Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Digeo is scheduled to release two DVRs this fall as retail products, after years of selling products to Cable companies. Now that CableCards are a requirement in most set top boxes, it will be nice to have some choices to replace the standard cable box. Right now the only options are Tivo and Vista Media Center, both of which are flawed in my opinion.

Digeo is releasing the following two products:

• Moxi Multiroom HD DMR, contains an integrated multistream CableCard intended to let the device be used on any cable system.
• Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR, is a Linux-based system that uses the recently announced AMD Live! Home Cinema reference design. No CableCard though.

I am not sure why a company would release a media center type device without CableCard support right now (Alienware Hangar 18 and HP’s 8010y also come to mind). The Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR sounds like a product that is dead on arrival. The Moxi Multiroom HD DMR looks more promising, though its success will hinge on its price-point. If it is more expensive that a Tivo Series 3, then I think it will never gain traction in the marketplace.

Moxi is also working on an OCAP solution. From the Digeo website:

Moxi for OCAP is a software-based version of the Moxi user interface optimized to run on lower-end set-top boxes and other hardware using the cable-industry standard OCAP middleware platform. Compatible with multiple hardware platforms, Moxi for OCAP provides cable operators increased flexibility in bringing the Moxi user experience to their customers as they strive to effectively compete with IPTV and satellite service providers to acquire and retain customers.

Check out Dave Zatz’s post about Digeo to see some more screenshots of the Moxi’s interface.