The T-Box is a twin-tuner DVR with a 200GB HDD and a 7-day EPG. On top of that, it will plug into the new 100Mbps fibre network to offer unmetered access to BigPond Movies and BigPond TV channels through the device, which sees it competing directly with the TiVo and Foxtel iQ. Of course, Telstra reckons that the T-Hub is a complementary offering to Foxtel (considering they own half of it), but the simple truth is that there’s no reason for anyone to own both.

The T-Box is going to be trialled by selected Melbourne customers over the coming months.

Telstra unveils Australia’s fastest cable broadband and new digital set top box

19 November 2009 – Melbourne will become home to Australia’s fastest cable broadband network after Telstra today announced the completion of an upgrade of the hybrid fibre coaxial broadband network offering an ultra fast, multi-user experience.

From 1 December nearly one million Melbourne homes will benefit from the upgrade to the cable network. The network download capacity increases to up to 100Mbps and the upload capacity to up to 2Mbps, offering an increase in bandwidth to share across multiple users and devices within the household.

Telstra also revealed a new television set top box incorporating two digital television tuners. To be known as T-Box™, the set top box features the ability to view and record free to air television programs up to seven days in advance, the ability to pause and rewind live television and seamlessly integrates access to BigPond internet content such as BigPond TV channels and the BigPond Movies download rental service.

Telstra Group Managing Director of Product Management, Ms Holly Kramer, said as the family home now connects multiple computers and devices like the new T-Box™ to the internet, increased bandwidth allows members of the family to receive a better internet experience when they are all online at the same time.

“The completion of this cable upgrade means multiple family members can surf the internet, play games online or download movies at the same time,” Ms Kramer said.

Ms Kramer said the new T-Box™, which will be trialled by Melbourne customers over the coming months, takes advantage of the increase in bandwidth to bring high quality internet television and movies downloaded straight to the home television.

“The Telstra T-Box will enhance the free-to-air digital TV experience by allowing customers to pause and rewind live television, access a seven day program guide to record upcoming programs and rent and download movies from BigPond® Movies.

“T-Box also gives users unmetered access to the seven BigPond® TV internet channels including live news, sport and online music all streamed directly to the television set,” Ms Kramer said.

Telstra also announced that its Velocity fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network has been upgraded to offer a network download capacity of up to 100Mbps into the home for sharing across multiple users within the household.

The upgrades to the cable and Velocity services will mean that the download capacity they offer is so fast that they exceed the capabilities of many internet sites and computers. This means the actual download speeds an individual customer will receive on the services will depend on factors including customer equipment, server limitations, Wi-Fi reception/capacity, and so will be less than the total capacity into the home.

Not only that, but there were reports earlier this week on Gamespot AU that stated a firmware update for UK versions of the device have enabled some of the extra digital channels not previously available to Aussie importers of the product.

Which all seems to point towards the notion that it might actually happen. So, the next question is, how many of you will buy one?

[Playstation 3 and Gamespot - Thanks Mark]

At least they managed to stick it to Freeview a bit in their statement:

“We don’t believe Australian consumers would want to miss out on the product’s abilities such as ad skipping which we believe would have to be disabled if we sought Freeview Australia endorsement.”

Zing!

Freeview just sent through this announcement:

FREEVIEW HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH DViCO

14 October, 2009
Freeview today stated that it has no association with manufacturer DViCO and its PVR product or the Australian distributor Also Technology.
The DViCO TViX M-6600N PVR launched yesterday featuring the Freeview logo on its product and promotional material. DViCO is not Freeview endorsed and the company or its Australian distributor has not contacted Freeview regarding endorsement.
Freeview’s legal team has contacted the manufacturer to ask for clarification and to ensure DViCO discontinues the association.
“This company is not Freeview compliant. All our endorsed product manufacturers are listed on our website at www.freeview.com.au,” Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said.

Which means you may be able to skip through ads and enjoy real PVR functionality. We’ll know more once we test out the device soon.

The M-6600N offers 1080p output via HDMI 1.3, has 802.11n wireless built-in, UPnP support for accessing content on your network, replaceable 1TB HDD, twin HD tuners with 7-day EPG, support for a huge raft of video and audio formats, and access to internet channels like YouTube and Picasa. The UI looks clean and fairly simple to navigate.

But there’s no advanced PVR functions, like series linking or program recommendations. It also boasts a Freeview badge, which presumably means there’s no ad-skipping. The Bittorrent client that was in previous versions also seems to have been disabled.

But having said all of that, the thing costs $699 with a 1TB drive. As a digital hub, that’s entirely reasonable.

DViCO introduces fifth generation TViX PVR and multimedia player

…Also Technology to Distribute M-6600N Exclusively in Australia…
DViCO today announced the Australian launch of one of the most advanced high definition (HD) jukeboxes on the planet, the TViX M-6600N Personal Video Recorder (PVR). The TViX M-6600N is the only PVR to offer full 1080P HD and HDMI 1.3 out. It’s also the world’s first PVR to include built-in 802.11n wireless capability which allows streaming of audio and video content from any PC on the home network. The TViX M-6600N will be distributed exclusively in Australia by Also Technology.

According to Steve Xiao, Managing Director, Also Technology, this fifth generation TViX effectively replaces five devices with one.

“The TViX M-6600N combines an extraordinary range of features into a very small sleek unit. It’s a premium media box, premium PVR, universal jukebox, music server and photo server all in one. We believe it will become the fifth essential element in home entertainment alongside your screen, digital receiver, speakers and games console,” said Mr Xiao.

With its built-in 802.11n wireless LAN and network support, the M-6600N’s capabilities extend across a user’s home network enabling them to easily play various multimedia files on their network and also stream them from Internet Media Services including YouTube, Picasa, Internet News and Weather. The wireless network connection is enabled easily with uPnP support, so users can enjoy all the video, music and photos on their PC or NAS storage using their wireless connection.

While the TViX M-6600N will ship with a 1TB drive as standard, users can easily replace the existing drive without needing any technical skills or knowledge. The drive is accessed via a HDD cover on the side of the unit and the thanks to the innovative design of the HDD bracket, a new drive can be inserted into the PVR in just minutes with one single screw.

The TViX M-6600N allows users to copy, delete and move files through an external USB or the network. In addition, through a Media Card Reader card reader installed on a side of the TVIX, users can play, copy, move and delete images or footage taken on digital cameras and camcorders. Digital pictures can be searched as thumbnails and viewed as a slideshow.

Hailed as a universal jukebox that supports most of the current media formats, including the superb H264 video compression & MKV container formats, users can now enjoy full HD videos. In addition to this, oncoming HD media backup files as well as DVD backup files are supported. The M-6600N’s HDMI 1.3 support allows users to receive video and audio signals conveniently with just one cable.

The M-6600N is available in Australia immediately through IT resellers. Retail partners will be announced shortly. The M-6600N has an RRP of AU$699 for the PVR including Twin HD Tuner and 1TB drive. Resellers also have the option of purchasing the M-6600N without the drive, allowing them to tailor the drive to specific customer requirements. The RRP without the 1TB drive is $499.

While you can use the MS 400 HD DVR’s Wi-Fi connection to access media on your home PC or NAS using DLNA, there doesn’t seem to be any provision to copy your HDTV recordings back to your PC so you can watch them on the go.

You do get customised YouTube and Picasa access though, and the detachable HDD slot is a great addition for anyone wanting more storage on the cheap. But is that enough? Outside the DVR functionality with its 8-day EPG and twin HD tuner, I’m more inclined to use my PS3 to access remote files.

Would you pay $849 for a 250GB DVR (or $999 for 500GB) model?

[LG]

Set to launch in mid November this year, MyStar HD will offer about 15 HD channels to subscribers, with content mirroring Foxtel’s own expanded HD offering. With the launch, more SD channels will also be available – again, much like Foxtel.

The box itself will go by the model number T600 (Judgement Day must be getting closer), and is likely to include a 320GB HDD like the iQ2. Inside the box, the number of tuners will remain the same, but be upgraded to HD.

There’s no word on pricing at this stage, but all things considered, it seems like a pretty top-notch piece of kit. Obviously we’ll keep you updated when any of this gets confirmed…

But first, the extender: The Moxi Mate is a small $US399 ($199 for now) extender box that plays back recordings from your Moxi HD from afar, over your home networked. It’s not all that feature-rich—no wi-fi built in, no scheduling of recordings, no support for more than one Moxi Mate at a time—but if your goal is to stream your Moxi library around the house, at least you now have a way to do it.

Anyway, about that library. Although the hardware on the main box hasn’t changed, Moxi’s software update, which should seed tonight, gives your box the gumption it needs to take onboard much larger drives via the e-SATA port, as well as a new optional browsing interface called Grid Guide, which gives users a more familiar, cable-guide-like experience than Moxi’s novel—but good—regular UI. Another, smaller update is Switched Digital Video support by way of an adaptor, if your cable company’s into that kind of thing.

At any rate, the core offering hasn’t changed, it’s just grown an extender: the whole system has the same strengths—a strong interface, good performance, and clear superiority over cableco boxes—as well as the same weaknesses—dependency on PlayOn for online streaming, the learning curve— so unless Moxi Mate tips the scales for you, or you’ve got $US1000+ to drop on storage to build an absurdly large video bank, your current impressions probably still stand.

It’s not quite the same as potentially getting a free TV when you pick up a camera, but it’s still free stuff. And DVRs are kinda sexy too, aren’t they?

The promo’s running until September 30, but you’ll need to be one of the first 7,500 people to register to be in the running.

[Panasonic]