[Link: gizmodo.com]

look at that cable box.
they spent time on it. seems like they care about it . .

then look at the scientific atlanta and motorola boxes . .


why cant we have IR control ports,
a good looking box, and a gui that is HD and is easy to use,
and looks good, and has cool features.

these are some of the biggest companies out there ..
comcast , time warner , cablevision . .

why do they make such shit products ..

you know why, because of the lack of competition . .
for years you did not have a choice of which cable company
you have in oyur area. you are stuch with whatever is zoned to you.
now with directv getting better everyday, and with verizon fios around the corner for most people . .these cable companies better wake up..

its not just about how many hd channels you have , its about which ones are good
its about who has the best interface , and the best options.

get with it cable co's!!!!!!

i hate em all.
(rant complete.)

We are getting into a form or function debate? I could care less how ugly a cable box looks. The damned thing is supposed to be hidden in the rack, anyway. But where did you note the fucntional feature set? I've seen no mention of IR control ports, the HD GUI, or any of its feaures? It does look good.

Alan

Right, since when do you put cable boxes on display? And by the way the cable company's do not make the boxes and if you want a third party cable box that looks neater, you get always buy tivo.

DirecTV is as good as it gets, with our without TIVO.

Comcast via motorola boxes is the cable option where im from and they suck. The interface is rediculous.

I upgraded a client to an Comcast moto HD DVR a couple years ago and it wouldnt play nice with a lexicon so he wasnt able to get analog audio. Nice huh?

[Link: dslreports.com] My user name there is/was StallIN.

the point of showing that french box was to show how some companies put care in to their products . . some dont. really i dont care how they look (but couldnt hurt if they looked cool as we deal with them daily),
but if they put that much care in to the hardware looks, they might also be putting more care in to OS, internal hardware, GUI, control, etc

the current cables boxes are "good enough, lets ship em"
zero innovation and care as they have no competition.

i was hoping that when cisco bought SA things would change,
but all that really changes was the IR codes!

tivo doesnt support 2 way for on demand . .

fios is a step in the right direction, but still pretty wrong.
widgets , browsing on demand movies with album art ,
good search . . all good steps..

and cable companies do spec out the boxes even though they arent actually making them.

Actually behind the scenes the next generation servers are a dramatic improvement on today's. But you'll have to wait till the analog transmissions end for their introduction. These feature changes may have nothing to due with the GUI, IR codes but it will have a lot to do with how channels are transmitted. Currently all channels are being broadcast and sent down the pipe (coax). The next generation of backend servers will only send down the pipe the specific channel the box(es) are requesting.

Again, what does the cable company want? To maximize revenues. They will do this by incerasing the number of channels they carry and by incrasing subscribers and finally by adding on features for which they can charge a premium. They make no money on industria design, GUI, rear IR port, or even IR protocol.

Alan

You remind me of the impression I had when I first saw Terk products.

AWARD WINNING PRODUCTS!

It turned out that they won awards for their clean lines, for their cool looks. Forget the fact that you've got a customer buying an FM antenna that will positively suck in all ways...except for looking cool.

As far as I know, the big round AM antenna and the multiswitches are the first Terk products that actually worked as advertised.

I hope that cable box works as cool as it looks.

gui does has an effect on sales,
so does options . .

as long as people have choices, these will matter . .
(these days its mostly lowest price that matters,
but behind that is functionality imo)

The newest generation Multi room Moxi box is about to be released and although I can't say much I will tell you there is a ton of focus on speed and control. It is worlds apart from the old one and you guys are going to like it. Digeo is on the right path.

for any of you that didn't check it out at Cedia, keep an eye on this site for release details. http://www.moxi.com/

For those of you going to EHX, check it out there.

Ps. The focus is to replace cable and satellite boxes with a cool controllable soloution.

does it support 2 way communication with cable co's?
is it competitively priced with cabl box dvr (12$ month x12months etc)

You can get the box through the cable company but it's feature set is limited. Buy the box direct, collect your margin and its wide open. A beta contract limits my conversation here but a little digging and/or a trip to EHX will provide you with an answer you'll be happy with.

moxi is pretty neat. I wish kaleidescape would come up with something for cable and satellite. A single UI for all video would be incredible.

wait . .
i can get moxi from my cable co?

Yes, most of them will carry it but you are better off getting it direct without all the locked feature sets. The current Moxi is the last generation and not even close to the one that is about to be released.