DVR delay question...

[Andrew B]

Did the purchase of Ucentric by Motorola a few months back cause a delay in the DVR?
I know we are all hoping to just get past 3/7 at this point, but I was just curious...

Andrew

 

[bradley]

Speculation... the board would not fund release given the atmosphere; Voom has been on the watch scope for serious reevaluation since Q2 2004.

 

[Ty2083]

Andrew, I would imagine that what is happening with Voom right now has very little to do with the development of the DVR. What I understand is happening, is that they are still working on software and hardware compatibility. To be honest, as much as I would like to see one made available, I would be just as happy if they took their time and got it as right as possible the first time out. I think we would all be happier in the end to get a working unit with as few glitches as possible. Wouldn't you agree?

 

[007BlackMan]

I too would like to have the DVR. But to be honest the board meeting that takes place on Monday is the only thing that i am thinking about. I also would be happy if they just work on getting software and hardware problems worked out.

 

[Lobstah]

"Speculation... the board would not fund release given the atmosphere; Voom was on the scope for serious reevaluation 3 and 4QTR04."

I completely agree. CVC didn't just wake up one morning in late Feb and say "Damn...maybe we ought to shut that satellite thing DOWN!"
They've been looking at this for quite awhile. And my guess is that the reason they started looking at their whole business was that rumors started to surface on the street that CVC wasn't in real good shape, and could be on the auction block sometime this year.
For the CVC board, they had to really start looking at where the holes were that the money was pouring out of, and VOOM was most likely at the top of that list.
So in the board room it may very well have been a "sell voom or be bought" scenario.

Given that, I'm sure they haven't been in any rush to deploy a DVR that would very quickly ADD to the debt/losses they were already incurring.

Lob

 

[cidbozek]

But if the DVR is(was) to be released in march, the money has allready been paid! If they are in the stage of getting the bugs out, then voom has already comitted to motarola to buy these boxes. You dont think that motarola is just going to say ok you are closing shop, so forget about all the work and money we have put into developing this dvr for you!

 

[Lobstah]

Actually...yes, I do There would be cancellation penalties, but nothing would equal the initial loss of deploying tens of thousands of boxes. The development may have been funded, but VOOM hasn't purchased the boxes yet.

Lob

 

[cidbozek]

atleast with deploying these they would be getting the rental fees for these boxes, hence getting some of the cost back. better that just sitting on them and getting no income at all! IMO they have to be completed, i mean its been well over 1 years since they said they would release them.Its not like they had to start from scratch here, there are many dvrs out there! just my 2 cents!

 

[graphiteRT]

The DVRs are not yet in beta according to Wilt H. There was also a rumor posted about problems with downloading updates via satellite. That's rather ominous if you're trying to deploy boxes that most certainly will need bug fixes along the way.

It remains to be seen if and when the DVR rolls out if it's "full featured" to included the networked stuff. That's something no one else has done yet. Both Motorola/Ucentric and Moxi have demo'd such boxes, but no one has done an actual rollout with those features in action. Several vendors are marketing them now, so I would expect we'll see the first ones within a year.

Also TBD is the cost. Dual tuner HD PVRs today run ~$400. Add in more complexity and the cost obviously rises. I currently use a Motorola 6412 from Comcast and it costs me $5/mo lease on top of what I would otherwise pay. That's the pricing bar being set. May be a tough sell with limited reach if these are purchase only at $500 per.

I doubt that the development was entirely halted during the Voom turmoil. You also have the Cablevision cable customer side of the equation. There is speculation that CVC wants the same sort of box for that market.

 

[Lobstah]

"atleast with deploying these they would be getting the rental fees for these boxes, hence getting some of the cost back."

There's no cost to get back. I'm pretty sure there isn't a warehouse full of DVRs sitting around with VOOM's label on them.
You typically wouldn't purchase any volume until you got most of the major bugs out, went through a beta program and THEN ramped up for mass distribution.

 

[HD_Eric]

Beta

I was told they are beta testing now....but if nobody on here was recruited to test it I guess it is only internal, which is typically pretty early in the testing stage....

 

[richard_rd]

I was told they are beta testing now....but if nobody on here was recruited to test it I guess it is only internal, which is typically pretty early in the testing stage....

If it is only internal that is called Alpha testing, Beta testing goes to customers!!

 

[Lobstah]

And Wilt already stated that they're not in beta yet...

Lob

 

[bradley]

Prolonging the DVR's release negates the significant fiscal undertaking required... by telling a waiting public it is still under development keeps subscribers temporarily appeased while the real evaluations of Voom and subsequent options can be assessed and implemented; just makes plain business sense.