Addicted to Digital Media – NBC Universal to offer IPTV movies and programming Sean Alexander over at Microsoft is blogging this morning about an article that appeared at News.com on a new DVR coming out from Aeon Digital.
Unfortunately it does not appear to offer CableCARD support (hence no premium cable HDTV) but the company does have a deal in place with NBC Universal and will offer pay per view VOD movies. No word on the quality of the movie broadasts.
Here are the details on the box:
” * IPTV Support
* 200 hour DVR with ability to archive to your PC. No mention of CableCard support though 🙁
* Streamed playback of music, photos, and video from your PC
* Component, composite and S-Video outputs
* Built-in 802.11g WiFi router with VOIP support,uPnP, NAT firewall
* Built-in EPG (Program Guide)”
The box will be available this spring for $299.
And here’s something that I HATE: “Titles will be available for a 24-hour period after they are selected, but pricing has yet to be finalized. Aeon Digital CEO Giovanni D’Andrea said the deal includes recent movies such as “Ray” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” along with selections from Universal’s library. Among the covered television events are “Jerry Springer: Uncensored,” the “Blind Date” franchise and “The Land Before Time.”
Ugh! Why oh why make me watch the movie in 24 hours. What if I don’t want to watch it in 24 hours? What if I want to watch it in four days. To make consumers jump through hoops like this is just pure stupidity.
Personally I think the box sounds pretty lame. No premium HDTV, no expandability, no mention of portability, VOD expires after 24 hours. Very weak Aeon. I think I’ll stick with my HDTV TiVo for now and stick with a Vista CableLabs certified PC when they are available in the future.