UPDATED 20 May NYC Home Ent Show:Voom at CES was best display/information of the show

[Sean Mota]

Here are screens of how the MP3 and the MPEGs will show on the DVR.


There are folders for music and Photos and recordings but I did not see customization of folders within these. In my music folder you can see all the MP3. The ones that have the IP icon with a yellow icon are stored in the DVR. The ones that do not have are stored in the PC.

On the photo as you can see there is something call directories, so there might be directories of photos in there. The photos and the music will play in any client TV or an stereo that you have selected to be a client as well.

 

[Ilya]

It looks like the STB on display is not even connected. So, what were they actually running it all from?

Thank you for the pictures, Sean!

 

[AaRdVarK]

I guess that settles it. I'll be VOOMing the moment that thing hits the shelves!

Please tell me it plays AAC also. That would make my day.

 

[Sean Mota]

Here are my last photos. The DVR has a feature that neither TIVO or the 921 has. This feature is called "Follow Me". With follow me you can basically send a recording on DVR hard disk to any client. But it will not simply like accessing the recording from the client but if you are watching in your living room an HD movie and in the middle of the program decided that you wanted to see in the bedroom Tv. You can tell the server to pause it and send it to the client tv in the bedroom and once you get to your bedroom, you click and it will start again (from where you left it) without missing anything.

The demo that they showed had three different TVs and never in the presentation the image flick or anything like that. Everything was very steady. Now we all know that this a demo and once it goes live it will be the real test.


Firewire: very positive about it. They want it and are pushing it to have in the DVR. This concludes my day the Home Entertainment show.

All the basic functions of DVRs were functioning. Pause, Rewind, Fastfoward, Slow Motion, Instant Replay, Jump.

Drawback: No PIP in this demo. Does not mean that the final product won't have it.

 

[Sean Mota]

It looks like the STB on display is not even connected. So, what were they actually running it all from?

Thank you for the pictures, Sean!

All recordings on the DVR Hard Disk....

 

[Ilya]

All recordings on the DVR Hard Disk....

I mean that DVR doesn't seem to be connected to anything but the power outlet. Did they have another one there?

 

[ChetK]

This is great stuff Sean. Thanks for bringing it here.

I have only read page 3 of the thread, but does this thing have name based recording?

 

[Sean Mota]

I mean that DVR doesn't seem to be connected to anything but the power outlet. Did they have another one there?

Not that I am aware of. When the guy tried to move it, so that I can take the picture, they were very adamant about not disconnecting the DVR. When I took the pictures, I could not see with my eyes the connection. I took the pictures by just pointing the camera without looking. Now that I see it I also wonder how it was connected. Personally I do not think this one was connected. I think they had a model behind the scenes (or behind the wall). I don't recall seeing the model blink... Maybe when Bob goes on Sunday he can look at this more closely.

 

[Sean Mota]

This is great stuff Sean. Thanks for bringing it here.

I have only read page 3 of the thread, but does this thing have name based recording?

No based recording ChetK.

 

[VideoGrabber]

Thanks a lot for the report, and all the pictures, Sean. That was quick. If there was a firewire port on the back, I certainly couldn't make it out.

Do we know for sure (I think we do) that this will have the 4 tuners (2 OTA, 2 sat)? If so, how many feed lines will we need to run into it?

- Tim

 

[Sean Mota]

Thanks a lot for the report, and all the pictures, Sean. That was quick. If there was a firewire port on the back, I certainly couldn't make it out.

Do we know for sure (I think we do) that this will have the 4 tuners (2 OTA, 2 sat)? If so, how many feed lines will we need to run into it?

- Tim

That's correct 2 satellites and 2 OTAs.

This I took from a flyer:

"Each set-top server or HD Media Gateway, can record up to four programs simultaneously, using two satellite tuners and two off-air ATSC tuners."

 

[FunkyBoss]

Remote Control would be Ucentric. Here's a picture.

Hey, that looks just like my old ReplayTV remotes! sweet!

 

[squicken]

Wow, that thing looks awesome. thanks Sean. I guess they're not giving price points yet, huh. I am very worried this thing's debuting at $500+ and the average Voomer won't have it until 2006. It's a defense mechanism. I'm not going to let myself get disappointed when guys like me won't be seeing it for a long while.

 

[slffl]

Wow, kinda dissapointing. I was hoping for something similiar to Tivo's 'Season Pass' and 'Suggestions'.

 

[ChetK]

Wow, kinda dissapointing. I was hoping for something similiar to Tivo's 'Season Pass' and 'Suggestions'.

Yeah, that and name based recording.

Are they giving any more indicators of an ETA?

 

[AaRdVarK]

No name based recording??? Why is it so difficult for the PVR manufacturers out there to implement this.

 

[dlsnyder]

Can the server use the tuners in a client box to make recordings?

 

[deArgila]

So, I have a question ...

If this thing can record 4 shows at once - and play them on separate tv's with the "follow me" feature - would that be a way to "get around" having 4 permanent receivers with 3x mirrorring fees and 4x stb rental fees?

Because that would be AWESOME. It would suit my needs perfectly, as I have several monitors in my HT room for multiple game viewing - but don't want to pay for 4 permanent receivers + mirrorring costs since I wouldn't use them but every once in a while.

And it would be too much of a pain (I imagine) for someone to rely exclusively on this if they had monitors in other rooms. For example, I can't imagine my wife going downstairs and sending the show into the bedroom everytime she wanted to watch TV up there (not to mention changing channels). So, I feel it would be a nice loophole for people like me.

 

[Sean Mota]

No name based recording??? Why is it so difficult for the PVR manufacturers out there to implement this.

I do not think the programming is difficult but the fact the Tivo owns the patent of this feature. Voom will have to pay fees to Tivo for this unless they can find a way around it.

 

[Sean Mota]

So, I have a question ...

If this thing can record 4 shows at once - and play them on separate tv's with the "follow me" feature - would that be a way to "get around" having 4 permanent receivers with 3x mirrorring fees and 4x stb rental fees?

Because that would be AWESOME. It would suit my needs perfectly, as I have several monitors in my HT room for multiple game viewing - but don't want to pay for 4 permanent receivers + mirrorring costs since I wouldn't use them but every once in a while.

And it would be too much of a pain (I imagine) for someone to rely exclusively on this if they had monitors in other rooms. For example, I can't imagine my wife going downstairs and sending the show into the bedroom everytime she wanted to watch TV up there (not to mention changing channels). So, I feel it would be a nice loophole for people like me.

Interested. I imagine you could do that but will have to wait until it comes out to see how it works and how much it will cost. I heard nothing about pricing but I heard about the possibility of leasing. Nothing concrete. My own opinion is that they still have some way to go in delivering this product. Not that I saw bugs but there were features that were not active yet or not even in the demo.