The latest "God box" is ready to ship, says Monsoon Media, makers of "Vulkano," which debuted at the CES in January as the "Volcano," and puts time-shifting, place-shifting, web video and personal video sharing all into one box. The Slingbox alternative--which is an agnostic platform, as opposed to Slingbox's ties to DISH Network--is scheduled to ship Aug. 10.
The all-in-one over-the-top delivery box connects to a set-top box and bills itself as giving consumers "TiVo, Slingbox, Roku and Mobile
video recording functionality" in a single unit.
The top-of-the-line Vulkano Pro (which retails for $380) includes a standalone 1 TB external hard drive. The standard Vulkano retails for $260 and comes with 16GB of SD card storage. Pre-orders are being taken here. In addition to Moonsoon Media's site, the Vulkano will be available at select retailers.
While it's a great looking box, it still requires that consumers add it to already cluttered media centers and, if you opt for the 1TB harddrive, that's yet another box to add on. As 2Wire's CTO Jaime Fink last week told FierceIPTV, while discussing the company's purchase by U.K.-based STB-maker Pace, "Consumers just have no interest in adding another device to connect to their television, especially where they've got Xboxes and PlayStation 3s and things like that."
Maybe Monsoon's God box can change their minds.
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