We look to our TV provider and companies like
TiVo and
Moxi to bring us DVRs, but the one thing just about every DVR has in common is a Broadcom chip makes them tick. So while the rest of the box varies by a lot, if the System on a Chip (SoC) doesn't support it, then it probably isn't there -- assuming another chip isn't added for a specific task. So you can understand why we got so excited when we saw the specs on the latest SoC, the BCM7125, announced by Broadcom at the Cable-Tec Expo. It of course supports tru2way and CableCARD, but more interestingly;
MoCA 1.1,
DLNA,
Flash (as in video streaming),
DOCSIS 3.0, and a 3D graphics engine. This means that little little guy could be the key to a multi-room DVR without running wires, that will play Hulu directly from the internet as well as stream content from
PlayOn, all via a great looking user interface. So yeah, it has potential. The sad news is that there's no way to know how long we'll have to wait before a DVR is released that'll actually take advantage it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wryker @ Oct 29th 2009 11:43AM
Hurm- if this ends up in a new Tivo I HOPE they allow me to transfer my lifetime subscriptions to them!!
Patrick @ Oct 29th 2009 12:02PM
i bet we'll see it soon. probably 2019 at the very latest. i wouldn't be surprised to see it by 2018. that would be really sweet.
JoeTheDragon @ Oct 31st 2009 10:44AM
maybe next year on direct tv and a lot later on cable.
Matt @ Oct 29th 2009 12:07PM
Based on what I have seen from the cable industry, I am going to go out on a limb and say we will never see this. Not on a tivo, or a moxi, nothing. Why? Because it's what people want and everything you need. We never get both of those.
Yankees368 @ Oct 29th 2009 12:43PM
My current Comcast DVR can't even tell the difference between a new show, and a repeater, and just records everything. Forget the fact that it is capable of MOCA. All it does is record everything I dont wan't it to.
akacinna @ Oct 30th 2009 12:57AM
I too was perturbed by this, but if you look at the show information (like Colbert Report) it will have a missing first air date or any date in particular. It seems that some shows don't have that information available so the DVR just records everything under a "just-in-case-so-my-owner-doesn't-throw-me-against-a-wall-for-missing-the-season-finale" scenario.
decypher @ Oct 30th 2009 2:32AM
this is the most frustrating thing with my motorola box. The thing is so ancient those dinosaur blue menus are just chugging along.
tivo @ Nov 9th 2009 10:02PM
Get a tivo and you won't have these problems (most of the time). (*)
(*) There is/was a problem with some shows, e.g. the Daily Show, but even that can be worked around with advanced wishlists. But *most* of the time, the regular Season Pass will work fine for new/repeat issues.
JamMasterCD @ Oct 29th 2009 1:09PM
Not being an expert in chip design, is this the kind of chip that can be used for CableCard TV Tuners in Media Centers (possibly for DIY types)?
dagamer43 @ Oct 29th 2009 1:14PM
I moved to a Windows Media Center setup running Windows 7 Ultimate. I could care less what set-top boxes the cable company offers.
blackacex2 @ Oct 29th 2009 1:42PM
TiVo, let's do this. Let's do it with this chip. Let's make a set-top box that can keep me from spending over a thousand dollars on a media center solution.
bfdtv @ Oct 29th 2009 4:56PM
We'll see DVRs with these SoCs sooner than some may think.
Chinese / Taiwanese distributors already have these available in limited quantities.
Mark @ Oct 30th 2009 9:43AM
Broadcom is just one of many SoC providers. I bet Sigma Designs would have something to say about the statement that every PVR contains Broadcom chips.
Ben @ Oct 30th 2009 9:45AM
They can say what they want, but TiVo HD, Moxi, DirecTV, Dish Network all use Broadcom chips. Not sure about all the Moto or Cisco, but I know many of them also do.
rendezvous65 @ Oct 30th 2009 5:43PM
Motorola and Samsung cable boxes have BCM chips. Except for the Samsung 3050 which uses a Conexant ARM chip. All Samsung BCM boxes run Linux. BCM equipped STB's usually run Linux but use a mixture of GPL and proprietary code. The STB stuff like cablecard and drivers are closed source while the non STB related stuff is open source.
xtasi @ Oct 30th 2009 1:21PM
"all via a great looking user interface", was that sarcasm?
if you ever used a cable box, it would be. I believe that if you hate people and want to take revenge on poor souls, then customer service for the cable company is a career for you. Must be great to be in a monopoly.