CES 2005 - The Last Word

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Another interesting product on show was DAVETV. This oddly named box of tricks is Tao’s take on the “on demand” entertainment solution. Basically DAVETV is an online entertainment portal that gives you access to anything from movies, to music videos, to albums, to digital images, and lets you enjoy them pretty much anywhere you want.

There are two sides to the DAVETV concept, the digital media receiver and an application that runs on your PC. In order to get the content from the DAVETV portal you can either download it via your PC and then send it across to the digital media receiver, or you can pull it directly to the digital media receiver.

Now, if you’re going to download a lot of content, the easiest option is to go via your PC, but if you’re just pulling one file, it’s easy enough going direct to the media receiver. The PC application has the added advantage of being able to download multiple files concurrently, while the media receiver queues them up and downloads them one at a time.

Content can be free, or carry a one-off fee, or even carry a fee for a set number of days or viewings. DAVETV supports Microsoft DRM, so there’s a good chance that new release movies will be added to the portal, and since it also supports WMV9 High Definition, you can be sure that the quality will be good too.

Although many houses in North America have paper thin walls that are WiFi friendly, over here in Europe getting a smooth video stream over 802.11g can be a bit of a chore. But Tao has thought of this too, by integrating a hard disk into the digital media receiver, video can be either copied directly to the disk, or buffered on it to ensure smooth playback.

The Tao DualConnect cordless phone was another smart invention. The DualConnect looks like an average cordless phone, but it has the advantage of being able to place calls over traditional phone lines, or over the Internet. The DualConnect base station plugs into a normal phone jack, and into the USB port of an Internet enabled PC. At the touch of a button the user can decide to place a call in the traditional way, or use voice over IP (VoIP) to make an Internet call.

The DualConnect makes VoIP calling as simple as using your landline phone, and means that you don’t have to be sitting in front of your PC wearing a silly headset. With DeCT close to FCC approval in the US, Tao is seriously considering taking up the standard, which would make marketing the DualConnect in Europe a pretty simple proposition. The DualConnect will go on sale in the US with a suggested retail price of $129.

For more information about Tao and its products go to www.taolife.com.

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