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Verizon FiOS conducting trials with new Motorola DVR set-top boxes that are higher capacity, more energy-efficient

By | April 14, 2010, 6:17pm PDT

Summary: Verizon is rolling out new Motorola DVR set-top boxes to select customers that promise to be “greener” than the competition. Motorola claims that the Motorola QIP7232 is 20-percent more energy efficient than current boxes, and are built with “environmentally preferred materials” that don’t contain lead or mercury. Eco-friendly doesn’t mean these are feature-poor set-top units. In [...]


Verizon is rolling out new Motorola DVR set-top boxes to select customers that promise to be “greener” than the competition. Motorola claims that the Motorola QIP7232 is 20-percent more energy efficient than current boxes, and are built with “environmentally preferred materials” that don’t contain lead or mercury.

Eco-friendly doesn’t mean these are feature-poor set-top units. In addition to a faster processor and more memory, the QIP7232 also doubles the capacity of current FiOS boxes to 320GB. Unfortunately, there isn’t any other whiz-bang functionality built into the devices, and your HDTV is probably a much bigger energy hog than your set-top box, but at least some people out there can say they’re getting a new model while the rest of us make do with five-year-old technology.

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Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

Disclosure

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist; currently, all work that Sean does is on a contractural basis. Sean has also written corporate communications documents for CA.

Sean does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Sean Portnoy

Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

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