Charter's Moxi 3012 HD DVR rollout reaches Wisconsin
By Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 28th 2009 10:29PM
posted Apr 28th 2009 10:29PM
Looking for a Moxi box without paying $799 (even in easy monthly payments) up front? We got the heads up that Charter is expanding the footprint for its Cable HD DVR 3012 multistream CableCARD box, starting with Wisconsin. Apparently following a successful test in St. Louis Charter is ready to deploy 23,000 of the set-top boxes in 2009 and make it the primary DVR in the area. No official word from Charter on the new hardware yet, but the trend of Digeo actually shipping units is one we can get used to.[Thanks, Anonymous]
Excellent. I'll call in to sales tomorrow and give them the good news that I'm ready to ditch satellite.
As a former installer, my current installer buddys know nothing of this yet. Not really news - they're contractors so they'll probably be the last to know. Of course - I have already told them - so maybe not this time :)
I will say that the old Moxi units here in WI were the only units that allowed customers to attach external storage for Charter. That made them highly desirable among my friends associates. They also had the best interface, but unfortunately with sluggish performance and apparently a high failure rate - many techs I talked to would bring 4 or 5 Moxis to an install in the hopes that ONE of them would actually work. Of course, I believe the Moxi was also the first HD DVR offered by Charter in the area - so they were also probably the oldest boxes. Unfortunately, due to the external storage issue - Moxis were also frequently SPECIFICALLY requested by customers - and installers knew it.
At any rate, it will be interesting to see if these boxes come equipped with an active external input for expanded storage. While nobody expects the cablecos to support someone's external hardware - it sure would be nice to offer the option to those who want to actually take advantage of the DVR capabilities for more than a handful of movies or TV shows. I know from personal experience that there is something to be said for watching an entire season of shows in succession.
no wonder they're going bankrupt...moxi units ...should have gone with a tivo system