Vbox Ships Dual Hybrid Digital/Analog TV Tuner

I must have missed this coverage during CES, I think it is worth mentioning. First up, they are shipping their latest tuner which is a hybrid ATSC/NTSC card. Secondly, they also announced a partnership with NDS which will allow them to develop and shiup a PC card for DirectTV. This product is likely to be a year or more away.

From the article:

Vbox also announced a relationship with NDS, one of the leading developers of content protection and delivery products. NDS technology is used to secure satellite feeds from sources such as DirecTV or the UK's Sky Network. Vbox has prototype hardware that already works on PCs, incorporating an NDS smart card and capable of receiving DirecTV premium content.

The product's ship date is uncertain, as details of the business model have yet to be ironed out. The Vbox product could be a PCIe card or USB-connected external box. What's yet to be determined is whether a provider such as DirecTV will offer it directly to customers, or whether OEMs might offer "DirecTV Certified" PCs. Vbox Vice President of Marketing Yosi Brosh noted that it's unlikely that a PC-based DirecTV tuner will be available until 2008, as these details get sorted out.