Hybrid Set Top Box
Om Malik posted today about a new hybrid set top box.
This reminds me of a suggestion I made a few months back to Eddie McGuire, the new Chief Executive of Australia’s Nine Network. Well, not actually face-to-face to Eddie, but directed at him on this blog.
Om points out that Pace Micro are demonstrating a a hybrid set top box at IBC in Amsterdam. By hybrid, he means that it will “take high definition video input from satellite, and at the same time be able to take standard definition Internet video over Broadband and display both of them on your television? And while you are at it, throw in a personal video recorder for good measure. And then allow consumers to access that content over their home network!”
Om suggests that Rubert Murdoch, the man behind Fox, would love such a set top box. What he doesn’t point out is that Pace are actually the company that already supply Fox in the UK, and Australia with their set top box hardware. That’s right, Foxtel IQ, the Aussie digital cable network re-badges Pace Micro set top boxes.
It also reminded me of the BeyonWiz that I saw last week at Influence 2006. It’ll be available in Australian stores in a matter of weeks, retailing for $1,700. It has two wifi antennas to connect to your home network, two digital tuners to record terrestrial television, and a hard drive. It’s real beauty is it seamless integration into home networks, from which you can stream movies, music, photos, etc. to your television. If I had the cash I’d pony it up as soon as they hit the store.
My point is the same as one I’ve been espousing at a few presentations that I’ve been giving lately: television as we know it, is almost dead.
Imagine the first television network, cable or terrestrial, that offers it’s viewers the ability to receive content via traditional broadcast, but also provides content straight from the Internet to the television. All they require is a hybrid set top box, which are hitting the market as we speak. Imagine the flexibility in providing content: podcasts, videocasts, music, television shows, premium content, NASA TV, Rocketboom, ScobleShow, etc. etc.
It’s looking likely, with Pace’s new set top box, that Fox will beat everyone to the punch. Will MySpace make it to your televison sooner than expected!
Update: Dang, this news, from our friends at Boing Boing, is even better than what I had in mind.
Neuros, makers of the coolest video-recording toys in the world, have just released their OSD, a fully open set-top box. Neuros already made history with its Neuros Recorder 2, a device the size of a deck of cards that turned any TV show or DVD into something you could watch on your PC, PSP or iPod. Now with the OSD, they’ve gone one better, with a device that has a fully open firmware that anyone can hack and improve. What’s more, they’re offering cash bounties to hackers who add various features to the device, including $1000 for a YouTube or Google video Browser, $600 for a Flickr Photo Browser, $500 for a WiFi PSP or PDA remote, $700 for a TiVo-like recording function for radio/satellite radio, and $500 for getting VoIP running on the device.
September 21st, 2006 at 7:11 pm
you betcha. gotta a week’s paycheck that says within 18 months someone will do it professionally. most likely starting with a cable network attached to time warner.
September 27th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
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