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Virgin Media intros digital TV service, set-top box
It looks like Virgin is trying to pry folks in the U.K. away from their tried and true Freeview digital TV service, today announcing its own competing over-the-air service and set-top box. Opting for Virgin's offering will net you 40 TV channels and 15 radio stations, along with Virgin's on-screen programming guide, as well as the company's pint-sized VBox set-top box. While Virgin is touting both the box and service as "free," that's only the case if you also subscribe to Virgin's broadband/phone bundle, with the TV service apparently not available on its own (free or otherwise).Update: As some of you have pointed out, it turns out that Virgin's much-ballyhooed service is actually nothing more than the standard Freeview service, with the free set-top box and Virgin-branded programming guide the only things distinguishing it from what's already widely available.
NDS partners with VBox to deliver HD pay-TV content to PCs
If you're the type who digs HD, but would rather catch it on one of your two (or more) HD-capable displays connected to your computer, NDS has struck a deal with VBox to bring HD pay-TV content to your PC -- without the need for potentially costly upgrades. The agreement allows PC users to receive "broadcast content on VBox's Cat's Eye PC-TV receiver," which would store / playback footage like any typical DVR, while NDS' VideoGuard PC would provide the obligatory DRM kick to keep content owners pacified. VBox's Cat's Eye Premium is a newly unveiled receiver designed to deliver content optimized for IP distribution, which essentially provides "digital set-top box functionality in a PC environment" by interfacing with the computer's USB port or PCI slot. Content is received in the same way as typical TV owners, but is channeled into your PC via USB / PCI instead of component of HDMI, and it's strapped down by NDS' USB encryption key which is required for the whole rig to operate correctly; in addition, VBox also offers routers and gateways in case you're interested in slinging that content to various machines via Ethernet. Neither NDS nor VBox made mention of just how much this snazzy sounding setup would run PC users, but hopefully we'll be seeing the deal yield some forward progress soon after CES concludes.
