uavKim Wilson

Its been awhile since I had heard from Moxi, whose DVR didn't get nearly as much recognition as TiVo. Making a stronger, more earnest effort to make a name for themeselves in that category, Moxi introduced a HD DVR here at CES. They made it clear this is a high quality solution for digital cable subscribers. Satellite users need not apply, The unit is far more than a straightforward DVR, as it serves as the hub for all your media with a 500GB hard drive. If that's not enough it can be upgraded to maximum of 2TB. Of course, it can also share content from your home (wired) network and interface with an iTunes library. It also provides access to web-based services such as Flickr for photo sharing and Finetune, a music streaming service. Instead of charging a monthly fee for their service, you pay a one time fee of $799 for the basic model. If I rememeber correctly, that was TiVo's original business model and they realized they made more money charging a monthly fee. So we'll see how succcessful this is for Moxi.

Tivoli Audio known for their high-quality desktop radios has added networking, making it possible for them to stream from Internet radio stations around the world. It also allows access to stored media on PCs from any room in the house through a wireless or Ethernet connection. Using the front panel readout, you use the supplied remote to scroll through your media or Internet stations. The basic unit has a single speaker, and a second speaker can be purchased to listen in stereo.

Sitting next to an IPhone, you can see that Netgear's new Internet TV Player is pretty small. Hook it up to any TV (and yes there is HDMI) and you can browse the Internet right from your TV using your existing home network. You can stream TV shows and videos from a wide selection of channels in full screen HD. There are icons you can click for key sites such as CBS, ABC, YouTube and more. Its possible to search via pre- programmed interests, too. Moreover, you are not restricted to just US sites, you can check out sites originating in Europe and Asia. The Internet TV Player will hit the stores sometime this summer for $199.

When the press conference for CISCO filled to capacity they announced it could be watched from the Press Room. Several of us headed over to find them still trying to get the feed linked in. However, once they did there was no audio, only the Power Point slide show. But wait, you can view it online. Everyone pulls out their laptops, heads to the URL, only to find a screen that says you must register first. OK! Logging in now...uh but you don't have the most current version of Real Player. Honestly, I didn't know that people were still using that. I haven't come across that in so long that obviously I didn't have the most current version. A quick download, but the site didn't recognize the plug-in. NEVERMIND