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Moxi Functions In Charter Set-top Box Next Year
An anonymous reader writes: "Charter Communications will offer a Moxi-like
cable tv set top box with DVR / MP3 capabilities
next year.
Here it is. I like the idea of merging the set-top box with a DVR using normal cable tv or satellite. A good combination."
is that all these companies are owned by Paul Allen and the article states that the main competitor will be Microsoft (which was co-founded by Allen).
I like the idea of merging the set-top box with a DVR using normal cable tv or satellite. A good combination.
The trade-off, of course, is that they _both_ have to be upgraded if you want something better. The whole unit would have to be replaced, in this case.
See how much people on here bitch about the iMac if you don't think this would be a problem.
--saint
I like the idea of merging the set-top box with a DVR using normal cable tv or satellite. A good combination.
Perhaps to thwart TV "thieves" like myself. I'd say the odds against this device having a commercial skip button or even a fast-forward are pretty high.
cat
Maybe someone has come up with this thought before...
With all these convergence boxes/devices has anyone put in any thought about what happens when one breaks? I mean, if I invest in one device for everything and it breaks/hangs/crashes I'm SOL for everything I use the box for. I'd hate to lose TV, music, DVDs, gaming and web all at once...
I tend to like many devices with specific purposes. That also seems to keep the stability up reasonably well.
Does anyone else agree?
Why, the Moxi Pad of course!
Karma: Marginal (mostly due to the border around the website)
The benefit is that as the signal comes off the satellite it can be written directly to disk. The encoder/decoder is not required, and hence you get better video quality.
The reason I've not purchased a Tivo (other than the need for the stupid on-going service) is that I don't want to do MPEG->Analog->MPEG->Disk->Analog to watch my satelite feed. MPEG->Disk->Analog is a much shorter path with only a single decode involved.
This is the reason I'll be getting the DVR from DishTv. The new dual tuner model is pretty sweet.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Is that the cable company would controll it. Take the ReplayTV fiasco for instance. They fought back because they don't get any perks from the industry, however cable companies, that is their bread and butter. And being a cable company, God only knows what features they can/will/could put in it, or disable (like 30 second skip to bypass commercials). I don't trust the same people who provide my content to be the ones who allow me to manipulate it at whim. Then again todays climate could just have me uoverly paranoid :)
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
No, they have them in Europe... called a Bidet or something like that.
(:
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
The reason I've not purchased a Tivo (other than the need for the stupid on-going service) is that I don't want to do MPEG->Analog->MPEG->Disk->Analog to watch my satelite feed. MPEG->Disk->Analog is a much shorter path with only a single decode involved.
Um.. the direct tivo unit records directly from the stream. There is no analog conversion involved until you watch it. Its mpeg stream to disk direct. Its also dual tuner and avaliable now.
This sounds like a great idea but i'm sure there will be some type of encoding that won't allow you to record premium channels or skip commercials. This is just some kind of ploy to trick the consumer into self-limiting what they can record and view.
If I remember correctly, the original Moxi system had optional set-top boxes that you could string via Ethernet throughout the house to watch content off the main box on other TVs. That's what I found the most appealing about the Moxi. The rest is hardly an improvement over the current TiVo devices.
I was very pleased to see on the Cox web site that they are working on integrating a PVR into the cable box as well. Woo hoo!
Cox also rocks in that they are going to supply HDTV signals. Double woo hoo! Maybe it'll actually be worth buying an HDTV unit someday.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I don't have Direct TV, so that doesn't help me.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Uh, the DirecTivo is a DirectTV decoder. And it's a dual-tuner Tivo. Pretty sweet, actually.
--Be human.
There are some definite benefits to a combined system: digital channels can be recorded without being re-compressed, increasing quality; it's easier & more likely to be able to record more than one show at a time; it should cost less than two separate units duplicating functionality; the combined UI could be simpler to use.
There are some pretty significant drawbacks, though. As others have pointed out, these units are unlikely to have features content providers dislike -- they certainly won't have automatic commercial skipping, and may not have 30-second skip; they're not likely to have internet video sharing; they may have restrictions on how long shows can be kept, how many times they can be played, and whatkinds of shows can be recorded. The biggest problem, though, is that the end user won't own the unit -- it'll be rented from the cable company. Thus, no modifications. No HD upgrades, no tivo web, no shell hacking, nada.
All the cool MP3 related devices (eg Voyetra's AudioTron, the SliMP3, etc) are unavailable here for various reasons...
The SliMP3 is available in Australia, you just have to order it from us directly. Why? Because network MP3 players are not a mainstream product (in Australia or the USA for that matter) so it's hard to get them onto the shelves in retail outlets. Also we're a small company with "slim" margins, so we need to sell direct.
We have found some reatilers in Europe who now carry our product, but as yet we do not have an Australian reseller yet.
Just get together with a few of your friends to save on the shipping costs. We've sold a lot of players in Australia, you just have to import it yourself. It's actually cheaper than it would be to pick it up from a local store (by the time the reseller pays import tax and adds their markup).
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about bringing the product in to Australia. Also, if you know anyone who might be interested in promoting the SliMP3 in Australia, please let me know!
Right on the Moxi product page: "Conditional Access Decryption". Well of course they're going to put in restrictions on how and when you view things. This is a product for the cable industry to help them make more money. If it was intended to make TV better for the consumer, you'd see them on sale at Circuit City and Best Buy.
This is more a slam on Charter than anything else. I'm amazed they managed to figure out the whole PVR thing, considering that you either need two remotes to record something, or a cable mouse on your VCR. On the plus side, it is kinda an improvement, since their current "digital cable" box has numerous bugs and I can make it crash once a day, doing nothing too involved. Laaaaaaaaaaaaa......
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
Well, I've never seen a PC tuner card that will receive digital cable channels, so you can't really build a homemade version of a digital cable box. If you know of one, please tell me!
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
Please note that digital cable is not the same as DTV. It's NTSC video, digitized and compressed with MPEG of some form, and delivered over cable by QAM or something similar. Those Hauppage DTV cards do ATSC, which is the broadcast format for DTV. So, no dice.
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
I highly doubt a cable company is going to push a device that enables their customers to circumvent commercials. It is not in their interests.
cat