Dave Zatz

Hands On With PalmOS Slingplayer and Slingcatcher

Last night at the Digital Experience sideshow over at Caesars (featuring piles o’ crab cakes and lobster spring rolls), I spent a few minutes with the Sling folks and touched some of the new stuff. The PalmOS player seems entirely functional (we connected to a Slingbox broadcasting from the Golden Gate Bridge?!), though the skin/GUI isn’t complete. I also got a closer look at the SlingCatcher. The flat white piece in the third photo is the optional hard drive accessory that the Catcher will sit on (it looks like they’ll connect via USB).

I have a thorough briefing planned this AM by the Sling folks, though they slipped and let me in on to two pretty interesting announcements coming: one today, one tomorrow. I’ll share more when I get a bit more info and clearance to post.

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Mac TiVoToGo Is Here… By Roxio?!

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Mac TiVoToGo is finally here, and it’s not at all what we expected. Mac TiVoToGo does not require the TiVo Desktop and has been entirely built into Roxio Toast 8 Titanium as a collaboration between TiVo and Sonic. Product Directors Amir Gharaat (TiVo) and Adam Fingerman (Roxio) got me up to speed last week during a conference call.

As we know, Mac TiVoToGo is looooong overdue so my first question was: “What happened?” If you recall, we saw an alpha version at CES last year which looks nothing like what they’ve just devliered. As I suspected, the main sticking point was TiVo’s inability to keep the media locked down (as they do using Microsoft DirectShow on Windows). After spinning their wheels with “content security issues” for awhile, they turned to partner Sonic for technical assistance last spring… and here we are!

Mac TiVoToGo (via Toast) is composed for four distinct functions: TiVo Transfer, Video Playback, DVD Burning, and Portable Conversions.

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PalmOS Slingplayer Gets Official

A few months ago I pealed a sticker off a Slingbox Tuner and discovered a Palm logo. In short order Sling Media confirmed to me that a Palm client was in the works, but they weren’t prepared to commit to a time frame. As CES is the place for cool announcements, Sling has the product … Read more

Digeo Announces Two Stand-Alone HD DVRs

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The press release drops tomorrow, but I’ve got the deets (and a sexy pic) today.

A few months back, Digeo announced they were switching gears expanding new markets by prepping a stand-alone HD DVR to be sold through electronics retailers. (Current Moxi boxes are distributed through cable providers, such as Charter, with 400,000 in circulation.) Turns out, there are at least two models coming down the pike.

At CES, Digeo will preview two prototypes of planned products for consumers. Both versions will feature the Emmy Award-winning Moxi interface, an integrated CD/DVD player, and features that allow users to watch, record and play high-definition programming, stream content from their PCs and support web scheduling. One prototype, the Moxi Multi-room HD DMR, will provide multi-room HD recording and playback with an integrated multi-stream CableCard (M-Card). A second prototype, the Moxi Home Cinema Edition HD DMR, is a Linux-based system leveraging the recently announced AMD LIVE! Home Cinema reference design that includes advanced audio features and is the ultimate device for home theatre enthusiasts. The Moxi retail product offerings are planned to be available in the second half of 2007.

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