PVR Wire

Digeo has a small display set up as part of the Digital Home Display here at Digital Life. That's a lot of dig-stuff.

Anyway, Dave Zatz and I caught up with Digeo CEO Mike Fidler to ask him about the recently announced set-top Moxi box the company plans to launch next year.

The standalone box will have multistream CableCard support, an internet connection updating program guide data and streaming programming, and will cost somewhere around $1000, although Fidler says the price hasn't been determined yet.

While you're waiting for the new box, Digeo is planning three updates for Moxi boxes this fall (check with your cable provider to find out if and when they'll be available for your unit).

1. PC Link - Stream pictures and music from your PC to your set top box. THere may be future support for streaming video.
2. Add an external hard drive.
3. New meters to tell you how much space you have left on the disc.
   

We asked Fidler a little bit about why Digeo, which currently offers a PVR box and software for cable service providers wants to enter the standalone box market dominated by TiVo.

Mike Fidler: The plan is to release a retail product in the second half of 07.

Brad Linder: Why?

MF: Well, one is I think that the market opportunity is right. We know that consumers love this product. We know that from the close to 400,000 units that are already distributed to the market. But the challenge is to make sure consumers get exposure to it, that have an opportunity to it. And as a cable product, that is really run through the operator's side.

But what happens in July of next year is that the FCC is mandating that the cable operators remove separable security. So no embedded security, they have to use CableCard both for the products that they lease as well as the products that are then sold into a retail market. Because now as a consumer and as a retailer, you can sell that product and it will work on any cable system, which is not the case, certainly, today...

So that provides both the availability and the accessibility to consumers, because it's a national footprint, and it's a portable product. So even in given markets where you have two or three different operators you can still move it from operator to operator, all you need is a CableCard with the correct conditional access for it.

BL: That said, we're seeing estimates that it's going to cost about $1000, which is probably considerably more than customers are paying their cable provider for similar service right now.

MF: Well, we haven't set a price yet. I mean I know there's been some chatter about it. But what we have to do is identify to the user what additional value that product provides. This is a product that they can't typically get in most cable operators in the country. So they can't get the kind of capabilities and competencies of the product.

The other thing is what other value can we bring. One of them, we think is multi-room. That really is not a high level deployment strategy for cable at this point. So we think multi-room is what consumers really want, is once they get a PVR they want it all over. They want those capabilities. And so we're enabling that through our multi-room developments of today, and as we iterate that into a retail product next year.

The other thing is it will also have an IP connection. And an IP will allow us to deliver alternative services to the customer. Now right now that is EPG, which we do today, that's the ticker service we do. We also, because we're connected, we have ability to do diagnostics on the box. How hot is it running. Literally, every box we can identify.

Dave Zatz: Have you settled on any of the hardware specs yet?

MF: Other than a multi-stream CableCard, that's about all I can tell you about. We'll have much more detail for you in January at CES, unveil a product, and you'll see it there.

BL: It's a market at this point that most people think of as TiVo's. Even when you get you get your Comcast or Time Warner PVR, people call it TiVo. Since you're coming out with a box that has similar functions and capabilities, similar price point, and a year after the Series3, how are you going to differentiate yourself?

MF: We have a lot of additional capabilities, besides the interface itself. Because the basic interface is completely different than what TiVo offers. Some of the media center apps. The multi-room capability. We also are bringing web scheduling. But understanding what a consumer needs is making sure that you can do conflict resolution with it, on a real-time basis. You want that as a way to make sure your recording is actually identified and confirmed back by the box.

And then a whole series of other media center applications. PC link is a good example. That adds a lot of value to the product. So I think there's a lot of ways to differentiate, distinguish the two products. And I think the big thing is to make sure consumers get a chance to experience, and see it and use it in a retail environment. Right now it's closed, so you can't see it unless you're a a cable customer in that specific operator that offers our product.

BL: So right now your box has a lot of features that because of your partnerships with cable companies, you're not able to offer them directly to consumers, even though your hardware can handle it.

MF: That's correct. And one of the things that will change. Understanding how a cable company operates, because they have a big base of subscribers, is that new applications typically will only go down, maybe twice a year. That's a major code change, and they don't want to do that often. But with a direct connection in, with us controlling the distribution of that, I think we can bring new applications at a much quicker pace, and bring more value to the user as the product grows and the landscape changes.

I think that's important, people want, just like this ability to add an external drive, you shouldn't have to buy a new unit to get a larger hard drive.

BL: You don't expect to pull out of your traditional market, you're still going to be offering boxes through cable companies

MF: Absolutely, cable's still a core business for us. But we think it's important to start to diversify and branch out to other markets.

DZ: Are we going to see a Sony box with Moxi, given everyone's connections

MF: I can't comment at this point in time.

DZ: But I see you grinning.