It looks as though
Polaroid is about to get into the set-top box game with a new product the company has sent to the FCC for review. Apparently holding steady on its path away from cameras, Polaroid has cooked up an all-in-one, do-everything "Digital Entertainment Center" (or DEC, as they're calling it). The main purpose of the device will apparently be to store and stream your media to a TV, stereo, or any other old-world box you have lying around. The DEC will have a hard drive of indeterminate capacity, and will feature 802.11b/g, HDMI and component outs, two USB ports, as well as composite and S-Video ins and outs for video, with RCA ins and outs, plus coaxial and optical outs for audio. On the front you'll have access to a slew of slots (MMC, SD, MD, CF, Memory Stick), as well as additional USB, video, and audio jacks. So now the questions are when, where, how much, what kind of OS, and what is it compatible with? We'll be poring over the many,
many pages of FCC papers while we wait on those answers.
posted July 20th 2007 1:45AM
I hope for Polaroid's sake thats not what its going to look like.
That is a pretty fugly box. I know it's going to be slapped inside an entertainment center but couldn't they have at least slimmed it down a bit? The thing looks like my old 1990's Zenith VCR. Aesthetics counts Polaroid!
Agreed. Polaroid does not really exist anymore. They license their name to anybody that makes a cheap product and wants to foist it onto consumers who think the names mean something. Quality is typically much lower than no-name brands.
Never buy anything (other than instant cameras) with the Polaroid name on it. Practically scam artists.
What Kev said. Polaroid, as in the company we used to know and trust, is no longer in existence. Petters Group holds the license for Polaroid's consumer electronics, and has branched into Polaroid branded LCD/Plasma TVs, DVD players, etc. Petters is a domestic company, but the Polaroid consumer electronics products so far have been rather shoddy from my experience. They seem to be mostly Chinese rebranded products - mostly mid-range to low end, and with a low price tag to match. I tried one of their LCD's at one point - one of the few products that looked decent from a design standpoint - it wasn't bad for the price, but I kept finding more and more shortcomings that eventually caused me to take it back. And the manual was unreadable, being an unintelligible hybrid of Chinese and English. I wouldn't expect much of this STB.
Yeah, this is true. Polaroid - the once darling high tech company started sinking in the late 90's
Then, they screwed all the people that worked for them by taking away their retirement. I think this was all happening during the Enron fiasco, so no one really paid attention to it. I personally know several people who have lost quite a bit because of them. Basically, Polaroid was being run by greedy idiots.
They could have stayed on top, after all they were one of the first companies to produce a digital camera in the early 90's - but decided to forgo it, feeling that they were joining their competition. Besides, that whole digital camera thing was a fad anyway...
They also developed this (which their name is NOT on)
http://www.zink.com/
which could have single handedly reinvented the whole instant camera market.
But instead, you have a former ceo of less than 5 years, living it up with his multi million dollar golden parachute, and droves of lifer Polaroid retirees that now eat dog food for supper.
Capitalism or just plain greed? You decide.
Polaroid sucks.
Thanks for that Zink link... I'd never heard of it; it looks really interesting. I like the concept that if I have the crystal-embedded paper, I have "ink" - no more smears, print head lines, calibration errors, etc. Very, very cool.
Mea culpa -- Engadget.
Polaroid is pure CRAP. If you're dumb enough to buy any of their products and then find yourself needing to talk to their Service Department (which you WILL) good luck! They are so incredibly understaffed that you will hang-up in frustration before you ever get through to a real person. If you are stubborn enough to stay on hold for the required hour plus, and make it through to a living Lip Service Representative they will lie to you, tell you what you want to hear and then forget you as soon as you hang up. Polaroid is as slimy as the snake-oil salesmen who know only one thing: Fool the unsuspecting public, take the money, and run.