VOOM Demo Video

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VOOM Demo Video

VOOM has been capturing headlines for so long at one point they were considered vaporware, but their nascent HDTV network offers 30-something channels of HD content and a host of other standard satellite channels.

But they've got some killer hardware coming out. Check out this VOOM Demo Video.

It'll center around a HD DVR with networking that will allow to view content from any monitor in the house. They do this with a thin client network box on each of your other TVs.

It's a great way to organize DVR content at home. Personally I've never had more than one TV in the house, but if I did, I would find the use of multiple TiVos within one house to be kind of silly. Instead, viewing your main DVR as more of a home server that all can access is the way to go.

The demo shows off how well their prototypes can do this. You can independently stream the same video to multiple locations in the house, all over IP. My only worry is how much network bandwidth this would require to stream HD content to multiple places using the same wired or wireless network. The other really cool feature they show off is the "move to another room" option. So if you're watching a movie in the living room, choose to move to the bedroom, you can turn that TV on and see the movie paused on the very last frame you looked at downstairs.

It's great to see this much innovation in a single new product, though I can't wait to see what the Hollywood industries have to say about this wicked cool technology. [thanks Greg]

by Matt Haughey September 24, 2004 in News

Comments

You'd be surprised as to how little bandwidth is required for HD content, *after compression*. The dirty little secret from your HD provider relates to the amount they compress signal to deliver so many channels. Most streams are pushed down to 13 Mbps instead of the standard 20 Mbps.

"You can't tell the difference" ;-)

Good luck!

Jon

Posted by: Jon at Sep 24, 2004 10:54:06 AM

Almost exactly the way MythTV works, except that it allows for multiple backends and and unrelated number of multiple frontends. Recordings (or music) is availale on all frontends regardless of where it actually lives.

Of course, a nice thin little box is much nicer hardware than most myth boxes...

Posted by: Dan at Sep 24, 2004 11:47:44 AM

...are we all forgetting that series 2 tivo can do this now - as well as having more recording time, since if it were 3, you can get the 80 hours from all three, and view in any room. the only thing u have here that is new is that it is HD. same goes for the music and photos.

Posted by: JoN at Sep 25, 2004 10:23:48 PM

Sure, series 2 *standalones* can do this, but even still, not as robustly as what this Voom demo promises. TiVo's HMO show sharing is slow, so you don't have immediate, interactive control of any show from any room in the house. (You need to give the streaming a "head start," so the shows are best enjoyed on the unit on which they were originally recorded.) There's also no intelligent cooperation between receivers. TiVo's stock product doesn't do Caller ID, a feature that's available on 7-year old receivers. Lastly the standalone units have only one tuner.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: once you have the integrated digital goodness of a two-tuner DTiVo, there's just no turning back to standalone.

What's compelling about the Voom demo is that it's an integrated satellite receiver/DVR (with 2 digital tuners and 2 OTA tuners,) with all the latest and greatest advances in DVR technology (show sharing, music & photos, etc.) that DirecTV has thus far neglected to offer from TiVo's latest OS. It's the best of both worlds. Voom also takes it a step further with the seamless combination of multiple units to create one larger virtual server, with full interactivity everywhere.

In the meantime, while waiting for this vaporware to materialize :-) I wired my home (via coax modulation) to be able to watch either of my DirecTiVo's in any room, as well as hacked the bundled OS to be able to enjoy HMO. Music and Photos are great! But getting it all in a supported config from a forward-thinking company would be a plus. Voom's currently got the largest selection of HD content but not as much SD, or locals. DTV will beat them to that punch next year with the launching of additional satellites. Hopefully Voom can catch up. I'd like to see Moxi/Digeo come out with a consumer-accessible satellite unit as well.

Competition like this is definitely good for the consumer, hopefully it will compel DirecTV to ramp it up a notch for their DVR customers. We've gotten used to TiVo already, now we want more innovation!

Posted by: Josh at Sep 26, 2004 9:29:12 AM

Another "real-world" consideration:

TiVo's (like their computer ancestors) are LOUD. The fans and the HD add up to a pretty distracting whir. This might be fine for a living room, but the thing managed to keep us up at night in the bedroom! I really like the idea of a server (in the media closet) with thin clients sharing perfect digital quality everywhere else.

It's efficient -- no need to run coax wire from the satellite on the roof to every room with a TV -- and elegant. I like that it uses my preexisting ethernet and it opens up a slew of possibilities.

Posted by: Josh at Sep 26, 2004 10:21:53 AM

Remove the HD content, the mp3 stuff. And you've got what? A Networked ReplayTV.

Don't get me wrong I liked what I saw (excepting browsing mp3s [some 40gigs worth] via that interface [1/4 of the screen] seems tedious). But real time streaming of SD content between any number of RTV boxes and pcs has been around for what 2 years? Started with RTV 4k series. So the wow factor of pausing in the family room and resuming in the bedroom is somewhat diminished when I do it every nght.

I'm curios if they are going to let me burn that content to a DVD, or a HD-DVD when that gets released.

Posted by: Slack at Sep 27, 2004 10:22:50 AM

Sounds great, I really like the wholehouse concept and am willing to continue waiting. However, the $64M question is when will it be available? No kidding date! Will VOOM promise us availability and like Dish keep us waiting month after month for a unit. The announcement was made in January and little else has came forward. Everyone at VOOM that I spoke with had not a clue when it would be available and didn't want to talk about a release date, cost, etc. Understandable I suppose but there is still lots of hype with little solid info.

Posted by: Lewis Witt at Oct 7, 2004 5:55:14 AM

I think VOOM is a great idea...problem is you need a landline phone...a 20th century idea. They say it's for "security"--we all know it's for snooping on our viewing habits...like TiVo. Most folks I know gave up their landline and have Cell for voice, Cable DSL for digital. VOOM is going to find a lot of their target audience they've already eliminated. Too bad. So they could promise 3D holographic tv and it wouldn't help.

Posted by: Bill at Oct 7, 2004 1:27:03 PM

My thoughts on the above comments:

1) "the only thing u have here that is new is that it is HD" - But that's one big thing! Ever seen HD, Dan? I bought my first HDTV in April, and every single person who has visited since then has wanted to discuss it. This is the only tech device I've ever had that happen with, and I've been a collector of tech toys for 25 years.

2) I've had Voom since July, and I've never connected the phone line to it. This has never been a problem. In fact, the installer didn't even bother to connect it.

3) When will it be available? Right now they are saying 1Q 2005. From all I've heard about it lately, it seems to be getting closer. Even the monthly emails from them have begun to mention this (in addition to the new HD channels coming soon, also)

Posted by: Kirk at Dec 17, 2004 6:13:10 AM

VOOM Demo Video

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