DVR Archives - Page 9 of 65

Tablo OTA DVR Now Available For Pre-Order

The cord cutting options are heating up, with Tablo poised to ship in February. I spent some quality time at the Digital Experience with CEO Grant Hall going over their offering… that consists of both two- and four-tuner configurations to pull in luscious broadcast video via antenna, without going through a cable company. Like Simple TV, the … Read more

Super Joey & Joey Apps To Extend DISH Hopper

While DISH’s CES press conference remains 24 hours away, the missing pieces have somewhat clarified since we first began tracking a refreshed DISH Hopper and “Super Joey” — which passed through the FCC in November. Of course, the DISH Hopper (with Sling) is the award winning satellite TV DVR, that acts as a hub to Joey extenders. And DISH’s 2014 show message is all about expanding those whole-home Joey capabilities. From recent press outreach:

DISH will be showing new ways for viewers to enjoy their favorite channels with the award-winning Hopper HD DVR, to address family channel conflict, cabling issues, and to control clutter.

Read more

Next Gen SimpleTV Now Shipping (Delayed)

Right on schedule, second generation Simple.TV network tuner pre-orders have begun shipping. To improve upon the first gen, Simple.TV partnered with Silicon Dust to produce a smaller, yet more more powerful dual tuning unit to better leverage those high definition over-the-air broadcasts. For maximum flexibity, but a possibly higher geek quotient, SimpleTV remains hard driveless … Read more

Hands On With The Channel Master DVR+

We’ve been tracking Channel Master‘s moves since new digital video recorder hardware first surfaced in FCC documents last summer. They’ve clearly used the intervening months wisely to fine tune both the product experience and marketing strategy as the originally documented pair of K77 set-tops has been whittled down to the single and more memorable DVR+ ($250). And, as you … Read more

Channel Master CM-7500 OTA DVR Nears Release?

Originally scoped out last summer via FCC docs, it seems safe to assume that the Echostar-produced Channel Master OTA DVR nears release given web store references uncovered by AVS Forum members.

While the July government filing referred to a pair of units, at this point we only see reference to a single fee-free $250 dual-tuning model – alternately referred to as the CM-7500 and DVR+… that may require external storage for DVR capabilities given the 500GB ($70), 1TB ($95) & 3TB ($125) Seagate hard drive accessories (in addition to a $40 wireless option). Sadly, the product page (which has been pulled), didn’t include glamour shots or detail on which over-the-top Internet services might be included.

Do Retail DVRs Have a Chance?

There’s a lot of bad news on the retail set-top front. According to the NCTA, the number of retail CableCARD devices deployed has dropped to 600,000 from 603,000 since August. No big surprise. Despite a few flickers of life, the retail CableCARD market has been on a path of decline for years. But then there’s also the news that Intel has gone belly up with its OnCue set-top plans, and even Amazon is delayed with its Kindle-branded set-top, that was supposed to go to market before year end.

Do future retail DVRs have a shot?

Well, actually, yes.

Motorola’s Moloney Tipped for TiVo’s Board

Every industry has its own small-world feel, and the cable industry perhaps more than most. Enemies and friends disappear and then reappear in new circles. Opponents in one fight end up allies in another. And the once-president of Motorola Mobility joins the Board of Directors for retail rival TiVo.

Such is the case with Dan Moloney. Moloney rose up through General Instruments, and was part of the acquisition of GI by Motorola in 2000. He ran Motorola’s Connected Home business (known by a variety of names over the years), and, after a brief stint as CEO of Technitrol in 2010, took on the role of President at Motorola Mobility when the original Motorola split in two. He left again in 2012 when Google took over, and has largely been off the radar for the last year.

Now Moloney’s back,

Cox Pulls The Plug On flareWatch OTT TV Service

Another one bites the dust… Cox Communication’s over the top flareWatch television experiment has come to an end, with customers being notified of service termination and refunds (1, 2) while the landing page indicates “Service Unavailable.” The offering, built upon FanTV hardware, was intended to provide advanced television services, including cloud DVR and VOD, to cord cutters … Read more