New Set-Top Boxes: Bridging the PC/TV Divide

Vudu was among the first companies to aggregate a solid lineup of premium programming and deliver it to the TV via its own set-top box. At CES, Vudu announced an upgraded version of its box, called the Vudu XL. The XL, which is built to sit at the center of a home-theater setup, is optimized for HD content and supports surround-sound audio. Starting this February, the Vudu XL will be sold mainly through high-end audio/video retailers and custom home-theater installers for around $1000.

With the DSM-330, D-Link has selected one of the best-looking types of Net video, DivX, and provided an elegant way for you to view it on a TV screen. Using the remote you can pull video from your PC's hard drive in another room, or browse and stream DivX titles directly from sites such as Stage6 and Veoh. The DSM-330 can also access music and photos stored on any PC, NAS drive, or USB flash drive connected to the home network. Expect D-Link's new DivX player to hit stores this spring, and to sell for around $300.

At CES, Niveus introduced a downsized version of its celebrated Windows Media Center PC-based media servers. Called the Sierra, the new device connects anywhere on a home network and stores, manages, and distributes digital content to small and large screens around the home. You can order the box, which runs on fast Intel processors, with an optional HD DVD drive or additional Seagate hard drives for up to 500GB of storage. The Sierra will become available within the next three months, and will be sold only through home-theater integrators at about $2000 a pop.

Previously available only through a few cable providers, Digeo's Moxi multiroom DVR system will be sold directly to consumers for the first time in 2008, the company says, although the price hasn't yet been set. The main Moxi DVR box sits in your living room on or near the TV set. You plug your CableCard directly into the back of the Moxi DVR, which then pipes video to the TV. The box also supports HD, plays DVDs, and contains a large hard drive for video storage. The Moxi DVR sends video (and music and photos) via your existing cable wires to a series of smaller Moxi extender boxes near the other TVs in your home. For Internet video, Moxi users don't yet have access to the whole Web, but can access video from a select batch of reliable, TV-ready video sites.

TiVo, the granddaddy of consumer DVRs, announced no new hardware at CES but said that its forthcoming Desktop Plus software upgrade will bring Web video to TiVo boxes for the first time. TiVo users will be able to access and store certain kinds of content, such as video podcasts. But like Digeo's Moxi, the box won't yet access video from just anywhere on the Net. Owners of the TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD DVR will be able to watch Full HD versions of certain videos, as long as the source video was published in HD. TiVo says the new software will become available in March, for a one-time charge of $25.