BREAKING VOOM DVR News from CES!!!

[Ilya]

VOOM news from CES-2005

• Demonstration of a functional VOOM DVR
• DVR release target: March 2005!
• Small SD-only STB
• A smaller version of the HD STB
• All components are supposed to be networkable!

Photos, video and audio reports From CES by Scott Greczkowski are coming soon! Stay tuned...

 

[seandudley]

Sure hope they make March.

Any word if the HD-DVR will be leasable?

 

[mkwillia]

Any word on any new HD channels?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes the VOOM DVR is REAL! I saw it with my own two eyes.

No word on the pricing of the VOOM DVR or if it will be leasable. The are determined to get it out the door in March.

Here are a few pics from TODAY, including a picture of the REAL 580's running the VOOM demo! (The wires coming out of them are for them to upgrade the software on the units, since the software is not on the satellites yet...

More photos to come!

 

[BFG]

Wow that is the best HD display I've seen. Awesome 40 HD monitors showing their channels (All 36 of their channels, 3 showing equator and 2 showing HDNews). I really want that setup in my house!!!

 

[jnardone]

The other thread said that VOOM is not displaying the DVR to the public "for some reason". You would have to wonder how they can possibly get them out in March if they are not even ready to show the public in January. I am extremely disappointed by this. Other carriers are introducing their second generation HD DVRs at the show and VOOM is still displaying the same "550" set top box with no DVR. I think that VOOM demonstrating some functions on a 580 DVR to some reporters with software that is "not fully functional" indicates that they may be no further along then they were last year at this time.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They were really running the demos off of the 580's. I verified this myself.

And while they did not let me hold the remote they were able to show me a few things that I asked that they didn't show in their demo.

The fact is all the advace features work, now the problem is getting the basic functions to work (Autotune is one of them)

 

[smasuch]

Scott,
Does the dvr have, or will it have the home media networking included in the march release? (networked photo's, mp3's etc.)

Thanks for the photo's BTW

--Steve

 

[jnardone]

What type of connections are on the back. Does it have a firewire out for archiving? How about an antenna pass-through? Does it have dual OTA tuners? Does the guide have a search function? What is the capacity in hours of HD?
Thanks

 

[CWS_kahuna]

I think it's great that they have this thing going, but its not so great they don't have it being shown. What's with the tape over the two DVR boxes? Is the DVR a seperate unit or do you have to tie it into the regular Voom box?

 

[joemama]

And while they did not let me hold the remote they were able to show me a few things that I asked that they didn't show in their demo.

Interpretation: The box is very easy to lock up. I've given and seen enough demo's to know if they won't give up the remote, there's a lot of things that don't work. And the fact that they aren't being shown to the public seems to indicate that March is a very optimistic schedule.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Scott,
Does the dvr have, or will it have the home media networking included in the march release? (networked photo's, mp3's etc.)

It will not have those features at launch, however they do plan on adding them in the future.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think it's great that they have this thing going, but its not so great they don't have it being shown. What's with the tape over the two DVR boxes? Is the DVR a seperate unit or do you have to tie it into the regular Voom box?

The tape is there as they had IR Transmitters taped to them (Since the units were ina cabinet then needed to us remote IR transmitters.

I should also note that while they did not let me hold the remote, I never asked to hold the remote.

I am told that the hardware is 100% done and ready, the software is 85+% done, again it does the hard things well but has trouble on the simple things.

BTW more VOOM photos coming soon.

 

[Ilya]

Scott, could you tell us more about those new (smaller) STBs? HD and SD models? Do you have any pics of those?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes start a new thread Ilya and I will post info and pics there.

 

[Ilya]

Ok, here is another thread: From CES-2005: Upcoming (smaller) STBs

 

[Walter L.]

• DVR release target: March 2005!

Ilya/Scott:
what is the source of this announcement? Is it just coming from the VOOM booth guys?
Open question:
why not a press release?

 

[madpoet]

Can the current STBs be used as part of the solution? Or will we have to switch out all our boxes for the next gen design? Will box owners get this swap-out for free?

 

[vurbano]

They were really running the demos off of the 580's. I verified this myself.

And while they did not let me hold the remote they were able to show me a few things that I asked that they didn't show in their demo.

The fact is all the advace features work, now the problem is getting the basic functions to work (Autotune is one of them)

Let me get this straight, Ucentric has been working on the VOOM DVR for nearly a year and its buggy and not ready to be put on display for people to fiddle with, yet D* signs a contract with Ucentric in November and their DVR is running through Olympic trials at CES 2 months later??? So the voom booth has lots of monitors, empty boxes, and a DVR whose software isnt working right yet.

WTF??

 

[riffjim4069]

If VOOM blows the DVR they are toast - it's just that simple! However, if they release an affordable, relatively bug-free, DVR and deliver their promised HD/SD channels in March...then perhaps they might make a go of it. Hey, when are their 4th quarter subscriber numbers going to be posted?