EchoStar continues to pitch US cable providers with a higher end set-top box solution. The company, generally known for its satellite television technology, first unveiled a CableCARD-powered tru2way DVR with Slingbox capabilities back in 2009. Despite what appears to be limited interest and uptake, EchoStar presses on and announced the Aria initiative earlier this summer. Amongst other elements, the Aria ecosystem consists of three cable box options … and a variant (DE52) of the top tier unit (HC–620DRS) may have just passed through the FCC. From the filing:
The Delta Cable box is an in home set top designed to be connected to a Tier 2 cable system and provide QAM, True 2-way, MoCa, Out of Band, and DOCSIS support. The set top box provides various A/V outputs along with Ethernet and USB I/O. The set top box is equipped with an internal hard drive for DVR functionality. It also has a daughter card built in which allows for content place shifting.
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Am I the only one to see this as a huge change in the DVR landscape? It looks as though TiVo finally has some decent competition.
This probably isn't intended for retail... they're targeting midsize cable operators according the filing (and based on their presence at events like The Cable Show). If anything, TiVo's proven there's no money to be made from retail CableCARD DVRs.
Dave,
When I enlarge the pictures for this and flip through the album it continues into the Insignia Connected TV pictures as well. I assume that wasn't intended.