http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/ Engadget HD Comments for Moxi HD DVR initial impressions http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 12:17PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 1:53PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 12:22PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 12:55PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 12:59PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
I loved my Moxi box, but a few things Engadget mentions seem off. When I had my box, the golden "HD" letters were next to every show title I had recorded or was in the guide, usually with a Golden Bar to signify it at first glance. The generic box thing is a problem that has been there from the start, though, but you'd be surprised how quickly you get used to it.

The channel listing (bottom to top) seems odd to me - I'm almost positive my Charter Moxi box did it the normal way, but it's also possible it may be a setting or how Verizon guide data is received (If it's via Moxi, that's /really/ strange, but if it's via the CableCARDs, that's Verizon being stupid). As for Dolby Digital, that's a common thing - they're going for lowest-common-denominator out of the box, which is TV Audio (Stereo). Being able to tick/untick supported resolutions was a nice feature, since the box scaled content better than my Westinghouse LCD at the time.

Compared to the Cable Company DVR, the Moxi Box beat the living crap out of it (I frequently uttered "I miss my Moxi" when my final one died and Charter only had generic DVRs left), while it also manages to do a good number on TiVo. Neither are perfect, but you can't beat free (no subscription with Moxi).]]>Apr 21st 2009 12:56PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
Free? I'd like to know who is getting free DVR after the promo period for TW/Comcast/etc. Last time I checked it's $8 for a digital box plus $9 for DVR service a month! And that's per DVR box!

$200 a year for DVR is not free at all. This thing should pay for itself in about 2 years (assuming it's around the $400 or so price point).]]>Apr 21st 2009 1:13PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 23rd 2009 4:16PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
My understanding is that the default "keep 2 days" setting is the equivalent of TiVo's "keep until space is needed" option. In other words, "keep 2 days" means that the recording is protected for 48 hours (as on TiVo), after which it becomes "keep until space is needed."]]>Apr 21st 2009 1:16PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
The Moxi includes a lifetime subscription in the purchase price. TiVo charges $399 for a lifetime subscription. The actual price of both units without fees is similar. TiVo just gives you the option of buying the box for about 1/4 the price with fees.

In order of cost:

(1) TivoHD with 160GB drive = $250 @ Amazon, plus $399 for lifetime subscription = $650
(1TB internal drive upgrades $100; 1TB external drive upgrade adds $165)

(2) Moxi with 500GB drive = $799 with lifetime subscription included

(3) TivoHD XL with 1000GB drive = $480 @ Amazon, plus $399 for lifetime subscription = $879

All three units support 1TB external drives.]]>Apr 21st 2009 1:23PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
One clear advantage you might want to note is the buffer time. The Moxi offers a 1.5 hour buffer per HD channel, for a 3.0 hour total HD buffer.

TiVo offers a 30 minute HD buffer per HD channel. That is perfectly reasonable for the standard TivoHD model with a 160Gb drive, but it makes no sense for a TivoHD XL with a 1TB drive. And it certainly makes no sense on a TiVo with a 1TB external drive.

Moxi certainly has some disadvantages...the most obvious being the inability to autorecord based on search. That means you can't setup a single recording for your favorite sports team; you can't setup a single recording for new HD movies in a particular genre; and you can't setup a single recording to grab new series premieres and pilots.]]>Apr 21st 2009 1:36PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
Umm, what do you want it to do? That's what my Comcast DVR does. If you want it to pause the program, press pause, not stop. Stop means you're done watching, you want to STOP, that's the point. Pause means you're not done, you're just pausing the action temporarily.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:15PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/I suppose my real complaint was that there is no way to stop the video on this thing. Here is a very common scenario where this would be a really, really bad idea.

You're recording two of your favorite shows while enjoying a previously recorded program. You finish the previously recorded show and hit stop, instantly you are now watching the revealing cliffhanger of your favorite show that is recording, and thus ruining the surprise. Now since you are recording two shows at once, there is almost no way to prevent you from seeing a clip you don't want to see.

I mean come on, this is basic DVR stuff.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:18PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
Umm, what do you want it to do?

When you hit stop, it should stop, where it goes from there is up for debate I suppose. The most logical place to take you is live TV.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:29PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
I mean the video preview window can be useful at times, but ultimately I want the ability to turn it off and stop wasting valuable screen real estate for video I'm either not interested in at all, or even worse, video that would ruin my overall TV experience.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:31PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 2:33PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 2:34PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
This is a rather significant oversight on Moxi's part. If you like to watch sports, and record sporting events on a time delay to skip commercials...pressing stop will take you right to liveTV, revealing the current score before you've started to watch the recording. Contrast that to the TivoHD, where hitting the equivalent of stop takes you back to the program information screen and/or recorded list (no liveTV video window).

IMO, any video window should only display the current progam. If you are watching live TV, show liveTV in the video window. If you are watching a recording, show the recording in the video window. But don't show a liveTV window just because the user has exited a recording, and certainly don't show the liveTV feed of a recording-in-progress unless the user has opted to watch that liveTV channel.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:56PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
I'll agree that kicking you back to live TV is kind of dumb, but wanting the video to "stop" doesn't offer a lot of explanation, I hope you're not a technical writer. Just wanting the video to stop is what pause does, unless by stop you mean exit the video entirely and go somewhere else like a menu. What does "stop" mean to you? I like davevans' suggestion the best.]]>Apr 21st 2009 2:42PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 2:42PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 2:52PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 3:17PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 3:21PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
However I do think that if you press "Stop" on recorded show that you should be sent the recorded TV menu. ]]>Apr 21st 2009 7:28PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
For $800, I'd expect this mudder-hucker to have 2TB and to have breakfast waiting for me in the morning when I wake up.

This think will be $499 by the end of the year.... or Moxi'll be "tits up" by that time.

For that money, I can buy a powerful, small form factor PC plus Windows Media Center, and roll my own.

Sorry Moxi, you picked the wrong time to roll out a boutique appliance, the public is shopping at Wal Mart these days, not Tiffany.]]>Apr 21st 2009 3:05PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
Mo]]>Apr 21st 2009 3:41PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/Apr 21st 2009 4:00PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
As a user of the lates Moxi 3012 cable version, I agree with the stop button returning you to live TV to be a bit annoying. But regarding the not being able to see more then 3 upcoming shows comment, the space bellow is used for the current program description, which I think is allowed to be up to 256 characters (can anyone verify that?), so they couldnt expand 3 more upcoming shows into that area. Plus, to view more shows all you have to do is scroll down in the upcoming shows to view the upcoming days schedules for that network. If you are beta testing hopefully Digeo will take your recommendations into consideration. But here is a question regarding the "Great Stop Debate", why wouldnt you just pause the video?
]]>Apr 21st 2009 9:10PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
Might take them up on it...

Pretty disappointed that when a channel has no logo, there's no telling what channel that is! They should at least put generic text or numbers in it's place.

Also disappointed that there's no guide key or grid guide. I guess you'll get used to it. After you get to play a bit, I'll be interested in hearing if the crossbar stile navigation is really the way to go.]]>Apr 21st 2009 6:45PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
The stop button is used to stop a recording. You might be in the middle of a recording and need to finish it later, hence using the stop button. I have used a couple of other DVRs through TW and the stop button works the same for all of them and will show live TV if your DVR has the viewing window. ]]>Apr 22nd 2009 11:41AMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/There seems to be no way to set recording defaults.

Do you mean to set recording quality? obviously for the digital channels, it is recording the actual signal directly, with no transfer. (IMHO, I actually wish one of these devices *would* let me record at a different quality, for space reasons.)

Speaking of analog, you didn't even mention the fact that you need an extra "analog adapter" to get analog channels at all.

BTW, I'm not meaning to sound very negative. I'm *glad* that there is a competitor that seems to come *somewhere* close to Tivo... and I say that as a 4 time purchaser of Tivos (all lifetime subscription.. well, two were transferred to new Tivos during the short time offers).]]>Apr 21st 2009 10:07PMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
PROS:
WAY better interface and experience. No comparison. The review from Engadget is off in some points. For example, YES there is an INFO buttom. If you press INFO twice.

CONS
The free software you get so you can play NETFLIX in it works only in PC. I own a MAC,
and since Paul Allen is behind MOXI, I really doubt there will be the necessary support for MAC or IPHONE management.
This means that the chances that I will be still using the xbox 360 to play Netflix are still high.

You will love the Moxi. Many complain about the price tag. I have been paying pay $15.97 per month for a horrible SA HD DVR box for the last three years. This is $575 already.
They are replacing it with something newer, since they started in some markets already. and guess what the new box, that still looks like a VCR, horrible interface with slight disc capacity increase.

Absolutely, in some years DVR will be obsoletes for the people that want complete integration and their PC in the living room, but until then I will have saved some hundreds of dollars from my rental fees.]]>Apr 23rd 2009 11:07AMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
But I am tempted to buy this because of Charter's $20 DVR fee. The VOD absence gives me pause though, and I want to wait for a price drop. Since I'm used to Moxi's DVR on Charter I pretty much can handle what's wrong with the box and have learned to work with it; for instance for recording sports, you just plan everything out in one swoop and go with that for two weeks.

Also some of the quirks with the programming guide are on purpose. Moxi is doing all they can to avoid giving any money at all to TV Guide/Gemstar/Macrovision, which forces users of their EPG listings to pay large royalties in order to use their listings in the way the TV gods intended (they've patented in the EPG world the classic listings grid you see in newspaper listings, which is why you see that free ad for TV Guide on the Tivo listings; they had to eventually pay TV Guide to have their scheduling interface the way it is). So Moxi made an end around it by placing the listings backwards from normal in a non-grid interface which depends more on searching through the listings than finding programs in a grid-and-highlight way, plus it helps make you memorize scheduling grids and soon you know 'OK, NCIS is on Tuesdays at 7pm'. It took me a year to get used to it, but when you do, you don't miss the grids. You get a feeling though that when that godforsaken patent finally expires, Moxi will modify to allow grids finally. For now, it's an evil that helps Digeo avoid having to price a box higher in order to help pay the rights bill on "I Love New York" reruns for the TV Guide Channel.

Charter did dumb down their version of the box by disallowing media sharing and games, so I would get it for the ability to do things like watch YT vids on a Moxi and listen to my music on the computer on the TV. I think that they've done a great job on cable box UI and I really hope that they become a great competitor to Tivo.]]>Apr 28th 2009 7:27AMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
..that’s a deal killer.. on the fly transcoding to mpeg-2 with TVersity would get old REALLY quickly at $800 ... even with quad core oozing power and wired ethernet

RoadRunner STB channel changing was Sloooowww.... fios non-dvr STB is 'instant'... I would not be happy 'upgrading' to a slower channel changing experience
]]>Jul 28th 2009 3:15AMhttp://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/http://enghddev.weblogsinc.com/2009/04/21/moxi-hd-dvr-initial-impressions/
I read this review interested in buying a Moxi, but I have less-technical users in my house that may get frustrated. That's too bad. I'd love to see Moxi come up with a statement that the UI has been significantly redesigned, and have an interactive web demo of the product. That would convince me to buy one if I liked it.

]]>Jun 22nd 2009 5:41PM