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The Moxi DVR and its new extender (right), the Moxi Mate.

(Credit: Digeo)

When we last heard from Digeo in April, the company was adding several digital media extras to its flagship Moxi DVR. Flash forward to August, and the company is back with more updates, the biggest of which is a new hardware announcement. The Moxi Mate is an "extender" that adds multiroom capability to any household with a Moxi DVR. The box is basically a thin client (no hard drive) that can access recorded content from the main Moxi, as well as all of the system's online and home networking digital extensions (Rhapsody, PC-based media streaming, PlayOn content such as Netflix and Hulu, and so forth).

Sounds great, but there are some caveats that prospective buyers should know. Most importantly: the Moxi Mate can't currently support the streaming of live TV--only programs that you've previously recorded on the main Moxi DVR. And while you could theoretically have several Moxi Mates in a household, Digeo currently supports only one of them streaming from the main Moxi at a time. (Of course, all of these issues could possibly be addressed in future firmware updates--but those are the product's initial notable limitations.) The other big deal: the Mate doesn't have a built-in Wi-Fi connection, so you'll need to supply an Ethernet network connection.

On the plus side: the video streaming is said to be nearly instantaneous, unlike TiVo's multiroom solution, which requires the video files to be copied to the hard drive in another room first prior to viewing. Also, the Moxi Mate will automatically resume paused programs. So, if you watch half of a movie on the main Moxi, you can retire to the bedroom and easily pick up where you left off on the Moxi Mate.

In addition to the Moxi Mate announcement, Digeo also rolled out new software to existing Moxi DVR owners that adds a variety of small upgrades. Among them:

(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

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.

Digeo's upcoming DVRs have a pretty slick interface.

(Credit: Digeo)

Digeo dropped by the CNET offices this morning to give us a demo of their upcoming HD DVR, Moxi. We first saw Moxi many a CES ago and were definitely impressed, but since then only certain areas have had access to the hardware through their cable company. Now Digeo is looking to bring Moxi directly to consumers, in two flavors: the Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR and the Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR.

The Moxi Multi-Room HD DMR is for cable subscribers that want to ditch their current cable boxes and use the Moxi with a CableCard. So what does Moxi deliver that your cable company's box doesn't? Here's a quick rundown of the features:

• Large internal hard drive
• Ability to add additional space via an eSATA port
• Built-in DVD player, can rip CDs to the hard drive
• Can stream any programming (including DVDs) to a smaller second-room unit called Moxi Mate, which is included in the package
• Can stream music, movies and photos from a networked PC

The Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR is geared more towards those that get their programming high-def via over-the-air ATSC broadcasts. It has basically the same feature set as the Multi-Room HD DMR, with a couple important differences: it has both digital and analog tuners, and it lacks the multiroom functionality.

All these features are great, but perhaps the most impressive aspect was the Moxi's interface. The onscreen menus are all in slick high-def graphics and in the upper right hand corner there was a window that was always showing what was playing while we browsed. The interface as a whole navigates very much like Sony's Cross Media Bar menu system--you browse the different functions by scrolling on the horizontal axis and then the options within a function are available on the vertical axis. The best thing we noticed about it was response speed--it was extremely fast and you could scroll through your thousand-plus lineup of digital cable channels in just a few seconds.

Digeo says these boxes will be coming this fall but haven't announced pricing yet, although with all the functionality packed into this box, we're guessing it won't be cheap. It's also worth noting that buying a CableCard DVR from anyone but your cable company is going to remain a risky venture if we see more cable companies moving to switched digital video, because you'll miss out on the extra channels they should be able to provide. And remember all the standard CableCard caveats still apply--you won't be able to take advantage of any video-on-demand or pay-per-view services.

We're already on the list to get a review sample when it comes out, so stay tuned for our hands-on review.