I initially reported on Gefen’s HD DVR during CES, and then again last week when Zatz Not Funny got their hands on one. The real standout feature of the box is the HDMI input. That’s pretty much unheard of. HDCP is normally felt to preclude recording from HDMI. But Gefen claimed they were compliant as they preserved the HDCP flags on their HDMI output.

However, there was a wee loophole. The recordings on the drive were unencrypted. If you pulled the drive and connected it to a PC you could copy the raw H.264 files, as Dave Zatz discovered. A perfect HD piracy tool. Well, CNET News.com reports that Gefen is closing this loophole and will begin encrypting the drives. Why didn’t they do that from the start? Well, they had this to say to CNET:

Gefen did not anticipate that users would void warranty to crack the unit and use the internal drive in this fashion. The company is currently in the process of encrypting every internal drive of every HD PVR so this situation will be corrected.

So, either Gefen is run by truly oblivious individuals or they’ve managed to avoid reading every tech blog in the world. The very first thing we geeks do is violate the warranty and open the box up! See also my TiVo reviews with internal photos. Gefen was really surprised that someone a) opened the box, b) tried connecting the drive to a PC, and c) posted the results online? Really? I’d be surprised if someone didn’t do that with a new product! Since the boxes are not network connected, I don’t know how they’ll address units in the field. They may release a firmware update users can load over USB or SD - but they can’t force anyone to do so. If you run out and buy one now you might just get one from pre-encrypted stock. I’m just saying…

Now, if you’ll pardon me, I need to visit Gefen HQ. I have this old bridge over the East River that I’m looking to sell.

The Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war is over, but the fallout and consequences aren’t. And the big loser in the war, Toshiba, is facing the music for their failed campaign. Toshiba started the war in an attempt to increase their consumer electronics market share, but their attempted grab for lebensraum backfired and they’ve been left holding the bill. How large of a bill? According to Japan’s Nikkei business daily Toshiba will have to book a loss of $986 million relating to HD DVD, bringing their full-year profit down to roughly $2.44 billion. That’s certainly not a crippling blow for a company the size of Toshiba, but it certainly isn’t exactly pleasant. And it just goes to show the size of the risk, and the stakes, that where at the core of the format war in the first place.

Via CNET News.com.

Back in October, 2006 Apple filed a patent application for a ‘Search user interface for media device’ which describes a search interface on a media device, which sure sounds like an Apple TV variant, with a remote control which resembles an iPod Nano with the click-wheel interface. Here’s the abstract:

A search menu includes a search input field and input characters rendered on a multi-dimensional displacement surface that rotates in response to a user input. A highlight region intersects the multi-dimensional displacement surface and highlights input characters while the input characters intersect the highlight region according to the rotation of the multi-dimensional displacement surface.

Don’t you love patent-ese? But perhaps the most interesting aspect are the images included with the patent. They show what looks very much like a TV Guide-style EPG for live TV.

AppleInsider uncovered the patent application, and they have some of the images posted in their write-up. It is easier to see them there than in the US Patent Office interface. Interestingly, the remote is meant to be a fairly intelligent device, with a display and local storage. It would download the EPG data so that you could take the remote with you and decide what to record, and then when you returned it to the device it would sync and setup the recordings. That seems pretty complex, and frankly of questionable utility, for a remote - but it does make more sense if the ‘remote’ could be a real iPod, doesn’t it?

The filing also includes a hybrid search which would search both the EPG data and the iTunes store for content - which sounds just like TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search, which searches the local EPG, as well as broadband content from TiVoCast and Amazon Unbox.

As with all patent applications, this doesn’t mean Apple is actually working on a product that does this, just that they had the idea and felt it was worth patenting - just in case they decide to do it, or someone else does and they want to collect licensing. But the lack of DVR functionality is the glaring omission from Apple TV, so many people expect that Apple will address that at some point.

Picked up from CNET News.com.

Toshiba, and the rest of the HD DVD camp, have done a wonderful job of completely ignoring the piles of bad news heaped on HD DVD over the past couple of months. They’ve continued to issue basically the same statement about how they see HD DVD as the better value, vow to continue the fight, etc. Well, the news today is perhaps the bleakest yet. Wal*Mart is dropping HD DVD completely and going Blu-ray exclusive, according to their official blog:

Enough about my family and on to the Wal-Mart plans… by June Wal-Mart will only be carrying BluRay movies and hardware machines, and of course standard def movies, DVD players, and up convert players. Not sure of the short term pricing plans, but history tells us that as more people move to a new technology prices typically go down.

Wal*Mart also issued an official statement:

Bentonville, Ark., Feb. 15, 2008 – Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. today announces that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly over the next several months whereby the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.

“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home.”

Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart thoughtfully reviewed all areas and impact in making its decision, and is excited to move forward with one format and share its future plans with customers.

With Wal*Mart dropping HD DVD completely, and Best Buy focusing on Blu-ray, you have the top two retailers of consumer electronics and media both pushing Blu-ray. And Netflix, the top online rental company, is also dropping HD DVD. How many more hits can HD DVD take before they just lay down?

Picked up from CNET News.com.

After yesterday’s announcement that Netflix is dropping HD DVD and Best Buy will promote Blu-ray, the HD DVD Promotional Group issued what seems to be their form letter response:

We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it’s unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.

Is it just me, or does that ‘at least’ postfix sounds desperate and pitiful? HD DVD needs to go on Jerry Springer. “Sure, he left me for another woman and told everyone he loves her more. But he said I can still cook for him and do his laundry! At least I can still be part of his life!” HD DVD needs some friends to sit them down and get them to move on. Someone stage an intervention.

HD DVD got two heaping scoops of bad news today. One wonders how long Toshiba and the rest of the HD DVD camp will maintain their “Everything going remarkably well!” delusional stance. Hey, HD DVD, to quote: “No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.” How many times do you need to be clubbed on the head before you get on the damn cart?

So, first up, Netflix announced via a press release that they’re going Blu-ray exclusive.

“The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def. Going forward, we expect that all of the studios will publish in the Blu-ray format and that the price points of high-def DVD players will come down significantly. These factors could well lead to another decade of disc-based movie watching as the consumer’s preferred means.”

They will stop adding new HD DVD titles to their catalog, and they will be phasing out existing HD DVD titles by the end of the year. In a comment at Zatz Not Funny user lorenzp posted a link to the email he received from Netflix:

We’re Going Blu-ray

Dear Phil,

You’re receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don’t worry, we will contact you before this happens.

You can click to change your format preferences.

We’re osrry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions of need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

Ironically, this seems to leave Blockbuster Online as the best option for HD DVD renters. Ironic, since last June Blockbuster went Blu-ray exclusive in their physical stores and, at the time, a lot of HD DVD fans said things like “Who cares, we’ll use Netflix!” Apparently not for much longer. Oops.

While HD DVD was still reeling from the Netflix announcement, Best Buy kicked them while they were down. While Best Buy isn’t (yet) dropping HD DVD, they will “focus on Blu-ray products“. Best Buy’s press release offers some details:

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is taking a step forward in addressing consumer confusion about high-definition formats. Beginning in early March, the leading consumer electronics retailer will prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware and software products in its Best Buy retail and online channels in the United States.

“Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format,” said Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president and chief operating officer. “Our decision to shine a spotlight on Blu-ray Disc players and other Blu-ray products is a strong signal to our customers that we believe Blu-ray is the right format choice for them.”

Dunn continued, “Best Buy has always believed that the customer will benefit from a widely-accepted single format that would offer advantages such as product compatibility and expanded content choices. Because we believe that Blu-ray is fast emerging as that single format, we have decided to focus on Blu-ray products.”

“With the explosion of HDTVs, customers are hungry for quality, high definition content. We believe our move to feature Blu-ray should help consumers feel confident in their hi-def content choices,” said Mike Vitelli, Best Buy’s senior vice president, Home Solutions. “Best Buy is excited by the next generation of digital products and we know our customers are too. We are excited about helping customers find the right mix of products and services to make the next generation of high definition entertainment technology come alive for them. We believe that Blu-ray is the right solution for consumers.”

Best Buy currently carries a wide array of Blu-ray hardware and software products. The company noted that it will continue to carry an assortment of HD-DVD products for customers who desire to purchase these products.

As I’ve said before, this is a feedback loop. As HD DVD players and media become harder to obtain, and Blu-ray players and media get more promotion, the market will continue to shift toward Blu-ray. And the shift in the market will lead more vendors to back Blu-ray as the favor format. And it starts all over again.

Over the next few months this shift is going to accelerate - Best Buy starts promoting Blu-ray in March and Warner stops selling HD DVD at the end of May. And HD DVD will be harder and harder to rent from Netflix as worn out discs are not replaced, and new titles are not added.

Netflix and Best Buy are clearly sending a message to the HD DVD camp to cut it out and end the war.

It seems the TiVoToGo problems reported with Roxio software on the Mac last November still linger. While a patch was issued in November, it seems that it didn’t resolve the issues for all users. Today both Zatz Not Funny and CNET News.com wrote about the troubles. ZNF cited this post at TiVoCommunity made by Roxio rep patatrox yesterday:

We’ve been running a limited beta with a small number of users from the forums to test an update to both Toast 8 Titanium and Popcorn 3 and we’ve had positive results. We’re going to expand the testing for more users who are still having audio/video sync issues, please send me an e-mail to toastfeedback@roxio.com.

We’re going to extend this to about 50 users from TiVoCommunity.com and after a short time if feedback is positive move towards releasing this as an official update. Please keep in mind I will only be contacting users who are accepted for testing.

Please include the following information:
- Name
- Product you own (Toast 8 or Popcorn 3)
- TiVo Service Number (TSN)

If you’re having trouble with Roxio Toast or Popcorn and TiVoToGo on your Mac, you might want to jump on that.

TiVo made a statement to News.com for their article:

“It is important to us that all TiVo subscribers using TiVoToGo receive the same great TiVo experience whether they are utilizing a PC or Mac,” the company said in a statement to News.com. “It has been brought to our attention that a small subset of customers using Toast 8 have experienced a problem when trying to transfer their shows. We have been working with our partner Roxio and currently have a fix in beta.”

Roxio product manager Patrick Nugent said that they’ve been working with TiVo to fix the issues an that it affects “a small number of users.” He also said that it has been difficult to fix because it has been hard to reproduce and it doesn’t happen with ever recording.

Hopefully the code now in testing will be the final fix. Of course, there are other alternatives for Mac users. Such as the TiVo NowPlaying Widget, SeasonPassGetter, TiVoDecode Manager, and others.

Wow, big news out of Digeo today. It seems that I wasn’t the only with to have issues with their product plans - according to CNET both the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR (and associated Moxi Mate) and Moxi Home Cinema HD DMR product lines have been canceled. This comes just a week after they were touting the products at CES. The CNET article doesn’t mention the Moxi TV for PC software, so it is unclear if that has been canceled as well or if it is still moving forward. The Home Cinema HD DMR and the Moxi TV for PC software are currently in beta and were expected to hit retail in a few months time. No hard dates had been given, but May had been an estimate. The Multi-Room DMRs were still in the prototype & development stage and had not yet entered beta testing.

In addition to the product testing, Digeo is laying off nearly half of its staff, and current CEO Mike Fidler will be replaced by COO Greg Gudorf. Fidler has stated that he chose to step down on his own, and is not being pushed out. He will stay on as long as is necessary to help Gudorf with the transition. Considering all the trouble Digeo has had in bringing Moxi products to market, the management shake-up is hardly surprising. After Digeo acquired Moxi in 2002, they pulled plans to release retail Moxi products and, instead, focused on licensing the software to cable MSOs. However, that tactic didn’t work out very well, with only roughly 400,000 homes using the Moxi software at this point. In late 2006 Digeo began talking about finally bringing Moxi into the retail market to compete with TiVo, and at CES 2007 they made a splash by showing off mock-ups of the Home Cinema DMR and the Multi-Room DMR, claiming they’d