TVSquad

If I told you there's a set top box that lets you watch television, video on demand, and web video content, you'd probably just shrug and wonder why we're talking about Comcast's Motorola box with TiVo software yet again. But no, this is a new box from a new company called Building B.

The company has raised $17.5 million to develop its new set top box. The idea is that consumers shouldn't need 12 different devices in their living room to access all the media that's available to them. And they shouldnt' need a full fledged computer either.

There aren't a lot of details yest on exactly how the Building B platform will work. It's possible that the box could be sold as a standalone product to supplement your cable or satellite TV service. But it seems more likely that Building B will try to sell their boxes to television service providers as a way to provide VOD/online video.

While some content will be delivered through a traditional broadband connection, it looks like Building B also plans to use a wireless, over the air delivery method for other content.

Internet video is all fine and good, but let's face it. Right now, most people want to watch TV on the TV.

And as we've described before, getting Joost to work with your TV set isn't exactly easy. First youneed tomake sure you've got a video card with TV-out, a computer that you're willing to plug into your TV (not a problem for many PC-based PVR users), and the time and energy to figure out how to program your remote control to flip through Joost channels without a keyboard and mouse.

So it's good to hear that Joost is in talks with hardware makers to embed Joost in devices like cable boxes and HD-DVD and Blu-ray players. No more fighting to connect your PC to your TV. Turn on your cable box, and Joost is right there. But at that point, isn't Joost just a new interface for video on demand, with less programming than you'd get from Comcast?

Digeo CEO Mike Fidler tells Multichannel News that the company plans to offer its upcoming set-top-box to cable companies for 1/3rd the price of current boxes.

The high definition PVR will be released during the fourth quarter of 2007 and will feature a 160GB hard drive and an eSATA port for additional storage.

While Digeo's Moxi user interface has won awards, only about 400,000 cable subscribers currently use boxes with Moxi. Fidler says the goal of selling the new boxes at reduced pricing is to remain competitive with offerings from Motorola, Scientific Atlanta, and TiVo.

Come July 1st, cable companies will no longer be able to ship cable boxes with built-in security. Motorola and Scientific Atlanta are ramping up production of CableCard boxes to meet the deadline.

Motorola has already begun shipping some boxes with HDTV tuners and PVR functionality.

The FCC rule doesn't require CableCard specifically, but that's the only technology currently available that meets the standards set by the FCC. Motorola and Scientific Atlanta are both working on boxes that use downloadable software for their security, but neither company will have a finished product available until next year at the earliest.

The upshot for PVR users who don't want to buy a new box from either company? Maybe the cable installation guy who comes to help configure your TiVo Series3 will finally know what to do with a CableCard soon.

[via Connected Home 2 Go]

Engadget snagged a photo of Motorola's forthcoming DCH3416 set-top-box. This little guy includes a 160GB hard drive, multistream CableCard support for recording two programs at once, or for picture in picture.

The DCH3416 also supports Motorola's new "follow me TV" platform, meaning you can watch shows recorded on one box on another box. It has HDMI, component, Firewire, SATA, USB 2.0 and ethernet jacks. Of course you won't be able to pick one of these up and plug it in, but it could be coming soon to a cable provider near you. Or not.