only possible with a ‘hack’.
- The fact that the Moxi interface ‘wraps around’ (when you get to the bottom of a list and go down you wrap around to the top, etc) does not make it so much better than the TiVo UI because on a TiVo when you go all the way to the bottom of a long list then you have to go one by one all the way back to the top. Because, in fact, you don’t have to do that on a TiVo. Hit Advance ‘->|’ in most menus and it jumps to the last item on the list, hit it again and it jumps to the first item. And, of course, you can also page up/down one screen at a time, not item by item, using the Chan/Page button on the remote. (Why do you think it says ‘Page’? At least on the newer remotes.)

There were others, but those were the big three that really bugged me to over-hear and made me want to jump in. (I stopped myself on 2 & 3, I did blurt out something like ‘wrong’ on 1 before I could stop myself.)

Yes, items 1 & 2 were true, but have not been true for a while now since the software was updated. If you’re going to compare your products to the competition make sure you know what the competition does. Especially if you’re going to do it a little theatrically, in a “Oh, TiVo is so limiting” fashion. And Item 3 – those navigation steps have been in there for years, so no excuse there.

Also, if you’re going to stress how Moxi has certain shortcuts on the remote to major functions, as if that was a differentiator, you might want to be aware that TiVo has plenty of those too.

I used to do competitive engineering analysis in past jobs. I’d tear apart competing gear and produce ‘hit lists’ for sales and marketing – items to stress to show how our products were better, and, yes, areas to try to steer clear of where we might take a hit because they did something better. So I know how the game is played. Hell, if anyone from Digeo has a question on how, or if, TiVo does something, just contact me. I’ll give you an honest answer to the best of my knowledge, like I would anyone else. I’d rather see accurate information used than having bogus FUD spread around.

Again, I appreciate all the time the various Digeo reps in both locations spent running through the demos for me and answering my questions. I do feel a lot more positively about Moxi now that I’ve seen something ‘real’ on working hardware than I did when it was just plans and promises. I will certainly be watching to see how the products evolve and how they are received by the market, and I look forward to getting a look at how it has advanced, probably at CES 2009.

Well, here comes the AM21. The AM21 is a thin box that you can stack, over or under, with the HR21. It simply has two ATSC tuners and connects to the HR21 via USB. It is only $59, and once connected the functionality is just like the HR20 with integrated ATSC tuners. The ATSC channels show up on the EPG, etc.

Via EngadgetHD.