Later this week, Digeo will unveil two interest-free Moxi HD DVR ($799, no fees) payment plans – as illustrated above. While I would have preferred to see a straight up price cut, this may may reduce the sticker shock for some and/or make the device more accessible. As this program initially rolls out, installment pricing won’t be available in 13 states and DC due to legal restrictions. If demand is strong, Digeo intends to work through these issues to secure approval in all territories.
Give recent work travel, I haven’t yet moved my loaner Moxi HD DVR into the bedroom – where the majority of our time-shifted television viewing occurs. I plan to get it relocated in the next day or so and will start answering some of your questions… so keep ’em coming.
$40 bucks a month is a lot to pay for television. I’d rather see them do a rental for $19.99 and let them keep in the hardware. Hard to make an $800 commitment without experiencing the unit first hand and it’s hard to experience it without buying it and taking it home. I think this is a bigger impediment then the issue of up front vs. over 20 months.
I will be ordering a moxi most expeditiously when they roll they payment plan out.
Interesting pricing structure. Should work well for them. Still, I can’t imagine the market for an “upscale” DVR exists. TiVo is having trouble boarding customers at roughly 1/4 the price point, and there are only so many elitists who will pay big bucks for a sexy UI …
This is a pretty good idea. You know, I always thought the DVR’s you rent from the Cable Co. should be rent to own. That is, once your monthly rental fees has met or exceeded the value of the hardware, the hardware should become yours and the monthly rental fee’s should go away.
Everyone win’s in that situation. It’s rare for a DVR to last 4 years before being swapped out due to hard drive , power supply, or some other failure. So even if one were to be that lucky to still have a 4 year old working DVR, to the cable co, that equipment should now be fully depreciated and they have recovered it’s full original value in rental fee’s. Plus shortly after that you can bet that something’s going to break. Although if its YOUR dvr, you would then have the right at that point in time to open it up and install a new hard drive, or e-bay a power supply board, etc…
The $40 a month for 20 months is like a very high rental fee, but at the same time it’s a much more accelerated “rent to own”, vs. waiting for a normal $12.95 ish monthly fee over 4 whole years. That’s something much easier to gulp in this economy, rather than $800 all at once. I mean what can a good $800 get me? New bedroom furniture, new office furniture, halfway to a macbook, a ps3 and xbox 360, another TV, a new washer and/or dryer, a new fridge, etc… $800 can get you a lot.
Where are the payment options at on moxi’s site? Or is Texas one of the places the deal is not available?
Mark, Not sure on the status of Texas but Digeo hasn’t updated their site publicly yet. The new plans (and site update) are expected to go live by the end of this week.
40 buck a month for 20 months is an interesting idea. The big concern is whether Moxi will be around 2 years from now to provide service to the box.
The other nice potential is future resale value. TiVo’s with Lifetime have a solid resale history, so if Moxi upgrades it’s hardware, the upgrade price wouldn’t be so bad if you include resale of older model.
Hmmm…this isn’t as good as a price cut, but it does make it a lot more paletable…
I wish someone would break the NDA of the current TiVo beta and let the rest of us know if they’re testing the HD interface yet…
Also, Dave — Engadget HD cited you on this but Gizmodo seemed to have snubbed you. Do we need to give them a beat-down?
Giz is often good to me – so this could be a simple oversight or perhaps Digeo dropped them a note directly. I’m not sweating it. :)
I’d be keen to know:
1. What exactly does this box get you that TiVo HD/S3 doesn’t; and
2. How big is the hard drive – can it be expanded with a side car?
…Dale
Dale,
The specs are at the Moxi website. It’s got 500GB internal with room for up to 2TB external ESATA.
What it has the TiVo doesn’t? Native HD interface, ability to play HULU and other online video as well as websites with “Play On” software, a couple of Arcade games, Picture In Menu viewing.
What TiVo has that Moxi doesn’t? Wishlist, Suggestions, move shows to PC or other device, Amazon, Jaman, CinemaNow, TiVo friendly interface (still waiting on good video showing Moxi interface).
It’s WAY too early to say which one’s better, and I’ll be interested in seeing a Zatz demo. For the price, I’m still happy with what TiVo offers me, but some solid competition can only help the market, especially since all the cable boxes I’ve seen are complete crap.
Oh yeah, also I’ve only heard Moxi having Ethernet networking, while TiVo has both ethernet and wireless networking capability.
One more. TiVo can record OTA but Moxi is cable only.
Brian, I wouldn’t count on Jaman being long for this world.
Dale, Certainly differences in specs and features are worth covering, but so is the experience. That’s a bit more subjective and will take more time living with it, though.
obligatory rant on the wording of 200$ less than semi comporable TiVo. They pick the TiVo HDXL with 1 TB drive to compare – yet TiVo HD has dual analog tuners and OTA but just a smaller 250 Gig drive for 100$ less AT RETAIL than a MOXI. I can pick up a 500 Gig DVR expander for TiVo for 90$ now adays and once again have way more features like MRV and abpove mentioned OTA for less than the cost of a MOXI.
So once again Digeo is sounding desperate for any sales to the point of “marketing lying” and any chance I might have taken them up on a 40$ a month deal is blown by their objectionable marketing tactics that makes me simply mistrust the whole company
Zeo, I agree that the front page wording is misleading, but when you go to their side-by-side comparison page, they are pretty honest about what TiVo has compared to Moxi. MUCH more honest that other product side-by-sides I’ve seen on other websites.
I agree though that dollar-for-dollar, TiVo has a better product based on the specs (or possibly even neutral when you look at all the pros and cons). As Zatz says, the big question will be user experience, which I’m looking forward to getting a review.
Thanks Brian and Dave. I couldn’t live without wishlists. I use them constantly. Sounds like the moxi box’s primary benefit is its slick HD interface. But aren’t we exepcting a new slick HD interface from TiVo sometime soon? If/when TiVo knocks this out it ‘could’ overcome the Moxi’s biggest advantage?
I guess I should look at the spec sheet. Too lazy right now. Maybe Dave can ad a link to the spec sheet in his review. If the moxi has a more powerful processor or more RAM than the TiVo HD or S3 that too could be a differentiator re: future performance.
…Dale
FYI: the payment plans are currently no good in Texas. Boo hiss.