Now here's a peculiar one. Japan's KDDI has just introduced a Motorola-built IP STB that converts and transmits TV, multimedia and web-based content from the home to a user's cellphone. The Au Box is a fairly multifaceted beast, boasting a built-in DVD drive for ripping CDs, dual USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, AV ins / outs and a Linux-based OS that can handle basic PC-like tasks. The box is designed for subscribers who own a mobile but not a full-fledged computer, and while details are scarce on the technology behind it, we're really digging the home content-to-mobile premise. Best of all, the set-top-box will only cost KDDI customers around $3 per month when it launches on November 1st. Say, Motorola -- have you ran this thing by any US carriers?

[Via Linux Devices]

Anyone who has tried to repurpose their HD media for a variety of devices knows all too well the pain of dealing with the alphabet soup of codecs and formats, but Motorola is showing off a MCU3E (MCUBE) prototype that can take MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-2 content, transcode and wirelessly beam it to a receiving device in MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-2 (VGA, half-VGA or QVGA resolutions) while aso dialing down the bitrate to fit on your portable device. The prototype looks good to us, and we imagine this kind of simplicity would resonate with consumers, but pesky business and licensing/DRM hurdles stand between this demo and the marketplace. For now, mark us down as "cautiously optimistic" about devices like this that set our media free.

Motorola already sent out its dutiful survey team to pick the brains of millennials (ages 16 to 27) in the US, but now those same folks have infiltrated nations across the pond. Somewhat surprisingly, the results were mighty similar, even though Europe is notorious for buying HDTVs and not the HDTV programming to go along with it. Still, some 78% of the 1,200 surveyed confirmed that they would prefer a TV program to restart the moment they switched over, leading us to believe that only 22% enjoy showing up to a movie that has already started. Also curious was the fact that 53% of respondents in the UAE said they "loved HD content," yet the region is just now starting to see high-def material from broadcasters. Anywho, the read link has lots and lots of numbers if you care to humor yourself, but the real comedy is in the Millennial Generation video after the jump.

Although everyone isn't on board the tru2way train, those that are excited about it, are pushing forward. Today Motorola officially announced its tru2way toolkit. The kit will includes software to run on Windows XP, as well as a Motorola tru2way STB for real world testing. So whether you work for a cable company that's ramping up for deployment, or just an independent developer hoping to break into a walled garden near you, you'll be able to test your application without all the normally insanely expensive equipment like a your own personal headend. The exact price wasn't included in the release, but whatever it costs, Motorola assures you there won't be any 3rd party licensing fees as the kit is based on open source tools.

Be still, our hearts! After watching the wireless HD / HDMI sector fumble along for years on end, a team of mega-corps have finally agreed to push their self-interests aside and collaborate on a standard. WHDI creator AMIMON has joined forces with Motorola, Samsung, Sony and Sharp in order to form "a special interest group to develop a comprehensive new industry standard for multi-room audio, video and control connectivity" utilizing the aforementioned Wireless Home Digital Interface technology. Reportedly, the group will have a standard completed before 2009 dawns, but we all know how easily these things can get pushed under the rug. Nevertheless, the overriding goal here is to "enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, AV receivers, DVD and BD players, set-top-boxes, game consoles and PCs." A tall order, sure, but one we're elated to see taken on. Full release (and promo spot) after the break.

Looks like one of those "souped-up" set-top-boxes could be just what the doctor ordered for ailing U-verse users. It's no secret (not even to AT&T) that many customers have been experiencing intermittent audio dropouts using optical audio connections on the current Motorola STBs. Typically, the glitches occur every 30 seconds to a minute, and the problem seems to reside within the box itself. Reportedly, Tier 2 technical support has advised some subscribers that Cisco boxes are now being dispatched for those dealing with the issue, and of course, AT&T asserts that these units will solve the problem. The latest word on end-user availability is "within [a few] weeks," so hopefully a bona fide fix isn't too far out.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Another month, another round of layoffs over at Moto. This time, we're seeing 120 out of the 600 positions in Motorola Labs -- the unit responsible for researching pretty much everything ranging from handsets to radio technology -- slashed; another 180 are "being reassigned to work in individual business units." According to the company, the moves from Moto Labs "will help R&D teams work with their business partners to optimize R&D investment and focus on projects that deliver the greatest value for Motorola," though your guess is as good as our as to what that actually means. Granted, we wouldn't normally support hacking off a good part of your innovation department, but considering that it's been stuck in fail mode for far too long, maybe this really is for the best.

Starz Entertainment has been making some pretty big moves of late, the most recent of which involves Motorola. The latter firm has announced that it will be "implementing a four-channel, high-definition MPEG-4/AVC encoding system" for Starz, which it will use to migrate away from its current MPEG-2 installations. It's reported that the change will enable Starz to "expand its HD offerings for subscribers," and as predicted, the system is being first implemented for the outfit's existing HD channels: Starz HD, Starz Kids and Family HD, Starz Edge HD and Starz Comedy HD. Oh, and if you were wondering, the recently unveiled Encore HD will be launched "concurrent with this migration."

The MTR700 tuning adapter wasn't all that Moto was showing off at The Cable Show. Also getting introduced was its SmartStream Terminal Data Collector (STDC) software that gathers up diagnostic info from your Motorola STB and sends it to the helpful cable representative at the other end of the line. The idea, of course, is that field service (requiring a truck roll) will be replaceable by phone service (requiring hold time). Better still, the software is installable on-demand, so there won't even be a truck roll required to inject the code to your STB. We wouldn't expect cable companies to necessarily waive service fees for remote assistance, however. Just be thankful that help with your cable service may force you into tying yourself to the house between the hours of 10AM and 4PM.

Kids these days -- understanding way more than their parents do about all this newfangled technology. Shortly after hearing that millennials were entirely more savvy about emerging TV technologies than the older crowd, a new study commissioned by Motorola has found that this same demographic (ages 16 to 27) is starved for video-on-demand. Beyond that, the 1,000 person study discovered that 62% had "influence over which HDTV set and programming package to buy," while 70% felt that "their expectations and demands are far greater than their parents' for rich media experiences." The report also found some pretty interesting figures dealing with transferring media from DVRs to portable devices (among other things), so be sure and dig into the read link below if you're a sucker for stats.

The Cable Show is all about bringing the members of the cable TV industry together, and unlike the Consumer Electronics Show, everything is all about business to business. But this doesn't mean the big players don't have big booths, and just like any other show, everyone wants to be on the main aisle. So while we strolled through, we snapped some pics so you could get an idea of what it was like. Also like any other show, some booths were packed like Motorola's and Cisco's, but others were like a ghost town -- we almost felt sorry for the Aljazeera booth folks who were talking amongst themselves. The one thing that seemed to hold true wherever we went, was that everyone is excited about tru2way, and not for the reasons you think. Cable really thinks it has a chance to take interactivity to the next level, and we hope they're right.

Great, just great. Soon after Western Digital made a fool of itself by introducing an external hard drive "certified" for use with DISH Network HD DVRs, along comes Seagate to further fuel the hype machine. Announced at this year's Cable Show (after being mentioned at CES), the Showcase storage solution is "designed" to extend storage capacity of DVRs and media centers. In a similar vein, the outfit's newest drives are "compatible with Motorola's s-SATA-capable HD DVRs," and they also come with USB 2.0 ports and up to 1TB of space. No word on a price or any of that jazz, but those who can't figure out that an external hard drive is an external hard drive can look for 'em to land in Q3.

Earlier this year, we got word that switched digital support for CableCARD was still on track for Q2, and now we're feeling a tad more confident in said assertion thanks to a recent update from Motorola. According to the company's Mari Silbey, its own tuning resolver -- which is meant to allow any third-party CableCARD device to access channels delivered via SDV -- will officially be christened MTR700. Additionally, we're told that it'll likely look just like the DCT700 set-top-box (pictured), and that the unit has just passed through a CableLabs interop "with flying colors." Next, we're expecting the device to be submitted for CableLabs' Cert Wave 60, and best of all, Moto assures us that the STB will be on display (and "functional" enough for demos) at next month's Cable Show in New Orleans. Huzzah!

[Via Light Reading]

We already heard HBO's CEO Bill Nelson proclaim that all 26 of its channels would soon be airing in HD, but today we've received confirmation that those parked in Latin America will also be enjoying the spoils. Motorola has announced that it will be adding multiple MPEG-4 AVC encoding channels at the HBO Latin America Group digital transmission facility in Florida, which will enable "rapid deployment of HBO's new HD services." According to HBO's Pierre Jaspar, it has seen "marked acceleration in demand" for HD programming in the Latin America region, and while we're not given specific dates, carriers, etc., it seems safe to assume more of the aforementioned region will soon be seeing HBO in high-def.