CEDIA 2016

Modulus M1 Media Hub Almost Too Good to Be True

Darryl Wilkinson  |  Sep 14, 2016

Moulus Media Systems announced a “revolutionary media hub” that’s almost too good to be true. Imagine putting a Kaleidescape server with a Roku 4, and then wrapping the combo in a TiVo DVR—and that description still doesn’t come close to describing the Modulus M1.

Part DVR, part media server, part universal remote, as well as part nearly anything else you can think of that’s important for a modern home theater system, the M1 includes 12TB of media storage space; an RF-based “Ultimate Remote Control” with voice search, air mouse, and full QWERTY keyboard; as well as an internal Blu-Ray/DVD disc player/ripper.

The M1 is truly designed as a control center for the home theater and your digital media. The M1 supports Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and others. It’s 4K UHD capable, meaning you can stream 4K titles from Netflix or Amazon. Modulus says that the M1 can record streamed movies to store on the M1’s hard drive for viewing at a later time.

The current iteration of the menu screens is beautiful and engaging, not to mention extremely intuitive. The DVR (Cable Card or OTA only, for the moment) functionality uses a proprietary algorithm capable of automatically skipping commercials during playback of the recorded programming.

Although pricing wasn’t officially announced, the ballpark MSRP that the Modulus folks hinted at is well below what you’d expect to typically pay for a component with this much functionality and capabilities. The M1 is tentatively scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2017.

COMMENTS
prerich45's picture
Submitted by prerich45 on September 15, 2016 - 7:01am

To say the least...I'm highly interested in this beast!!!

atc98092's picture
Submitted by atc98092 on September 15, 2016 - 8:12am

If I can't stream the media to multiple devices on my network, it will never replace my Serviio DLNA server. It's simpler to have something like a Roku or Blu Ray player that supports DLNA on every set and maintain my library on a single computer.

prerich45's picture
Submitted by prerich45 on September 15, 2016 - 11:03am

DLNA is so common - if this thing can do everything it's supposed to, DNLA should be a given ....but I regress - I've been wrong before :D

javanp's picture
Submitted by javanp on September 15, 2016 - 11:29am

Not that I oppose being able to back-up our own, purchased discs, but I don't see a device that has disc ripping, not to mention streaming ripping, built-in being allowed to see the light of day. At least not for a while. Did some major new digital copyright development take place and I just missed it?

Replyto Email's picture
Submitted by Replyto Email on September 20, 2016 - 4:02pm

I was at CEDIA and at their booth - they claimed it was all reviewed by attorneys and that that the way they are handling it is legal. For the streaming ripping, they explained that the decryption happens upstream by the provider, not them, and that only some sites have a terms-of-use policy against it, but that is with the user that signs the agreement, not the company. BTW I also found PlayOn, a subscription that is all about recording streamed shows. Maybe there are legally clean ways to do this after all...

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