(Credit:
Digeo)
Digeo is adding several networking features to its Moxi DVR via a free firmware upgrade. Available to Moxi owners by the end of the week, the new functions are as follows:
Media Link: Stream digital media (videos, photos, and music) from DLNA-certified devices on your home network.
PlayOn: Watch Internet-based videos from a variety of online providers, including Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, and ESPN. This requires a PC running PlayOn's software. (It's normally $40, but Digeo is offering a free license key to current and new Moxi owners for a limited time.)
Rhapsody: Onscreen access to the Rhapsody subscription music service (requires Rhapsody subscription; free trial available).
eControls: Onscreen access to Z-wave-certified home automation products within your home, including lighting controls and security cameras.
MoxiNet: Bookmark any Web site at Moxi.com, and then access it on your TV via the Moxi.
In addition to those new features, Moxi is also expanding its Flickr photo viewing functionality with "Mosaic," a new viewing mode that offers many more photos on the screen at once.
The upgrades should help Digeo as it competes against TiVo (which also offers network media streaming and Rhapsody, for instance, as well as other premium services such as Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand) and generic "free" DVRs from cable providers. Moxi has a high up-front cost of $800, but--unlike TiVo--it doesn't require any additional fees thereafter (not including cable service fees, of course).
CNET has obtained a Moxi review sample, and--once we get a visit from the CableCard installer next week--we'll be doing a full review of the product. (Note that PlayOn would seem to be a killer app; we've had mixed results when using earlier versions of the service on a PlayStation 3--so we're particularly interested in hands-on testing of that feature in particular.) In the meantime: let us know if you think these upgrades make Moxi any more tempting--or if that high up-front price tag is still a deal killer.
Update, 9:15 a.m. PT: Additional info regarding the free PlayOn offer has been added.
(Credit:
Digeo)
Recently, Digeo began selling its new Moxi CableCard DVR at Amazon for a whopping $800. That got us thinking about the whole DVR category, and how the real prices of the products are often hidden with subsidies (from cable or satellite companies) or service fees (such as with TiVo).
If you're looking for a digital video recorder, your choices are limited by how you receive your TV signal--satellite, over-the-air antenna, or cable--and how much you're willing to pay a month. Satellite subscribers are shoehorned by their provider--Dish offers the excellent ViP722 (with the SlingLoaded ViP922 due later this year), and DirecTV offers the DirecTV Plus HD DVR HR21. Antenna-only folks were the most limited: previously, the only choice was TiVo (which, again, requires a monthly or lifetime fee for service), but the availability of the DTV Pal DVR offers the promise of a no-fee DVR with support for digital and HD TV signals--just pay for the hardware, and you're done. (CNET is currently evaluating the DTV Pal DVR, and will have a review later this month.)
For cable subscribers, things can be a bit more varied--and almost certainly more expensive. Nearly all cable companies now offer their subscribers an HD DVR option. They'll tout it as "free" (in that you don't have to buy the hardware), but your bill will undoubtedly include a rental charge for the hardware (and the remote!), as well as a "DVR service fee." Want to get a real TiVo instead? That may cut the rental charge and DVR service fee from your monthly cable bill, but then you're stuck paying a service fee straight to TiVo ($13 a month, $129 a year, or a flat $400 fee for the lifetime of the box). Meanwhile, your cable company still gets in on the action; they may still charge you for CableCard rental fees (needed for the TiVo to receive digital and premium channels), plus the normal service fee on top of that (the channel charges that make up the bulk of your bill). Going with the lifetime fee (just because it's easy), that brings the real-world cost of the cheapest high-def TiVo, the TiVo HD, to around $700.
Enter the Digeo Moxi. ... Read more
(Credit:
Digeo)
Remember Digeo's Moxi? After spending years in development, the DVR start-up was aiming to go head-to-head with TiVo by offering a DVR system optimized for sharing home recordings between multiple rooms in the home. We even got to see a demo and thought it looked pretty good. But it's a tall order to sell consumers on paying for a DVR--even one with some compelling value-added features--when they're used to leasing one that's "good enough" from their cable company with no up-front cost. The last we heard was that Digeo hit a rough patch (even before the current financial crisis), and canceled its then-current DVR products.
But blogger Dave Zatz has spotted what appears to be a new Moxi HD DVR. The updated model seems to offer all of the standard DVR accouterments (dual HD tuners, CableCard support) and a few TiVo-style extras (expandable storage, remote scheduling, Flickr access, and music streaming). Gone--or at least unmentioned--are an over-the-air tuner and room-to-room video streaming.
Right now, Digeo is selling the Moxi DVR directly to consumers through Amazon. But the $800 price tag will undoubtedly induce sticker shock. That's without a TiVo-style subscription fee (at least for now), but your cable company will still be taking its pound of flesh with CableCard rentals, service fees, and franchise fees. Meanwhile, Moxi lacks the growing boatload of Internet-delivered subscription and pay-per-view features that TiVo's been amassing to distinguish itself from generic cable DVRs (Netflix, Rhapsody, CinemaNow, Live365, and YouTube).
Digeo's expected to launch the new Moxi officially at CES 2009. Perhaps then we'll get more clarification as to how the company expects to compete at that price point. Until then, I'd say an $800 DVR has a tough row to hoe.
Zatznotfunny: Digeo unveils new Moxi HD DVR
Moxi.com: Moxi HD DVR product page
On Sale Now: $499.00
View the latest prices for Digeo Moxi HD DVR
Update 12:00 p.m. PST: This blog has been updated with more details, as well as comments from Mike Fidler and Greg Gudorf.
If you were eagerly anticipating Digeo's Moxi Multi-Room HD digital media recorder, don't hold your breath.
The Kirkland, Wash.-based company revealed significant changes Tuesday, including the cancellation of two previously announced product lines, the Multi-Room HD DMR and the Moxi Home Cinema Edition DMR. As a result of slashing those products from its lineup, nearly half of its staff will be laid off, and current Chief Executive Mike Fidler will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Greg Gudorf, the company said Tuesday.
(Credit:
Digeo)
In an interview with CNET News.com, Fidler blamed the shift in strategy on the company's "inability to deliver some products on time" and "dynamics that occur in the marketplace."
The canceled products were in various stages of production, from pre-production to beta testing with customers, though none was produced in volume yet, said Gudorf.
"As we assessed our situation, it became clear that the best action for Digeo was to focus our work on the next-generation product for the retail market," Gudorf said in a statement. "Building the software and hardware for this category is a complex endeavor, with dynamic technical standards, regulatory issues, and content considerations. Previously, we were spreading our energies across too many platforms."
Digeo will focus on, and still plans to release, the Moxi HD DVR for Cable sometime later this year. Gudorf will take over as chief executive "very soon," according to Fidler, who will stay on as long as necessary to help with the transition. Fidler says he chose to step down on his own.
This is a big shift for Digeo, which acquired the Moxi brand when the two companies merged in 2002. Though the Paul Allen-backed company made a big splash with Moxi's vast feature set at the Consumer Electronics Show that same year, the Moxi DVR was never available to retail customers directly--a la TiVo--and instead was only available from a handful of cable companies. Digeo will still release future retail products, as well as continue its cable relationships, Gudorf said.
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