MOT's settop box/DVD player...........................
cedmagazine.com
The Sony box
Two other cable-specific set-top developments marked this year’s CES: Sony Corp. at last unveiled its work with Cablevision Systems, and Motorola unveiled a line of retail boxes.
Sony’s Interactive
Digital Cable Receiver.
For Sony and Cablevision, it was the first time they’d let anyone see the new box and its services. Officials described both a primary box (see sidebar above for specs) for use in the main TV-viewing room, and a secondary box with fewer features, earmarked for additional outlets. Notably, Sony is also handling both middleware and the electronic program guide. Services, to launch in June, will include VOD, e-commerce, some interactive TV applications, and built-in TV-Internet access.
Motorola, which in its General Instrument days bucked against retail set-tops, saying they’d be too expensive after retail markups, changed that tune at CES. It came out with three models, ranging from a DCT-2000 with a POD (point of deployment) receptacle, to a DCT-2000 with Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic Surround sound, as well as a one- or three-DVD changer. Suggested retail price for the midline box (one DVD): a hefty $849.
Motorola’s DCT-2020 set-top.
Cable operators who saw Motorola’s retail line had mixed reactions. Some called it a good effort; others wondered why they hadn’t been contacted for input on features, and particularly questioned the need for a three-DVD changer.
The boxes hit retail shelves as early as this coming September, pending on how negotiations with stores go.
As is often the case at consumer-oriented shows, the digital buzz emerging from CES was more hype than reality. But consumers are voting with dollars: Consumer electronics sales lifted 10 percent in 2000, to $90 billion. Among them, digital TV sales tripled to 625,000 units, while DVD players took rank as the fastest-selling product in history, according to statistics released by the Consumer Electronics Association.
Some, but not all, of the big product trends prevalent at CES will meander into cable subscribers’ homes; some more quickly than others. PVRs, DVDs and digital cameras are a likely bet. Cable’s challenge is to remain engaged enough to make room for the new electronic toys their subscribers bring home, while continuing to push on digital video, high-speed Internet and phone services.
If nothing else, CES added one more thing to the to-do list: Home networking. |
