Timely analyst thought pieces on issues pertaining to digital media, home networks, and consumer electronics.

This Ars article states the obvious, that we don't need another proprietary STB for a single service online video provider. If you haven't seen the gravestones littering the proprietary STB service graveyard, some of the names of the dearly departed include Akimbo's box and Moviebeam's among others. And while I think Apple TV and Vudu still have a good shot, they are succeed or fail because I think their visions do go beyond a movie service in a box, and also because their solutions are either best of class (Vudu) or leveraging a dominant digital media brand name/ service combo (Apple TV/iTunes).

But as Anders rightly points out in his article, its the Netflix model Blockbuster needs to follow. And while some will say Netflix is going the proprietary route of developing their own box, that's not quite the case. While they are partnering with LG, this only one of many approaches to get their service in as many places as possible.  In fact, most aren't aware that Netflix partnership with LG essentially marked the abandonment of their own proprietary box efforts. At the same time they were announcing the box at CES,  Anthony Wood, the founder of ReplayTV and digital media adapter vendor Roku whom Netflix had brought on to lead those efforts, was leaving the company.

So if Netflix has gone down that route and abandoned their own internal efforts to instead pursue a multipronged strategy of PC streaming, partnering with hardware vendors for special boxes as well as porting their service onto common living room devices such as game consoles, why would Blockbuster go the route that Netflix abandoned?

Well, I think the company can't resist. . They have a great brand name, and think that by saying they can sell "Blockbuster-in-a-box" (I think anyone who has gotten a pitch for online streaming services to a hardware device has probably heard that "Blockbuster in-a-box" term. How could you not?), they're probably going to be able to convert some of their in-store and DVD-by-mail customers.  Maybe they will, but likely not enough for an internal development project of this scope.

So Blockbuster in a box is a good idea, but as a service, across many boxes. In fact, I would want Blockbuster in a box, but I want it in my Xbox, or to my Dish PVR, or streamed directly to my Internet connected Panasonic plasma (that's if it was Internet connected; some fictional embellishment was needed to achieve the rule of threes for that sentence...).

So Blockbuster, do Blockbuster in a box. Many boxes. Just not not your own proprietary box.

Coppergate Acquires HomePlug AV Assets of Conexant
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 7 May 2008 13:32:58 EDT

HomeGrid: Believe It or Not, Another Physical Layer Home Networking Standard
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:06:19 EDT

NAB Wrap-Up: Why NAB is Now the Most Important Show for Convergence (and not CES)
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:25:04 EDT

FubuHulu? Facebook Meets Hulu and I Like It
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 18:49:32 EDT

BBC iPlayer Bumps Usage of Streaming by 62% in one Month
Author: Michael Wolf
Research Director, Digital Home
Posted: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 10:11:06 EDT