Niveus Drops Media Center PCs to Focus on OEM Software

I believe this is a smart move for Niveus.

I think we will see more and more Media Center PC manufacturers and Media Server companies going to a software as a service model to help people manage PC based content.  The hardware is a a losing battle with storage becoming cheaper by the minute, ever increasing broadband speeds, and the availabilty of downloadable and streaming media.

Mixed feelings about this. Their hardware was expensive but remote trouble shooting seemed like a nice benefit. It’s hard to find a system that is build and go without some type of firmware update or headache inducing error. Users such as myself are looking for a rack-mounted storage server solution with 2 to 3 front-ends also rack-mounted, but with a very graphical and in-depth GUI. I want to be able to 1:1 backup my blu-rays without having to have the discs in some sort of changer to act as verification of ownership. Niveus allowed this. Oh well, time to check out the only two products left on the market. XMBC, dune with zappiti, mediabrowser, mediaportal, my movies are all nice attempts at DIY but all require fiddling at some point which is not good for the WAF.

pchannan, try http://www.vidabox.com or http://www.s1digital.com

@pchannan just because Niveus is pulling out from hardware doesn’t mean the end of Windows Media Center (which is the platform Niveus was running on).

Windows Media Center is still the most feature-rich platform for managing and consuming digital content from a PC.

Over the past 5 years of its existence, it went through several evolutions and updates that made it more mature and ready for prime time.  The latest change was the ridding of the Extender technology in favor of small fully functional mini pc’s and the recent launch of W7 embedded which includes the windows Media Center client.

If marketed correctly to manufacturers I believe we will start to see a bunch of CE products that runs on top of W7 Embedded. These devices will be able to share content with each other as well as other PC’s on the network, making the technology more distributed and easier to handle by the mass market and non technical consumers.

That being said, I still believe there will be demand, although limited, for high-end media servers - at least until all movies becomes completely accessible via the internet. Then it will be interesting to see if consumers still want to create their own libraries or just consume it from online libraries on PPV basis or monthly subscriptions (such as Netflix).

Time will tell.

Eyal Kattan
MEDIA NEXUS INC.

Agreed, Eyal.

Don’t forget about tuners and DVRs. Engadget says Win 7 Media Center is on par with Tivo Premiere.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/05/tivo-premiere-vs-windows-7-media-center/

I bought an early model Niveus for my showroom, and we may have even sold a couple back then.  I liked the guys at Niveus, and really wanted them to succeed. 

But in my house my family was listening to iPods and watching Apple TV.  My demo Niveus eventually died (the motherboard, I was told), and it was scrapped.  But Steve Jobs continued to make a lot of money from my house.  And my neighbor’s houses.  And my client’s houses. 

$99 for an Apple TV that virtually anyone under the age of 50 can master in 15 minutes makes it rough to try to sell high dollar media servers, like the giant Kaleidescape I own.  Oh, and I just found out it too has a dead motherboard.  Sort of a trend in media servers it seems.  While I debate if I should pay for the repairs or not, my trusty old Apple TV (which back then I think I paid $329 for) just keeps on working, day in and day out. 

There is no disrespect intended to my friends at Niveus, but big media servers are getting as hard to sell as $8000 touchpanels, so I understand this shift in direction.  Most people want an easy way to download and catalog music, and rent a movie now and then.  Tough to beat Apple at their own game, but I wish you luck.

@Brad I think the comparison between AppleTV and Windows Media Center is incorrect.

The AppleTV is not a server but rather a client (or a streaming box). you still need to connect it via network to a computer (server) which hosts the content. You may want to compare it to XBOX360 or other streaming boxes.

In addition, Windows Media Center has an extensive support for TV and DVR capabilities which makes it one of the best DVR’s in the market.

@Brad - I have to agree with you on this one, even though I have been a die hard Media Center fan.  I tried to socialize the idea of Media Center as TV to several well to do friends and associates and they were just happy with either AppleTV or good old Comcast PPV.

I personally do not use my Media Center as a TV anymore, as now I find myself using NetFlix on my XBox on the main TV and actually using my Windows phone with Vcast or my girl friends Iphone to watch content when we are not watching the same program in the bedroom.  Of course when I am using my Sony notebook, I always use media center.  I will also breathe new life into Media Center on my Old HP DV9000 laptop running Windows 7, which has HDMI out.  We will run that on the TV in our condo in FLA.  using a large formfactor HTPC just does not make sense for that location, and we are using it a productivity PC.  So i really don’t see the advantage or a large form factor HTPC. 

I love my Media Center first and foremost as it was a PC.  And will always love the PC, but not as a A/V component dedicated to my TV.

OMG: Niveus finally screwed over so many vendors that they can not produce a product anymore!  These guys having been running on vapors since inception and have not paid any of their bills from the multitude of vendors they have stolen parts from!  I am so happy to see these slimes get theirs!  There is a warm spot in Hell for you Mr Cutting!