Hello Friends out there,

I’m a marketing manager of a set top box manufacturer.
I would like to introduce our Terrestrial USB PVR (PVR ready) product to the Australian market in near future with the following features and specifications.
As a manufacturer and a marketing manager, I would like to hear your valuable opinions.

<Features>
 SD Digital Terrestrial Receiver
 Time Shifting with Internal Flash memory (optional) & External USB Devices
 Recording & Playback with any External USB Devices
 Recording & Time Shifting Simultaneously (with Internal Flash memory)
 Dual USB 2.0 Host Support (Front & Rear)
 S/W Transfer / MP3 Player & JPEG Viewer via USB
 Support HDMI output (576i only)

<Specifications>
 340mm,
 VFD,
 2 USB (1-Front, 1-Rear),
 HDMI,
 Composite A/V RCA,
 2 Scart,
 RF Modulator,
 Optical S/PDIF,
 RS-232,
 A/C Switch

I don’t know the exact retail price, but I guess it will be around AUD170~ (Internal Flash memory included: AUD190~).
How do you think about the price level based on its functions?
Please note that it is not only a receiver and USB player like others but also PVR with an external USB storage, and with the world best stability and reliability.
HD models with similar and better functions will be released in 2~3months.

BTW, what is the most popular SD STB product in Australia at the moment? And in which website I can get the related information?

Thank you very much for reading my long story and hope to get many replies.
I would like to go with valuable consumers from the beginning.

Amond.

This appears to be a STB that you can add a USB External harddrive to for making recordings? There's not many units of this type on the market in Oz. The main one available lets you install a hard drive inside. Would you consider releasing a verion with a harddrive already installed inside.

Internal flash memory seems of less use in a PVR (current models will fill up 1Gb of memory in under 20 minutes (SD))

Current SD PVRs in Australia can generally record two channels at once and allow playback of a third pre-recorded show.

HDMI output is a nice option is also of lesser use on a SD device - not sure how much it ads to the cost? The few SD units that have HDMI tend to upscale the output over this connection.

Your SD unit retailing under $200 should be pretty competitive (but it should be kept in mind users will need to buy an external hard drive unit for about $100)

Will users be able to offload recordings to a PC for editing? A popular feature.

Reliability in timers and recording will obviously be very important. SD units seem to be fairly ok with our 576i broadcasts, but it is apparently much trickier to get good reliability with HD units - you should definitely try do some testing in Australia of the units with our broadcasts (One potential issue is some country broadcasters change from 1080i => 720p at various points in the day which can cause recorders to have issues).

SD PVR FAQ - Read first post

HD PVR feature comparison

Regards

Peter Gillespie

The Beyonwiz DP-H1 is a HD-STB with PVR capabilities when a HDD is added (USB). It supports a very good range of different media file playbacks also, and can be setup as a client of a DP-P1/S1/P2 proper PVR Beyonwiz, so you can watch recordings off your main PVR with the DP-H1 in another room (it has ethernet to allow this). It was being sold on special from the main distibutor for $299, which is much better value than a very limited SD STB for $200.
Regards

SD market is in decline so not a lot of competition however a box with this exact specification can easily sell for sub $99 retail which might make it a hard sell for you, keep in mind you can get internal hard drive at lower cost also which is what you would most likely get compared to by a consumer

Yes, you're right.
The price level you mentioned is too tough to sell.
As far as I know, basic SD STB such as TF4000T and SRT5020/5022 which are without USB, HDMI, VFD, Recording & Time shifting function are selling under $99 in a few retail shops, normally $120.

When we release HD products very soon, we will bring HD Twin PVR with internal HDD and USB for external recording and file playback.

Too tough to hit this price for you, it is easily achievable though so you could easily be up against someone else offering the same specification at much lower price