TVSquad

If you were one of the handful of people eagerly awaiting Digeo's upcoming Moxi Multi-Room HD digital media recorder or Digital Home Cinema then I've got some bad news. Both products have apparently been canceled.

Digeo is laying off about half of its staff as a result, and CEO Mike Fidler is out. Chief Operating Officer Greg Gudorf will take over. Fidler told CNet the announcement follows Digeo's "inability to deliver some products on time." In fact, we first spoke with Fidler about Digeo's plans to introduce its first standalone box (which you wouldn't have to purchase through a cable provider) well over a year ago when he told us that the box would be released in 2007.

While I've never been clear on who the target market for these Moxi boxes would be, I'm still a little shocked at the news. The multi-room DMR was already in the hands of beta testers, which would indicate to me that the company was working out the kinks and getting ready to ship units fairly soon. But perhaps the company decided that the set top box which had the TiVo Series3 in its sites a year ago would be less attractive to consumers now that the TiVo HD is available and the Series3 has seen a few price drops.

Digeo still plans to release the Moxi HD DVR for Cable later this year.

It's been more than a year since set top box maker Digeo announced that it was going to create a HD PVR to take on the TiVo Series3. Since then, TiVo's released the low(er) priced TiVo HD and has added a ton of features to the TiVo lineup including enhanced access to online photos, videos, and music. So even though Digeo has yet to release its new Moxi PVR, I'm not surprised to see the company lining up online media partners.

Whenever Digeo gets around to releasing its new box, users will be able to access Flickr photos, find music using Finetune, play games at Accedo Broadband, and get news, sports, and weather information from CloverLeaf Digital.

Digeo CEO Mike Fidler says the Moxi PVR, which was originally due out last year, will be available sometime this year. Whether that means February or December, it's too early to say.