Digeo Adds YouTube, Rhapsody to Moxi

Posted on Apr 21, 2009 by Sam Costello at 2:53 am

Set top box maker Digeo has substantially bumped the functionality of its Moxi DVR, adding support for YouTube, Rhapsody streaming audio, DLNA networking, and PlayOn, a program that sucks web-delivered video from sources like Hulu and Netflix and sends it to your TV.

I’ve not encountered a Moxi box in the flesh, but with the new feature set, it certainly looks to be one of the leading challengers to TiVo’s supremacy in the space.

While it’s fairly widely agreed that set top boxes will be one of the major future paths for converging web-based content – audio, video, and photos – and the living room TV, how the space will shake out is less clear.

I tend to think that the set top box with the most compelling features and best user experience will net the most and best partnerships with cable companies, likely leading to the greatest user adoption.

It looks to me like Digeo is bulking up on great features.

Linksys Offers One Audio System For The Whole House

Posted on Feb 9, 2009 by Sam Costello at 2:14 am

First D-Link expands to digital frames, now Linksys is offering a networked home-audio system. Left and right, companies traditionally known as networking companies are adding networked devices that offer entertainment and media features.

The new Linksys Wireless Home Audio system offers a number of different hubs and players, with CD players, wireless media streamers, and more. All the devices support DLNA, allowing the devices pull music from libraries that are play well with DLNA (on a PC maybe?).

Some of the components of the system sport LCDs and at least one, the Conductor, has a 7-inch touchscreen. Given that the component have screens and web connections, it seems possible that Linksys could support for software like FrameChannel that could expand the function of the devices beyond just streaming music to streaming all kinds of web-based content throughout the house.