Well, we knew Digeo would be showing off their Moxi box for cable MSOs at The Cable Show. Back in January when I spoke with Digeo’s then-COO Greg Gudorf, he said that their Moxi HD DVR for cable would ship in 1Q08, clearly that didn’t happen. Now, according to a press release issued today, Charter will be the first cable MSO to deploy the Moxi Cable HD DVR 3012 - in 3Q08. It isn’t surprising that Charter is the first customer as they were one of the MSOs to deploy the first generation Moxi units, and Digeo is backed by Paul Allen, who also controls Charter. A little corporate nepotism. I just hope Digeo does better than FlipStart, which seems to be comatose.

Ben Drawbaugh from EngadgetHD was at The Cable Show and he got a picture of the unit on display. Is it just me, or does it look like a slightly shorter (no optical drive so I guess they didn’t need the room) version of the now defunct Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR? Only in black instead of white. I have to admit, while I thought the Mutli-Room HD DMR was hideous, this one is only bland. The change in color helps.

According to the press release:

The announcement marks the first order and deployment of Digeo’s second generation offering which incorporates a dual HD-tuner digital video recorder (DVR). The Moxi 3012 also includes the Emmy(R) award-winning Moxi Menu user interface, along with the following advanced features:

* Full DVR functionality
* CableCARD(R) multi-stream 2-way support
* Remote web scheduling capable
* External storage options up to 1TB
* Extensive data mining through the Moxi portal for real-time customer usage insights

So it is a dual-tuner CableCARD DVR. Sounds like it relies on M-Card, which fits with what was known about their canceled consumer products. They don’t disclose the internal storage capacity, but given the ‘3012′ naming scheme, I’d guess at 120GB. ‘Remote web scheduling capable’ is interesting, but the question is will Charter enable it? They don’t say if the external storage is USB or eSATA, and I can’t tell from Ben’s photo. The data mining is both intriguing and worrying. Is it anonymized? Just how much data do they track? How personal is it? Some people dislike even TiVo’s anonymized, aggregated data collection. And this is ‘extensive’ and ‘real-time’.

While they mention 2-way CableCARD support, they don’t specifically mention what is supported - SDV? VOD? PPV? I’d venture a guess that SDV is supported, since the Tuning Resolver Adapter is close to finalized. They could build that capability into the box. Since this isn’t a consumer device and the software can, and probably will, be customized for each MSO, I think it is reasonable to expect they’ll be supporting VOD & PPV. But without an OCAP platform I don’t know about advanced cable services in general.

And, according to the press release, Digeo is continuing to work on an OCAP/tru2way version of their Moxi platform.

I have Charter, though they never offered Moxi in my neck of the woods. If they do start offering this Moxi 3012 in my area I’ll get one, at least for a while, to see how it fares.

EDIT: I received the following via the contact form after originally posting this:

On your press release of the 3012 I have a few answers to your speculation

1) Remote scheduling will be enabled, current Digeo Moxi 9012 users already enjoy this feature. Scheduling is done by logging into the charter.net portal with your charter.net email address and going to the TV section. First time users will have to associate the box with their email there.

Unfortunately at this time it requires that the customer have our High Speed Data product in addition to the DVR and that both services be on the same account.

2) Expansion
This is already an option on the older 9012 and 9022 boxes as well. Currently the older boxes only supported USB expansion. I would assume that the 3012 is the same (unless it has eSATA ports)

3) 3012 model name.
Unless Digeo’s changed their naming scheme the 12 in 3012 should stand for 1 TV, 2 Tuners.

In the 9000 series there were two models, 9012 and 9022. The 9022 supported two TVs through the usage of a “moxi mate” box

I’m guessing givng the 9022 configuration that the 3012 should have no less than a 160 gig base hard drive (to compete with the Motorola 6416 which offers 160 gigs)

Hope this information is helpfull!

James Doster
Digital Coordinator
Charter Communications

The press release:
Read the rest of this entry »

When I spoke with Digeo’s then-COO Greg Gudorf back in January, following their cancellation of nearly all of their previously announced product plans, he told me one of the projects that would be continuing was the Moxi HD DVR for Cable, which was then targeted for release by the end of 1Q08. When the end of Q1 came and went with no further word from Digeo, it looked like that box might’ve met an untimely end as well.

However, it seems it was just delayed a bit. Jeff Baumgartner at Light Reading has a sharp eye and he caught something in a press release from CableLabs about the upcoming Cable Show. (I see something about Sling Media in there too…) One of the products they announced that will be on display is the Digeo Moxi HD DVR 3012. CableLabs says:

Digeo will showcase its latest DVR for cable, the Moxi HD DVR 3012. Digeo will be showing the Emmy Award-winning user interface, dual digital tuning capability, and integrated CableCARD. This new DVR includes a streamlined processor and increased hard drive.

Over at Zatz Not Funny, reader ‘cableric’ left a comment with some industry insider information on the new box, which doesn’t sound all that encouraging really.

Oh, and this is what I spotted about Sling:

EchoStar Technologies LLC will demonstrate SlingModem™, the first DOCSIS® cable modem that fully integrates the place-shifting capabilities pioneered in the original Slingbox™. With the SlingModem, customers can easily watch and control their TV programming on any Internet-connected computing device just as they would in front of the living room television. The SlingModem provides the cable customer with both a broadband connection as well as the place-shifting functionality made famous by the Slingbox.

I’ve covered the SlingModem before, most recently from CES in January.

And they also mention Motorola’s SDV Tuning Resolver, the MTR700, which will be demo’d using a TiVo:

Motorola will demonstrate its MTR700 Tuning Adapter which connects unidirectional UDCPs (including a TiVo device, in specific) to a cable network, accessing multimedia content in the cable network’s switched digital video (SDV) tier. Seamless tuning of the TiVo device across both broadcast and SDV tiers will be shown. Motorola will also demonstrate its Integrated CMTS (I-CMTS) and SURFboard® cable modems, in a DOCSIS 3.0 setting using the traditional Motorola 2:8 DS/US Module and new TX32 high-density Decoupled Downstream Module.

That’s very good news, as it means TiVo must have their software well along, which means a summer release will probably happen as planned.

It sounds like there will be a lot of SDV & tru2way demos at The Cable Show, I wish I was going.

Picked up via Zatz Not Funny.

I just had a brief conversation with Gaby Adam of OnPR Public Relations, Digeo’s PR firm, and Greg Gudorf, Digeo’s current COO and soon-to-be CEO, to help clarify some of the issues relating to yesterday’s announcements. I’d like to thank them both for taking the time to speak with me during what is surely a very hectic period at Digeo. Gudorf again stressed that the departure of current CEO Mike Fidler was Filder’s decision, and that various reports that he was ‘forced out’ are inaccurate. Fidler will be remaining on with Digeo for an indefinitely period to help with Gudorf’s transition into the role of CEO.

The layoffs at Digeo impact approximately half of the staff, with nearly 80 people being released, from roughly 160 employees. Most of those laid off are from areas of the company not involved in product development. Digeo is looking to refocus on the development of a few key products going forward. The products that remain in development are:
- Moxi HD DVR for Cable
- Next-gen Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR
- Moxi TV for PC software
- Moxi OCAP/Tru2Way software

The Moxi HD DVR for Cable seems to be the closest to release. It is in field trials now and Gudorf says it will be released this quarter (1Q08). The Moxi HD DVR for Cable is a new hardware platform targeting cable MSOs, and it will compete with STBs from Motorola, Cisco, et al. Gudorf did say that it is an OCAP capable platform, which makes sense given the need to be competitive with the new STBs offered by other vendors. He was unwilling to state which cable MSOs might carry the new box, instead referring me to their current MSO partners as likely candidates for the new platform.

Gudorf was unwilling to share specifics on the next-generation consumer platform at this time, deferring any feature announcements until later this year. However, he did refer to it as “the next-generation Multi-Room HD DMR”, which certainly provides a strong hint at one of the product features. He did state that it is a CableCARD system, which is what I’d expect. From our conversation it sounds like it has been in development as the intended follow-on to the original Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR, which was canceled yesterday. Reading between the lines I’d say that, due to the lengthy delay in bringing the original box to market, Digeo simply decided to drop the original product to refocus resources on the newer platform as their first retail offering. (Shades of Atari dropping the Panther for the Jaguar. I’d guess maybe two people reading this got that reference.) Based on the state of the units shown at CES and what I heard from Digeo’s reps at the show, this is almost certainly the best move. It seemed likely the unit wouldn’t make it to market until late this year, at best, and by then the platform would be eclipsed by newer systems. I tried to get some more details on the unit, such as if it would be cable-only or if, like the TiVo Series3 & TiVo HD, it would support ATSC as well. But he again deflected questions on product specifics until later this year.

The Moxi TV for PC software, the Windows XP version of which is currently in beta, will remain in beta while work on the Vista version is completed. It will be released for both XP and Vista once the Vista version is completed and goes through beta. So it doesn’t sound like there are any real changes there, aside from possibly delaying the XP version’s release for the Vista version to be completed. That seems like a smart move to me, there will be less confusion if consumers don’t have to worry about which Windows they have, or wonder why it doesn’t work on their new PC.

Work on the OCAP/Tru2Way Moxi software continues. Gudorf declined to get into specifics on the software or time frame, other than to say that it is an important platform given the direction the market is taking. I’d certainly agree.

Digeo’s previously announced relationships with Monster Cable, 4Home Media, Flickr, Finetune, Accedo Broadband, and CloverLeaf Digital all remain in place. We’ve seen details on all of these, except for the Monster Cable relationship. All that has been stated regarding that relationship, to my knowledge, is that the two companies are exploring future product development opportunities together. I tried to get more details on the relationship from Gudorf, but, other than to say Digeo is excited to be working with Monster Cable, he left any product announcements as Monster’s to make. I am quite curious as to what that relationship may produce.

Again, I’d like to thank Gaby Adam and Greg Gudorf for taking the time to speak with me, clarify Digeo’s plans, and answer my questions. While I have at times been harsh in my posts about Digeo Moxi I do believe they have a good platform and the potential to provide TiVo some real competition in the DVR market. I think they need to improve some areas of the product, based on what I’ve seen to date, and I’m hopeful that this reorganization and refocusing of their development efforts will produce those changes, resulting in an even stronger product reaching the market. I look forward to seeing what details Digeo announces later this year with regard to their next-generation Multi-Room HD DMR, and I’ll be looking for more information on the HD DVR for Cable later this quarter, as well as keeping an eye out for any changes in the Moxi TV for PC and OCAP software efforts.

If I learn of any new information I’ll be sure to share it.

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 be on shelves by the fall of 2007. Clearly they failed to meet those goals, as the Home Cinema DMR had only recently gone into beta and the Multi-Room DMR still exists only in prototype and development models, and the display units at CES 2008 weren’t even running.

When Digeo first announced their plans the only viable 3rd party HD DVR was the TiVo Series3, which was still selling for nearly $800. However, in the meantime TiVo released the TiVo HD with a $300 MSRP while continuing to expand the feature set. Between sales, online discounts, and rebates the Series3 is regularly available for $350-$400 and the TiVo HD for ~$250. While the Moxi’s expected higher MSRP, expected to be around $1,000, would be partially offset by the lack of a subscription, it was still expected to be quite a bit more expensive while lacking some of the core features offered by TiVo. Based on my past comments it is probably no surprise that at this point I think canceling these units is the right thing to do. I just hope that they pay attention and take the best features of both units to produce one solid DVR with CableCARD and ATSC support. The Moxi software does have some very good things going for it, Digeo just needs to bring it together with a solid, affordable hardware platform, and fill in a few of the gaps in the software.

Also not mentioned in the article is the OCAP/Tru2Way port of the Moxi interface that Digeo claims to be working on currently. I would have to expect them to continue working on that, for the sake of the future of the company. The entire cable industry is moving to OCAP, aka Tru2Way, and a number of consumer electronics products supporting it were unveiled at CES. They really need to have a play in that area of the market going forward.

What is known is that Digeo will focus on another product, the Moxi HD DVR for Cable, which is due ’sometime later this year’. Little is known about this product, but a tiny image of it does appear on this page of Digeo.com in the lower-right corner. It is hard to tell from such a small image, but it looks to be quite a bit smaller than the Multi-Room HD DMR, which is good (see my earlier opinion on the looks of the Multi-Room box). It is black, and seems to more closely resemble the Home Cinema box overall. I can’t tell from the image if it has a DVD drive, as the two canceled units did. I do note that it is called a ‘DVR’ rather than a ‘DMR’, which makes me wonder if it will have the media features supported by the now-canceled units. And the fact that CNET referred to it as the ‘Moxi HD DVR for Cable‘ makes me wonder if it has any support for ATSC, or if it suffers the same glaring flaw as the Multi-Room DMR in lacking it.

There is a press release from May 7, 2007 in which Digeo announced a ‘Moxi HD DVR’ and the Moxi for OCAP development efforts. However, that press released also claimed the HD DVR would be available in 4Q07 and the first version of the OCAP software would be available in 4Q07 with additional versions in early 2008. From the press release it also sounds as if the HD DVR is aimed for sale to cable MSOs, while the CNET article makes it sound like a retail box. So it isn’t clear if this is the same unit they’re working on now for later in 2008, or if it is a newer unit with the same name. It could be that they’ll produce one unit and seek to distribute it both via cable MSOs and retail.

When I heard the news I contacted Digeo and their public relations firm for a clarification on these issues. Understandably, given the chaos caused by layoffs (I’ve been through that myself), no one was available to speak with me today. However, I currently have a conversation scheduled for tomorrow and I’ll follow up once I get some clarification on their product plans going forward.

Thanks to Brad Linder of PVR Wire @ TV Squad for the tip-off.

EDIT 19:33: EngadgetHD got a hold of a Digeo press release which makes things a bit clearer than CNET’s article. There are two products Digeo will continue to work on - the Moxi HD DVR for Cable and a ‘next-generation consumer DMR’ which will be a retail product. That makes things a bit more clear.

The Moxi HD DVR for Cable is intended for cable MSOs and the press release states that it is in trial now and will be released as planned. (Of course, it was ‘planned’ for 4Q07.) The next-generation consumer DMR has apparently been in development along side the canceled products, and development will continue.

So one is a new STB for the cable industry, which will likely be cable-only, while the other will be a retail STB, which will hopefully support CableCARD and ATSC. I’ll see what I can find out tomorrow.

EDIT: I’ve posted more information from my conversation with COO Greg Gudorf.

I visited both of Moxi’s locations at CES today and spent a fair bit of time talking to their reps and watching demos. I also got a little hands on time with the products. The Moxi reps were quite informative and helpful, and I appreciate it. First things first - still no pricing or release dates on any of the products. Though I did get a couple of reps to acknowledge that the $1000 MSRP that has been repeatedly associated with the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR is not an unreasonable figure. Also, there will be no subscription on the Moxi products - it is a one time purchase. So it is somewhat like product lifetime service on a TiVo. By way of comparison, the most recent price point for lifetime is $399, with TiVo selling a TiVo HD with product lifetime for $698. So $1000 might not be unreasonable, depending on the final product specs, such as drive capacity. There are still too many unknowns to call it. One rep said that ‘May’ might not be an unreasonable time frame for the first units.

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