Broadcom's new DVR chip could make all our dreams come true
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Oct 29th 2009 11:29AM
posted Oct 29th 2009 11:29AM
We look to our TV provider and companies like TiVo and Moxi to bring us DVRs, but the one thing just about every DVR has in common is a Broadcom chip makes them tick. So while the rest of the box varies by a lot, if the System on a Chip (SoC) doesn't support it, then it probably isn't there -- assuming another chip isn't added for a specific task. So you can understand why we got so excited when we saw the specs on the latest SoC, the BCM7125, announced by Broadcom at the Cable-Tec Expo. It of course supports tru2way and CableCARD, but more interestingly; MoCA 1.1, DLNA, Flash (as in video streaming), DOCSIS 3.0, and a 3D graphics engine. This means that little little guy could be the key to a multi-room DVR without running wires, that will play Hulu directly from the internet as well as stream content from PlayOn, all via a great looking user interface. So yeah, it has potential. The sad news is that there's no way to know how long we'll have to wait before a DVR is released that'll actually take advantage it.
Hurm- if this ends up in a new Tivo I HOPE they allow me to transfer my lifetime subscriptions to them!!
i bet we'll see it soon. probably 2019 at the very latest. i wouldn't be surprised to see it by 2018. that would be really sweet.
maybe next year on direct tv and a lot later on cable.
Based on what I have seen from the cable industry, I am going to go out on a limb and say we will never see this. Not on a tivo, or a moxi, nothing. Why? Because it's what people want and everything you need. We never get both of those.
My current Comcast DVR can't even tell the difference between a new show, and a repeater, and just records everything. Forget the fact that it is capable of MOCA. All it does is record everything I dont wan't it to.
I too was perturbed by this, but if you look at the show information (like Colbert Report) it will have a missing first air date or any date in particular. It seems that some shows don't have that information available so the DVR just records everything under a "just-in-case-so-my-owner-doesn't-throw-me-against-a-wall-for-missing-the-season-finale" scenario.
this is the most frustrating thing with my motorola box. The thing is so ancient those dinosaur blue menus are just chugging along.
Get a tivo and you won't have these problems (most of the time). (*)
(*) There is/was a problem with some shows, e.g. the Daily Show, but even that can be worked around with advanced wishlists. But *most* of the time, the regular Season Pass will work fine for new/repeat issues.
Not being an expert in chip design, is this the kind of chip that can be used for CableCard TV Tuners in Media Centers (possibly for DIY types)?
I moved to a Windows Media Center setup running Windows 7 Ultimate. I could care less what set-top boxes the cable company offers.
TiVo, let's do this. Let's do it with this chip. Let's make a set-top box that can keep me from spending over a thousand dollars on a media center solution.
We'll see DVRs with these SoCs sooner than some may think.
Chinese / Taiwanese distributors already have these available in limited quantities.
Broadcom is just one of many SoC providers. I bet Sigma Designs would have something to say about the statement that every PVR contains Broadcom chips.
They can say what they want, but TiVo HD, Moxi, DirecTV, Dish Network all use Broadcom chips. Not sure about all the Moto or Cisco, but I know many of them also do.
Motorola and Samsung cable boxes have BCM chips. Except for the Samsung 3050 which uses a Conexant ARM chip. All Samsung BCM boxes run Linux. BCM equipped STB's usually run Linux but use a mixture of GPL and proprietary code. The STB stuff like cablecard and drivers are closed source while the non STB related stuff is open source.
"all via a great looking user interface", was that sarcasm?
if you ever used a cable box, it would be. I believe that if you hate people and want to take revenge on poor souls, then customer service for the cable company is a career for you. Must be great to be in a monopoly.